Terranostra

Really good restaurant, but waiters say it will be closing down at end of June, with a view to relocation.

Old Bailey area a bit dead at night, nearby Balls Brothers not what it used to be, but with light nights the Old Bailey itself an impressive building, street has stone seats and little quiet area opposite Old Bailey if you are early..

Would recommend stuffed squids, veal steaks "nodino di vitello", Terre Brune red wine. And is a nice vibe in hot weather when the large window to the street is open.

But go soon.

Have eaten here only three times, always superb food, gentle unobtrusive service, and baffling lack of custom, though a high proportion of Japanese.
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BillS - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, May 30, 2011

Stumbled across this restaurant earlier this week down a quiet side street off Ludgate Hill and what a find ! Delicious, reasonably priced Sardinian food. We had the set menu which had a good varied selection. My mozzarella starter and lamb main were both excellent. The staff and owner were extremely good - friendly and efficient. Will definitely be going back.
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Kate
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Friday, October 01, 2010

Very good meal here. The down side is that even on a Thursday the place is not very full in the evening, but thats the city for you. I hope it does good lunch trade as it deserves to, and on the plus side, it does mean deals are available, but there's no getting round that you have to be happy to make your own atmosphere at night. The staff though are fantastic and do go a long way to minimising the lack of bustle-nice, effusive and friendly throughout. The restaurant doesn't look great from outside, situated in the incongruously cheap looking parade of shops opposite the old bailey, but inside its modern and comfortable, with quite an upmarket feel.

The food most importantly, was good or very good, with plenty of sardinian specialities, a tuna tartare was good, but over heavy on capers and lemon juice, but both pasta dishes we had were excellent. A porcini pasta was one of the best I've had, a really generous, amount of excellent earthy mushrooms, top notch. A bottarga spaghetti was generous with the dried roe, which was not over pungent but had a great depth of flavour. Also very good was spicy sardinian sausage. The wine list also has some interesting Sardinian wine, and the top stuff such as Terre Brune has barely any markup. This place has great staff, good to very good food and reasonable prices. It deserves to be busier. An example of the great service was even though we were eating on an offer, and the last couple in the restaurant, we were still brought a free limoncello. We'll definitely be back.
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8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Monday, September 27, 2010

My brother and I ate here and had a fantastic meal. The food was well cooked and the service attentive without being intrusive. I definitely recommend the Buratro (similar to mozzarella, but creamier) for starter. We are taking our Dad for his birthday at the end August.
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Tia
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, August 13, 2010

A simple business lunch was dampened by a lacklustre dining experience.

My starter of dry mullet roe with spaghetti was disappointing in that the 1/100th of a tea spoon of roe left me with a rather bland (and undercooked) meal. My colleague’s calamari was poorly plated, yet apparently pleasant to eat.

Mains consisted of a serving of ravioli, devoid of any condiment whatsoever(?), and a tuna steak with asparagus and fresh tomato. The tomato halves (all 3 of them!) were the highlight as the tuna was over-seasoned and over-cooked ("rare" I said to the waitress twice, to no avail). The side serve of wilted mixed lettuce leaves was useful in that when eaten in volume, it cloaked the excessive seasoning of the tuna.

Food aside, the setting is relatively pleasant as are the staff. Prices are reasonable, though you get what you pay for, nearly.
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Z
5 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Thursday, July 01, 2010