Italian Restaurants in Holborn
1. Luce e Limoni
Italian restaurant in LONDON
91-93 Gray's Inn Rd - WC1
“Family-run Italian” that helps add life to a dull stretch of the Gray’s Inn Road. It specialises in Sicilian cuisine presented by Fabrizio Zafarana, an engagingly “well-informed and enthusiastic” host.
2. San Carlo Cicchetti
Italian restaurant in Covent Garden
30 Wellington St - WC2
“Don’t be put off by the tourist location or the gold frontage” if you visit the flagship branch of this successful Italian chain near Piccadilly Circus (which is due to double in size over 2023). For a national group, it and its siblings deliver a surprisingly high-quality formula that mixes “a great range of Venetian-style small plates” with “friendly and efficient” service and “bright and vibrant interiors” which create a “wonderful and buzzing atmosphere”. Top Tip – “super for pre-theatre eating”.
3. Obicà Mozzarella Bar, Pizza e Cucina
Italian restaurant in City
Unit 4 5 - 7 Limeburners Lane, - EC4M
These “upscalish Italians” – part of an international chain – serve pizza, pasta and other lighter dishes, featuring the trademark ingredient. It can be that the “quality of the food is a pleasant surprise”; they inspired nothing but positive feedback this year.
4. Opera Tavern
Spanish restaurant in Covent Garden
23 Catherine Street - WC2
“Handily located near the Royal Opera House”, this converted pub serves Spanish and Italian-style small plates of “food that’s just a bit better than its local competition” in the heart of Covent Garden. It is “not the best of the Salt Yard chain, but good for a quick pre-show meal”.
5. Sycamore Vino Cucina, Middle Eight Hotel
Italian restaurant in Holborn
Middle Eight Hotel, 66 Great Queen Street - WC2B
The timing of its debut, during Covid 19, couldn’t have been harder for this Covent Garden three-year-old, and it has yet to attract a huge volume of feedback or a settled view from diners. One fan says “you get a twist on Italian cooking, and boy do they get it right” in a “superb, light and airy space that’s ideal for a business meal”. To a critic it’s “bizarre eating in what feels like, and actually is, a hotel lobby, with some dishes very clumsily seasoned”.
6. Margot
Italian restaurant in Covent Garden
45 Great Queen Street - WC2
“A very sophisticated Italian restaurant” in Covent Garden that combines “gorgeous” cooking and “excellent wines” with “superb” service and an “elegant” interior. Just one catch, and you can probably guess what it is… it’s no bargain (“the crab ravioli at £31 had only 6 ravioli on the plate…”). Top Top – “good value for the pre-theatre menu”.
7. Café Murano
Italian restaurant in Covent Garden
36 Tavistock St - WC2
“Reliably good Italian food at fair prices” and particularly “switched-on service” won revitalised support this year for Angela Hartnett’s “very serviceable” mini-chain, which is generally a “very safe choice”, and – at its best – “memorable” in the level of “very confident” cooking it can achieve. Even fans, though, concede the “atmosphere can be a bit low key”, in particular at the “rather gloomy” WC2 branch (and the best reports are at St James’s).
8. Café Murano Pastificio
Italian restaurant in Covent Garden
Pastificio, 34 Tavistock Street - WC2E
“Reliably good Italian food at fair prices” and particularly “switched-on service” won revitalised support this year for Angela Hartnett’s “very serviceable” mini-chain, which is generally a “very safe choice”, and – at its best – “memorable” in the level of “very confident” cooking it can achieve. Even fans, though, concede the “atmosphere can be a bit low key”, in particular at the “rather gloomy” WC2 branch (and the best reports are at St James’s).
9. Ciao Bella
Italian restaurant in Bloomsbury
86-90 Lamb’s Conduit St - WC1
“You could be in Italy” at this “authentic” old-school trattoria that has provided four decades of its “great atmosphere” in Bloomsbury – “it’s like being at home but with no washing up”. “Everyone looks like they are enjoying themselves” – as Boris Johnson did in his days as Mayor of London, when he shared chips and house red here with his squeeze-du-jour, Jennifer Arcuri.
10. Trattoria Brutto
Italian restaurant in Smithfield
35-37 Greenhill Rents - EC1M
Russell Norman’s skillful love letter to Florentine trattorias is “hard to fault for a classic Italian” and, in particular, its “buzzy” (“if noisy” and “crowded”) “glamourous” style is a brilliant escape from the grey streets of Clerkenwell (near Smithfield Market). The “Negronis are lethal” and the “heavy-hitting, rustic fodder” is “simply done, but top quality”. An archetypal ‘Bistecca alla Fiorentina’ (T-bone steak) is a central menu feature, as are lesser-known treats such as “the moreish coccoli (or ‘cuddles’) of deep-fried dough that you stuff with soft cheese and prosciutto”. For all its virtues, though, Russell is a darling of the foodie media, so the place receives regular “hype”, and the only weaker reviews come from those expecting more culinary fireworks, given that “the food is good, but not great”.
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