Alba

I have been visiting the Alba coffee shop for just over two years and can honestly say that this is one of the best Independant coffee shops in the City! The service, standard of coffee and the warm welcome you receive make this a special place!! Can recommend the croissants and traditional Italian pastries which are freshly made on the premises. Excellent place to relax and unwind.
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, January 22, 2013

I'm a young student of the Guildhall Conservatoire at the Barbican Centre and a few months ago I've had the privilege to find the lovely and very distinguished coffee shop of this restaurant. Since then I've never stopped going there during my lunch breaks, every single day. I'm italian myself and I know what a good coffee or a good pasta tastes like. The quality of the food (authentic italian products such as delicious piadine, excellent pasta and coffee) is excellent. Prices are moderate and actually very low if you consider the quality and variety of everything. What is even more excellent is surely the staff working there. Only a young and nice barmaid who always makes the atmosphere very enjoyable, constantly ready to serve me straight away if I have a class in ten minutes and open to every need, be it a friendly joke or a delicious real espresso. She clearly loves her job, it's an easy thing to feel and to see which means a lot for a customer, it really makes the place cosy and ideal for a little break. No surprise then if the great british actress Fiona Shaw -just to mention the last famous personality I met there- is sitting next to me having hot chocolate. Great place. Recommended to everyone. Andrea
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Andrea
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Had an xmas party here. The kitchen struggled to cope with a full restaurant, so they should refuse larger groups - mains were served in three sittings, with a fair wait.

The food was unremarkable. The artichoke and mozzarella starter I had was some way below average - with the artichoke heart cooked hard. It was like eating razor blades. Mushroom risotto was fair, but nothing special. I didn't stay for my dessert.

Over-priced and over-rated.

There is an attached coffee shop. I've been there twice. The first time, I got bored waiting for the waitress to finsih her personal conversations before serving me, and left.

No. Just no.
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5 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Friday, January 04, 2013

Having been there for an enjoyable lunch a few months ago, I went there for dinner at the end of last week. The restaurant was almost empty, which I don't mind provided that the service is not slow, which it was on occasion. The starters - gravadlax and crusted goat's cheese - were good, although I thought that almost £8 for what was essentially a slice of goat's cheese was a little OTT. On the other hand, the salmon came in a good helping. The mains, ox cheek and risotto were excellent: however, again, the ox cheek came with no greens (none had been offered or separately listed in the menu) which at the cost was not good. I had ordered a side salad for the risotto, which was good but was charged at an extortionate £6 (not listed on the menu). However the real issue was with puddings, which were tiny! How you can justify serving a sliver of tart at £7 is beyond me, when places such as The Boundary serve an enormous and excellent tarte tatin for £8.50! Affrogato - two tiny scoops of icecream in an enormous glass and an espresso - was also £7. I will not be going back, not because the food was not good, but it was overpriced for what it was. For the same money, there is much, much better in London.
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5 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, February 08, 2011