Spaghetti With Clams Spaghetti With Clams
Al Parco Pizza Bar - Camden

Al Parco Pizza Bar - Camden

28 Parkway London, NW1 7AH, United Kingdom

Tea • Pizza • Cheese • Italian


"I've been coming to Bistro Laz and Al Parco (they share a building and also a kitchen, I believe) for as long as I can remember. Its been a family favourite restaurant for again, as long as I can remember. Every birthday, Special occasion meal, etc. We had here. I went back recently with a friend and I've got to say I was a bit embarrassed I sung their praises to him, and I think on this occasion the restaurant fell short. The food was as amazing as always, and the wait staff were very nice, friendly, and helpful. BUT, they had none of the mid level or cheaper wines in stock, and we had to buy a £70 or 80£ bottle, the bottle which admittedly was a very nice bottle was originally more and they did discount it though which was nice, but overall still annoying as we didn't expect to spend more than £30 or 40 on wine. But more annoyingly the food didn't arrive for a very, very long time. So much so that it seemed like they forgot about us. Admittedly, the restaurant was very busy when we were there, but the service speed was still, in my opinion too slow. Otherwise, Bistro Laz was great as ever. Like I said, the food was brilliant, and reasonably priced. The lamb cutlets with mash, and the large prawn starters are superb. Or if you want a great pizza order from the Al Parco menu. I'll give them 4 stars just because I love them and the food so much but they need to keep their wine in stock and either work on service speed, or keep diners informed so its clear they're not forgotten."

MACARONI

MACARONI

24 Darkes Lane Potters BarEN6 2HW, London, United Kingdom

Pizza • Vegan • Italian • Vegetarian


"Maaroni is my local as it is less than a 5-minute walk from me. Not only have I eaten here a countless number of times since it opened, I also get takeaways from here often. Unfortunately, this was the first time I had ever been left feeling very disappointed. To begin with, I was given a bottle of sparkling water with no glass, let alone lemon/ice/straw. Had to ask for a glass I was not going to drink out of a big bottle. It was difficult to explain things to our waitress, especially as we wanted to remove some pizza toppings and add on others; I had to show her the menu with toppings written down so that she could catch the spellings. Moreover, I requested for cacio e pepe, and the waitress confirmed that the chefs would be able to make anything off-menu. I had to explain what the dish was, and showed the waitress the list of ingredients for it. She went back and forth several times to the chef and I, and ultimately said that the kitchen did not have pecorino cheese. I said that that could be substituted for the next best thing, as long as the sauce was creamy, cheesy, buttery and peppery. When the dish arrived, it was a buttery spaghetti with a lump of cheese in the top. At this point, another waitress began to serve our table. Let her know that the cheese should be almost melted in; she took the dish back for it to be re-made which took a long time, by which point we had nearly finished our mains. After our mains we were told that we need to leave within 15 minutes, and we were not given dessert menus nor did we request the bill, it just arrived. I had brought my aunt and uncle to Macaroni for the first time and they were looking forward to dessert. It was highly embarrassing that this option was not even offered, and even more embarrassing that we were rushed off the table. There were 5 of us, 1hr 45mins is not enough time for a relaxed 3-course meal. If the restaurant is unable to honour a 3-course meal for 5 people, they should not confirm the booking."

Il Cucciolo

Il Cucciolo

8 Old Compton Street London, W1D 4TE, United Kingdom

Tea • Bars • Beer • Wine


"We selected this restaurant for a pre-theater dinner and were, unfortunately, disappointed overall in our experience. The restaurant is much smaller than we had anticipated and when we arrived, the person who spoke to us manager, owner? asked for our name when I told him we had a reservation. Then he said who? as if we didn 't have a reservation made months earlier . That made our arrival at the restaurant a bit uncomfortable. After a bit, we were shown to a table in a noisy corner of the place. Meanwhile, the man who greeted ? us looked at the woman who would be waiting on our table in a way that felt to us like he had no idea who we were but needed to seat us, nonetheless. It was an apologetic look and it was noted. It took her quite some time to come and get our drink order which we all noticed. It seemed like once she realized that we were all ordering adult beverages, her attitude changed a bit as she realized that she could get a large tip for service which she, in fact, did . Once we started eating the food which took a long time to get to the table, we were happy with the dinners we had ordered. The food was really good, no complaints there. It was the service that was disappointing. So, if you don 't mind not being treated nicely in a restaurant where you 'll be dropping 2 or 3 hundred pounds sterling, and you 're only and all about the food, this place is for you. I left thinking the following : food that isn 't as good as the food we had here tastes better when the service is warm and welcoming. Overall, disappointed. Les Mis was awesome, though!"

Attilio's

Attilio's

1 Cowcross Street London, EC1M 6DR, United Kingdom

Pizza • Pasta • Tapas • Italian


"A Local Favourite. I can't quite understand some of the reviews I have seen here. I have no idea why anyone would choose this small, independent restaurant for your office party of people -I'm pretty sure you couldn't fit anything like that number in here..This is one of the few remaining traditional, independent businesses in the area, and it offers a much more intimate experience than can be found at the likes of Lobster Burger or Polpo. I'm not saying that it cn't be a bit cramped on a busy night, but this is part of its charm...and there is outdoor seating too, if you are so inclinedMy food was simple, unpretentious and excellent: my lingine con frutti di mare was packed with very fresh prawns, scampi, squid, clams and mussels and steamed in foil. The tomato sauce that accompanied it was delicate and well-balanced.My companion had the set menu: avocado vinaigrette, followed by risotto agli asparagi (asparagus risotto) for The avocado was perfectly ripe,and came served on a nice (if unannounced) bed of salad -the only criticism was that the sauce wasn't exactly vinaigrette, but something slightly creamier -it still tasted good though. The risotto was also very pleasant, the asparagus being cooked through (but not over-done), which made a pleasant change from the current trend for serving it partially-cooked. I also liked the free prosecco to start with and the amaretto and amaretti biscuits that they gave you after your meal. Sure, it isn't the reason i came here, but these nice little touches are appreciated. Service was charming and very attentive. I liked the fact that they gave me a finger-bowl because of my seafood."

Locanda Locatelli

Locanda Locatelli

The West End, 8 Seymour St, W1H 7JZ, London, United Kingdom

Tea • Wine • Pasta • Italian


"We were looking so much forward to this evening. Having eaten at a few michelin starred restaurants around the world we had some expectations for food and service. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed with Locanda Locatelli. We were a party of 4 and it was a birthday dinner. The only really good dish was the sepia antipasto, all the other dishes were average or below, felt totally uninspired and were far from 1 michelin star quality. E.g. the burrata antipasto was boring, lacked salt and some acidity. The gnocchi with goat cheese and truffle were nice, but it would have tasted exactly the same without the truffle, as we could neither smell nor taste this truffle, even though ther was abundantly on the dish, we found this very strange... Also the fried zucchini lacked salt and were hence not as pleasant to eat as they could have been. Also, in a restaurant like this, I expect the chef to greet the guests at some point during the evening, which unfortunately did not happen. Also, we got unlucky with our waitress. We had 2 people in our party that only spoke Italian and we got the only waitress who didn't speak the language. She was friendly, but also very insecure and I always felt pity when she presented the dishes because she did this in a very peculiar way. Also, to be honest, all these fabric bracelets around her wrists felt very unhygienic... All the other waiters, the maître d' and the sommelier were fantastic though! They also did their best to make up for it when we shared that we weren't happy about the food. It is for this quality of service that I give 3 stars to this post. Service 5, Food 2!"