Covent Garden, Italian Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: In the heart of tourist Covent Garden – on the corner of the market itself, near The Punch & Judy pub – this large (200-seat) Italian arrived in late 2019. It’s the first venture outside Italy for Nicolo Marzotti, who has 13 restaurants back home. The jury is still out on whether or not it transcends its tourist trap location (including some seating on a balcony over the main market square).

“Mad but fun… and actually pretty decent food!” – that’s the verdict of the young-at-heart (including parents with youngsters to entertain) after a visit to Big Mamma group’s huge and dramatic mock-Italian in Covent Garden, whose stagey interiors (complete with 6m ceiling and 3,500 bottles lining the walls) are designed with Insta in mind. The menu is mostly pizza and pasta (the latter includes a Spaghetti Carbonara option served in a 4kg pecorino wheel).

Kudos to Angela Hartnett’s team for the “consistently high standards and predictable quality” of these “handy Italians”, which inspire many recommendations in our annual diners’ poll for “a casual bite with great Italian food” in the West End. “The food is hearty (e.g. rigatoni with fennel sausage ragu), simple but well executed and service charming and friendly”. In summer 2025, she opened her fourth location, with a Marylebone site joining her other operations in St James’s, Bermondsey and Covent Garden. In particular, they are “perfect pre-theatre”; and they also often get a shout-out for their welcome to families (“my two-year-niece from Australia was over and the staff couldn’t have been more friendly”).

“A purveyor of cicchetti, Italy’s answer to tapas” – this “bustling” outfit from the San Carlo group is noted for “speedy service”: “it needs to be, since most of the clientele are eating pre- or post-show at the Coliseum, almost next door, or other nearby theatres”. Culinary results are generally “solid”, but can be “average-ish”, “formulaic” and “varied in their success”.

This “nostalgic, if rather cramped, traditional trattoria” (est. 1952) – “tucked away in a hard-to-find courtyard in Covent Garden” – is “exactly what you imagine an old-world, cosy and comfortable London Italian should be”. The only drawback is the cooking, which is “perfectly competent” but “still back in the 70s” and “expensive for what it is”. In September 2024, Jay Rayner revealed himself as an ongoing fan due to his many happy childhood memories of the place. But less starry-eyed critics in our survey feel “there’s not too many places left like this… for good reason”.

“Bowled over by the quality of the pasta and the reasonable prices, especially for central London!” – that’s the appeal in a nutshell of these busy Soho and Covent Garden pitstops, which are – for their legions of fans – “useful go-tos in the West End for an affordable meal”. On the downside, some feel “the homemade pasta is less impressive than the reviews lead you to believe”; the experience can feel “rushed” (“I don’t count being reminded every ten minutes how long until they want your seats back as good service”); and the setting can seem “just too cramped”. Still, they must be doing something right, with recent openings in Borough and (as of summer 2025) Kensington.

2024 Review: “A good find for a pre-theatre meal” – this “efficient and friendly” Covent Garden dining room is quite stylish for somewhere inside a modern chain hotel, and serves an offbeat mix of Peruvian and Italian dishes: “a great selection”, with “lots of small-plate choices and interesting combinations” – “just enough to choose easily and all delicious”.

This “terrific family-owned and run trattoria in Covent Garden” is “a bit of an institution” after more than 30 years’ service, but “still produces traditional Italian food at a reasonable price given where it is situated”. “Andrea has a great team and is a warm and welcoming host to his small trattoria, hung with photos of Italian film stars of the Fifties and Sixties”. It’s a narrow room with “cosy” tables – and “booking is essential”.

“Perfect espresso ... perfect vibe” – Italian cocktails from mixologist extraordinaire Tony Conigliaro take centre stage at his chic Soho bar, with a supporting cast of coffee, prosciutto, salami, coppa and Italian cheeses.

“Skip the Pret sandwich and enjoy fresh pasta” – “a three-course lunch in well under an hour and for only £19.50, right in the heart of Piccadilly” – say fans of this smart but low-cost outfit (with a second branch in Covent Garden). But for somewhere that’s the brainchild of a star-chef such as Phil Howard, the feedback and ratings they inspire is mixed, with sceptics saying “it’s OK for pre-show or a quickie meal, I guess, but the thought did enter my head that I could do better at home”.

Opposite the Savoy Hotel across the traffic of The Strand, this new Italian seafood specialist from the team behind Bocconcino in Mayfair and Soho offers a fair amount of affordable luxury in the West End, as advertised by its centrepiece display of fish on an ice counter. Seafood platters are about £30, a whole salt-baked fish for two about £60, but there is also a range of pizzas sub-£20 alongside numerous pasta and meat dishes. No reports as yet in our annual diners’ poll, nor newspaper reviews, but the online buzz surrounding it suggests it serves its purpose.