La Porchetta (Islington)

This was an absolute joke. the service was terible it took an hour and a half before the food arrived. the pizza had to be reheated because a medium rare steak was not ready after 1h 20m. So you would hope that the taste would redeem the whole experiance, but guess what it didn't the steak tasted like something you would get on the Dover to Calais ferry. The pizza which was la porchetta named after the restaurant and the most expensive was horrible it tasted like bad falafel from Camden at 3:30 in the morning which haunts you for the next week. Do not go to this slop kitchen, go to anywhere else. I guarentee it will be better.
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Bran
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Friday, December 09, 2011

Love the new look, food is great as always. Good for family lunches on weekend, staff make an effort with my kids. Will be having my 40th birthday here next month, and i recomend it to everyone!
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Juli
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, March 08, 2011

I am completely shocked by the poor reviews of this place. Many of my friends have been here before and said its lovely. Being my first time, I checked out the reviews beforehand. I admit that I didn't not want to go at all! Reluctantly, I went. I'm so glad I tried this place for myself. The pizzas are huge! Loaded with toppings and very reasonable prices. The service was as you would hope. They even do a carafe of house wine, La Porchetta is great for a cheap meal out.
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Danielle Steward
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 9
Sunday, January 16, 2011

The service at this branch is diabolical, we were ignored for several minutes when we arrived by the girl standing directly in front of us.

We were then shoved down stairs, in what seemed like a cellar, and the urinals were leaking all over the floor.

Do not go here.
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Stuey - View all reviews by this user
1 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Probably the worst service i've had, period! It took 45 minutes to even get a drink to our table! One of the waitresses who served us had no knowledge of English. The guy who came after us, and who was sat behind us, got served his food and finished it by the time we were still waiting on our starters. Once we finally got our starters and we were still eating it, our mains got served. So we had to rush with your starter so the main wouldn't get cold!! Didn't want to send them back either, otherwise we would have stayed there for hours before they would have been served again!

Do not recommend this place what so ever. Even though the food was ok, the service absolutely killed it!!
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Kat
3 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Lovely, fabulous staff, amazing food. 100%
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enrico
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, October 01, 2010

About the worst meal I have had in London so far. If you value your health at all, you give this place a miss. Had the gorgonzola pizza and it was basically a cheese and salt soup on pizza dough. My partners calzone had heaps and heaps of cheap mozzarella and not much else. As a Personal Trainer and Nutritional Consultant, I can only advise anyone to give this place a miss (each pizza was about 2000 or more calories and the small piece I tried had a few grams of salt in it).

For the service, the waitress started to collect the plates from the appetisers while the rest of us were still eating, no one ever checked if we were happy with the food or if we needed anything (and it was clear that we were not).
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1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Thursday, May 20, 2010

Had the loveliest pizza here last night! Pizza Cantadino or something like that :) I recommend it mmmm
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9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Love this place have been coming here for years. I have small children and the kids love it here too.

Amazing pizza, can't fault it, really special place. The sort of place you go to with a group of friends, not an intimate romantic dinner! Brilliant
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Alex - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Sunday, March 21, 2010

Completely agree with the last reviewer. My teenage son and I were craving a nice pizza last night and decided to try this place. It was so cramped that none of our neighbours - and there were a lot of them - could move their chair to leave or visit the washroom without disturbing us. We ordered a prawn-based started each, with a garlic bread to share. The starters arrived, but without the garlic bread. I reminded the waitress that we were missing it; she nodded, then disappeared around the corner. No news of the garlic bread until much later, when we had finished our starters. We decided to be generous and asked them to put it in a box to take home. Although they knew that we were having a main, they dumped the take-away box on the tiny table. We politely explained that we needed the space to eat our mains, and could they put it somewhere else for us to pick up on our way out.

We had one Margherita each, because we genuinely like Margherita pizzas. La Porchetta's had very little flavour, and so was another disappointment.

It was not a good experience. The waiters were bickering and there was a general air of poor co-operation. We may have been unlucky and happened to visit on a bad night, though somehow I doubt it. I know places where £20 per head will get you a much better eating-out experience all round, and will certainly avoid La Porchetta Upper Street.

As often happens in establishments where the service is poor, service charge was willy-nilly added to the bill. I was too tired to dispute this, and reasoned that the charge was worth it for the lesson I learned about this place.

If time and distance are no object, Venezia in Stroud Green Road and Il Bacio in Blackstock Road do a much better pizza.
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Islington Mamma
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 2
Friday, December 18, 2009