Italian Kitchen

We've been there several times but our last visit was really disappointing. We had seafood risotto, was tasteless with few or none of the seafood and.... saffron? The pizza was dry and very small and was £9.95 overpriced for a decadent restaurant and second hand decor. Service 12.5% on top of the total bill quite dare for a non existent service. Just a trap for tourists.....never again from Italian cuisine it looks more English one.
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Clare Churchill
2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Monday, July 16, 2012

What a great meal we had today, Staff were great with the kids food was good and price was right for what we had thanks Italian Kitchen for a great time .
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claire Windsor
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Sunday, July 08, 2012

How things change - I came here with two friends mid-2011 year and it was fine. Contrast this with my experience with one friend in late February 2012.

a) we entered at 8pm and a waitress gave us a menu proudly boasting a two-course deal *on the front cover*, only to be told when we tried to order that this menu was not available after 7pm;

b) the waitress took our drinks order, but walked away whilst my dining companion was in mid-sentence with her order;

c) the waiter seemed preoccupied with two young female Spanish tourists, flirting and regularly leaning over their table to read their map (and pointing his bottom in my face whilst doing so), and shouting conversation with them even whilst he was in the process of servicing our table;

d) the icing on the cake was when the waiter shook my hand. It was to 'congratulate' me for persuading my female dining companion into paying the bill for me (a male) and he then made a big thing about Italian men never letting a woman pay for them! I found it inappropriate but my dining companion was shocked, particularly as neither of us is a regular at this restaurant and had never met this waiter before.

Food was overall average. I am all for supporting small local businesses but I shan't be back here for a while. I would caution anyone else considering patronising this establishment to beware.
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Lee - View all reviews by this user
4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Sunday, March 11, 2012

When I moved to London eight years ago, the Italian Kitchen was a welcome surprise and a regular haunt. In the past, it boasted an extensive menu that had innovative takes on traditional dishes.

BUT (and this is an important but) two years ago they slashed their menu by more than half. Conveniently however, they have left their older, more impressive menu online to fool unsuspecting customers.

I discovered this when I took a group of 15 there for my birthday. Not only was the selection pathetically slim, the preparation of the food was amateurish, sloppy, and simply unappetizing. I was so mortified I wound up picking up the check for the entire party, not feeling comfortable asking friends to pay for the experience.

Over two years later, the Italian Kitchen still posts an inaccurate menu on their site, making them not merely an inadequate restaurant, but either lazy or dishonest as a business. While it has always looked like a cheap tourist trap, now it actually is one.
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Ben
4 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Thursday, September 01, 2011

Have been here half a dozen times now over the past two years and it's always been up and down. After the last visit, however, I will not be going back. Mushroom bruschetta was literally mushrooms on toast - no herbs, no chopped onion, not even any seasoning. My pizza base was thick and undercooked and absolutely slathered in tomato paste. The ham topping looked like reformed ham slices that you buy in the fridge at Tesco and were only lukewarm. My largely untouched plate was collected with absolutely no comment. The food of my fellow diners was a little better, but presentation was mediocre and everything looked like it had just been thrown onto the plates with little care or thought. Disappointing.
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Paula
2 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Sunday, May 08, 2011

We went to the Italian Kitchen on Saturday as a party of 18. I had been and looked at the venue earlier in the day and was slightly worried by the shabbiness of the restaurant, but we all agreed that the food and service were excellent and would definitely go back.
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Judy Gregory
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Monday, March 07, 2011

Firstly - Unfriendly service - waitress was very impatient, tearing off order notes in front of our eyes.

Secondly - food was overpriced, tasteless and very basic.

A meal deal (about £8) said: salads for starter and chili pasta for main. For salads it was literally 3 leaves of salad in plate with some olive oil... Pasta - not cooked enough and taste was horribly overkilled with garlic chili... Minestrone soup - few small pieces of vegetables floating in water.

As London visitors, I think, we were caught in one of those "tourist one-off visiting restaurants"...

We've never had such a bad restaurant experience before!
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Mike
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, November 23, 2010

delicious food, good service, nice people, one of the few restaurants we visited twice.
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martinus fennena
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Monday, August 16, 2010