Bocca di Lupo

This has become our new favourite in Soho!

From the first moment we walked in (without a reservation), they treated us as if we were friends coming back to enjoy another meal. The fun of dining was equally matched by the cuisine.

Whether sitting at the bar or a table, the service has always been top notch.

You are spoiled for choice and more often than not, we rely on the wait staff to guide us to something exceptional.

Have tried a dozen different dishes and remain amazed at how well the chef uses unusual flavour combinations to create some excellent dishes.

The place has a good buzz and is not fussy. Great people watching.

Our only complaint would be one waiter who was going through the motions. At most restaurants, he would be the best they had; Here he looked a bit foolish.

So, go... enjoy. It has gotten hugely popular, so you now need to make sure that you have a reservation.

They have a convenient pre-theatre seating as well which is perfect as the restaurant sits in the middle of TheatreLand.
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rob
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Friday, September 24, 2010

We went to Bocca di Lupo on saturday for lunch. As starters we took crudita di mare (good) and porcini (good quality but prepared with no inspiration). As main we had large portion of grilled porcini, rustic pork and foie gras sausage (small portion) and caponata (small). We enjoyed the sausage but caponata and the porcini were not tasty. The cook managed to drown the porcini in oil and added to much garlic. In fact we couldn't taste any porcini at all (what a shame considering the GBP 24), the caponata also drown in oil and slushy. We had wine by the glass nero d'avola (2) and hiera (1) which was very nice. We liked the atmosphere at the bar, however the service was poor (quite friendly but slow and unheeding). The bill came at GBP 99 (inkl 12.5% for above plus single espresso and bottle of water). We think thats way too much for quantity and quality (of preperation).
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Marc & Anna
5 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Sunday, September 19, 2010

I am making an effort to review the places I like, rather than use this as a complaint forum!

Well, the food here was amazing. We had a brilliant starter: a salad of black and red radishes in truffle dressing. Followed by daily special, aubergine parmagana and a salt baked sea bass and a couple of desserts. Loved it all.

The poundage compared to the quality is pretty good where the bill came to £75 after a few glasses of preseco and coffees.

Italians can easily bore and when the food is even made well can fall short of inspiring.

This place, however, tantalized my taste buds.
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Simon Shaer - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Sunday, September 12, 2010

When we first arrived the atmosphere was buzzing and we were professionally whisked to our seats at the chef's counter. Which gave us an amazing view of the chefs cooking at tremendous speed and agility. We started off the evening with a glass of prosecco, and then ordered six small plates to enable to experience more flavours.

The shaved radish, cleriac & pecorino salad with pomegranates and truffle oil, was stunning. With even the small dish being enough for two to share. We also tried the artichoke a la guida, which looked like a golden flower when presented. Unfortunately it was a little too greasy for my tastes, but what did I expect ordering a fried dish?!

The next four dishes we ordered were nettle and chard pasta with walnut sauce, which was lovely. I just wanted that dish to continue forever. The oven backed pollack with tomatoes and olives, just felt like something I was fed as a child by my Italian mother. So I was smitten with dish too. The other two dishes were sides, however one being the a tomato and olive panzarella and the other a broad bean, pea and onion dish. Both were of a very high standard.

All this while watching the chefs go about their amazing job.

We washed this down with a Sicilian Grillo, which was very fresh. Unfortunately our waiter forgot to bring the bottle over and we had to remind him, which put us off him a little.

We finished the meal with a couple of glasses of Moscato di Noto. We had an amazing experience that evening, however near the end of the night, our aforementioned waiter brought over a pasta bought written by the head chef for us to view and potentially buy, which we thought was a bit much.

Overall, the food was amazing, our seats directly in front of the chefs were great, wine very good, however the pushy waiter, not so much.
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tino
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Friday, June 04, 2010

You have to choose CAREFULLY at Bocca di Lupo. Had a rather disappointing experience there recently. I am perfectly aware of the fact that good ingredients cost good money, but some of the dishes here take the biscotto.

Nine quid for a few cubes of Mortadella accompanied by some perspiring cubes of parmesan which had taken on a clay-like texture due to lack of fluids. A similar price for a kind of fritto misto - two prawns, six pieces of squid - two tentacles, six rings and a few aubergine batons - now that's just ridiculous.

To be fair though, excellent beef tagliata and a fantastic 'rustic' pork and foie gras sausage served with pearl barley.

The quality of food here, for the most part, is great. The service a little skittish. But the key thing is that I left feeling, to be honest, pretty ripped off.
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Pheasant Plucker
6 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Sunday, May 23, 2010

Our third visit to BdL and I have to admit now the emperor really has no clothes. We arrived on the dot for our 1030pm sitting to find a queue of four other tables all waiting to be seated in the narrow entrance area; not a good start. While we were waiting we took a cheeky look at the reservation system which revealed that some tables had had three sittings that evening. If the restaurant is going to pack people in so aggressively then it needs to make sure it keeps tables punctual; we were shown to ours at about ten to eleven....

