Notting Hill, Italian Restaurant Guide

Well into its third decade as a Notting Hill stalwart, this “buzzy neighbourhood Italian” provides “a friendly welcome” and “reliably consistent” if pretty “standard” cooking from a wide menu that incorporates a broad selection of pasta dishes as well as more substantial meaty and fishy options. It has two stablemates on the same street, Essenza and Osteria Basilico.

This “old-school” Notting Hill Italian has been “a great crowd-pleaser for the whole family” for more than 30 years. According to one local: “you will not have a great meal but on the other hand I’ve never had a bad one” – as a result it can be “extremely busy, but the service is great” and keeps on top of things. Essenza and Mediterraneo in the same street (see also) are its younger stablemates.

“Very good pizzas” are the pick of the broad Italian menu (also with seafood on display) at this Notting Hill Gate fixture, where the best seats in summer are on the large outside terrace. With a “great family atmosphere”, it’s “very much a local restaurant, and all the better for that!”.

“Combining the best of French and Italian gastronomy” – Emily Roux and her husband Diego Ferrari continue to put in an assured performance at their “lovely neighbourhood restaurant” in Notting Hill. The cuisine is of “excellent quality”, yet not particularly striving for its own sake: aptly described in one report as “enjoyable fine dining, comfort dishes”. You can either opt for à la carte – three courses for £92 per person – or go for a five-course ‘Build Your Own Tasting Menu’ option at £120 per person. “Simply divine: expensive but worth it!”

“If you like fresh fish, pasta with truffles and a good choice of other Sardinian specials, this is the place for you” – is the enthusiastic verdict on this Holland Park fixture that has just celebrated its 20th anniversary. “Family-run” and “very popular with locals”, it’s perfect before opera in the park.

2021 Review: “Extraordinarily good pizzas”, “very good negronis” and “no burgers” are served at this bar, which boasts “the style of Mayfair transplanted to Notting Hill”. It’s upstairs from Assaggi, and from the same team, in the former pub they share, and these days seems the less risky bet. Top Tip – “try the truffle pizza in winter and English asparagus with San Daniele ham in summer”.

In the fair number of reports on the Fraquelli brothers’ Italian brasseries in Marylebone and Notting Hill, the range of opinion spans from “solid and reasonably priced” to “average and somewhat overpriced”. No-one suggests they are either very good or particularly terrible – “spacious”… “very pleasant”… “perfectly decent” are the kind of descriptions people attach. Business-wise though, they are going great guns, with backing from industry heavyweight Simon Woodroffe (founder of Yo!) and in February 2024 they successfully crowdfunded £1.2m to open a third Brasseria in late 2024, taking over the former site of the confusingly similarly-named ‘La Brasserie’ in South Kensington – which operated there under that name for 30 years – and where they now aim to ‘combine Italian flavour and style with New York service and a Parisian grand brasserie atmosphere’.