Pappardelle Pappardelle
Mimmo La Bufala

Mimmo La Bufala

45A South End Road, London, NW32QB, NW3 2QB, United Kingdom

Fish • Pizza • Pasta • Coffee


"I’ve been 3x to this restaurant now, and every time the service is as bad. On most recent visit, went inside, asked for a table (after being ignored by maitre’d for 5 minutes) and was told to wait. Several waiters passed me, the maitre’d maintained her position by the till, but no table was ever given. We gave up after a further 10 minutes and left. On the previous 2 visits we did manage to get a table, but the service was incredibly slow. The waiters seem trained in the art of attending to one table and then quickly rushing indoors without passing a glance to other tables who may need help. Maybe they are understaffed, but being aware of the restaurant space and customers is the first rule of serving tables. On my first visit, I complained about the service to the owner who happened to be there. He was very brief with us I would go as far to say rude. He said restaurant was very busy and we’d just have to wait for our main courses. Our starters had been cleaned away over 20 minutes previously. He later came over and apologised which is why I gave the restaurant a second go. Second visit, we sat outside again. Same very slow, very inattentive service. The bill took so long to come, I was considering just walking off. So why come back a third time after such bad service? Well, if you do manage to eat, the food is actually really good. Well cooked, traditional Italian style and really good pizzas too. I won’t be back a fourth time. I’ve given this restaurant every chance (and my visits are over a 2 year period so they have had plenty of time to sort their service out). And if the owner is happening to read this, just imagine how much business/money you are losing through your poor waiting staff? I have no doubt many, many other people simply leave after waiting to get a table and being ignored."

Salt Yard

Salt Yard

54 Goodge St., Bloomsbury W1T 4NA, W1T 4LU, London, United Kingdom

Fish • Meat • Tapas • Steak


"tapas dinner was quite impressive. faster service also. the cheapest red was an affordable £23 and quite pleasant and light. the three of us ordered 6 tapas, which was enough when none of us were ravenous. the waiter recommends 2 to 3 tapas per person. the salt-chid brand was the first plate to arrive, and was rich and thrown with some tart tomaten as well as a sous vide runny eigelb. accompanying crostina were delicately thin and brittle, which was a beautiful contrast in the texture. trüffelmac and cheese had arrived next door. very tasty, but the sauce was somewhat too liquid for my taste. pasta could also have been firmer. again a good idea to texture in this plate, as it contained crispy brothcrumbs, which actually contained truffles, not only truffle oil. the bark tars had arrived next door. quite fresh and even aggressive sour with picked enoki mushrooms and microcutters. after the rich mac and cheese, the sharp aromes gave a welcome contrast. I could've noticed the bad ones less. bavette steak was one of the star orders. brussel tops, sweet roast cauliflower and a opaque sauce as well as thin slices of seldom grilled steak, which is a good strategy for a cut that can be a bit hard. grilled chicken leg with salsify, sage and apricot was another excellent dish. I love greetings, but can not be harassed to cook it home because the cleaning is such a choir. very delicate grilled chicken. texture was added by the apricoses, which were added as thin dewatered shaves, chewiness. the jafit of the black bell was another satisfying court. fat, salty, with crispy skin and sitting on a stew of cockerbsen and pancetta. in general, eating was well done and well thought out. service was efficient. they were totally unfazed when we told them we had to pay with the card right now because our over arrived in a minute. in March 2019, all the restaurants of the salt yard group offer a 50% discount on the lunch and dinner on Sunday. check out the section offers of the hot dinner website to book instructions for the special deal."