Previously we had been seated at the sides, this time we had a table for four in the centre of the room which meant we were knocked from both sides by the constant passing staff. Maybe that was made me notice just how close together the tables are (the guy behind me kept accidentally nudging me when he moved) and, also, just how small. Though perhaps they are deliberately small as at a normal sized table you wouldn't be able to hear your dining companions above the din of the room.

Ok, so on to the food. The starters arrived at 1130pm, one hour after our reservation time. I had the risotto with asparagus and broad beans to start, which was pleasant enough but pretty bland and several pieces of the asparagus were not cooked properly. For the main course two of us ordered the suckling pig, but shortly before the starters arrived our waiter came to tell us that he had just been told there was no more available. The main course menu at BdL is short enough without them running out of one just 3 meat options, but this happens, especially at the end of the evening, but it was pretty poor that it took them half an hour after we ordered to tell us this and ask us to make a second choice. We went for the tagliata di manzo, which is a permanent feature on the menu, and pretty good but it should be at the price.

The redeeming feature of the evening was the (very cute) waiter, who kept apologising for the delay and the problems. As we left I felt a sigh of relief as I can now free myself from the tyranny of trendiness and admit finally that Bocca di Lupo just isn't that good!
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Mark
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Sunday, May 16, 2010

This restaurant has become my absolute favourite.

It's great for as a couple: casual at the bar, or formal at a table or with friends at the amazing distressed wood tables in the hubub of the main room.

Nothing seems to match it in terms of price for quality. The menu is so challenging and yet comforting, i feel i can take someone there to impress them or celebrate but just as easily pop in for a pre theatre bite at the counter for a tenner.

i just can't stop myself going again and again!
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Really wanted to enjoy this restaurant as I love Italian food and had heard good things about it (albeit mainly from newspaper reviewers rather than the general public!). As it was, the evening was pleasant enough thanks to good company, but the food and service was a huge let down - so much so that we left after our main course and bought ice cream on the way home rather than stay for dessert.

The food was very hit and miss, we had about 4 starters to share, the bocconcini were tastless and soggy whereas the suppli were pretty nice, the prosciutto was fine, but at £13.50 for 4 thin slices, massively overpriced. The beef tagliata was v. good but the sides again were distinctly average to poor and at £7.50 for some roast potatoes, I would expect more than 7 tiny ones, the peas weren't very nice. The quality was certainly no better than that you'd get in a mediocre supermarket in Italy.

All in all, we were disappointed, we were in and out in just over an hour, our waiter was sweating from running around so much and we felt rushed from start to finish. The good points are that it was nice to sit at the bar to eat, and I would probably recommend just sitting at the bar having a drink and nibbles, but not much more.
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5 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Disappointing

Another big 'miss' by Giles Coren and Co. It has started to dawn on me that maybe Coren, and many of his colleagues, actually know very little of good gastronomy.

The lunch didn't start well, the chef's counter is much too high for the stools which resulted in a very uncomfortable dining experience. The food took approximately 45 minutes (it was however quite busy) to arrive. The foie gras sausages tasted very mediocre (could have been served at any pub). The beef ravioli was sloppy and had very little taste. The filling is much too petite to overcome the taste of pasta and sauce. The size of the 'large' ravioli dish was also rather minute, so small actually that even the waiter thought he might have made a mistake with the order. He brought back the dish smiling and saying 'Yes, it is actually the large'. The artichoke 'chips' were quite good, however. The whole time I thought, 'Strada isn't so bad'.

The price of the meal wasn't over the top but the food should be a lot better to warrant some of the good reviews it received. The kitchen also seems a little chaotic. We saw too many mistakes by the chefs.

This place has potential but my word it needs some work.
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Andy
6 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, April 19, 2010

I've been at Bocca di Lupo with my Partner to celebrate our anniversary. We are both Italian, hence we have a pretty good understanding of a good Italian restaurant in London...Bocca di Lupo is DEFINITELY NOT ONE OF THEM.

The quality of the food is really poor, we had a mix of fried as starter and they were so oily that it was very difficult to eat them.

We then had the main course, bollito and scaloppine, and it was like eating an Italian dish cooked by a chef who moved from Italy 50 years ago...over seasoned, full of garlic, heavy sauce...

Talking about the service then, the waiters were really unresponsive and slow, we had to call the waiter 3 times for our order, we then waited for 20 minutes before getting our water and bottle of wine, and 20 minutes waiting to finally get the bill.

The bill...£120 for a 2 course dinner and 1 bottle of wine!

Not recommended...
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Silvia
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Thursday, April 15, 2010