Spacca Napoli

I had a couple of italian friends visiting London on saturday and , when it was time to eat something, I thought: "What better place than Spaccanapoli?!"

We were late, around 10.30 pm, so I hoped in a fast service; but I was wrong. The place was busy, thus we ordered 2 starters, just to soothe our appetite, anticipating the fact that the pizza would have been served quite late (from a previous experience). On his way back from the toilet, one of my friends heard the waiters arguing over our starters, which, from two that we ordered, became one. When the waiter arrived to the table, he pretended that it was his decision to come only with one plate, so we could have decided whether to go for a second one or not, giving us the chance to save some money ;-) No harm done so far. It was enough, and it was also good food.

When we finished the plate, we had to wait for a good 40 minutes, before we could take a bite of our pizzas. Luckily for us, we had a lot of things to talk about, and, although we realised that we were waiting for a long time, we didnt let this spoil our little "get together".

By the time we finished to eat, the staff (along with the "pizzaiuoli") started to wind out after the busy shift and they had the brilliant idea of talking loud in neapolitan slang (one of my 2 friends is from Naples too), oblivious of our (and 3 more people`s) presence. The waiter who was carrying our coffees, stalled for a couple of minutes with the tray in his hands, to finish to listen to the colourful story that his fellow colleagues were telling. Needless to say that we got to drink cold coffees.

After struggling to get the waiter`s attention for the second time, we managed to ask for the bill and, when we feared that we had to wait other 20 minutes, we asked for it again, disturbing the waiter`s peace. At this stage he couldnt help gesturing with his hands to admonish us to be, perhaps, a bit "too impatient".

This review is to let the manager understand that he should tell his waiters to be more polite and spend more time on the cleaning rota (toilet-check in particular), rather than fooling around and pulling attitudes.

The pizza is always VERY GOOD!!!
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Luca
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 9
Monday, April 06, 2009

I am a regular of Spaccanapoli having been introduced to it by an Italian friend of mine, and it really is a truly authentic Italian restaurants. Forget the chain restaurants that we all know of, this is a one off with dishes particular to south Italy now available in London.

Don't just go there for the proper wood fired pizza but try some of the unusual pasta's which you just won't find in Bertocelli's or Pizza Express. Anti pasti is a stong point here.

Its rather chaotic - in a very Italian way, but the food arrives on time and is of a high standard. Once you are known as a regular, the staff always do their best to accommodate you and if you are not, make sure you book ahead otherwise you will have to wait for a table. Give it a try and taste the difference
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Simon
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Went for a meal twice at the restaurant in January 2009. Busy and full of buzz and noise (which was good).

Plenty of Italians in the restaurant which we took to be a good sign.

First meal was good, second meal (I had a pizza) wasn't that great. Pizza was dry and boring.

I would eat there again but...... this restaurant must have the worst, dirtiest, smelly toilets of any I have ever been to.

You can come across this sort of thing on a bad night, but on BOTH occassions is unforgivable. Some say a restaurants toilets is a reflection of it's kitchen (i.e. how clean). Yuk.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Thursday, February 19, 2009

I went to spacca napoli on 28.01.09 I was with my friends 7 of us, we had a table dowstairs in front of the pizza oven, about 9.20. We had a very nice pizza.

By 11.20 they start cleaning ,we were still eating, we had a really strong smell of bleach, which wasn't very nice ,, then they open the door to get read of the smell, and we were freezing, we ask to go upstairs the waiter said you want the bill,

It was really disapointed, no manager came to apologise or offer a drink or something.

I won't definitly come back, the food is good but the service has to improve.
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table was booked under Celia
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Saturday, January 31, 2009

Last weekend I went to Spaccanapoli with a group of friends. We heard so much about this place, that we decided to try it... But what a disappointment!

We got there at around 10pm, sat at the table and ordered a pizza each with a drink. Apparently, the pizzas are the signature dish of this place, however we found it to be of poor quality, the dough was very chewy and not cooked properly... My knowlegde in pizzas is not great, but I can definitely tell you that the one I've eaten at Made in Italy restaurant was much more taster.

Even if the food was mediocre, I have to admit that the service was good, the waiters were really friendly and professional.
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, December 23, 2008

I am a little disappointed about this place. I used to love it and always found the pizzas were the most amazing in London but after last time, well I have to change my mind.

We booked a table for six for 9pm as there was nothng available at 8.30. We walked in and even after been greeted in a rude manner by the waiter / head waiter sweating and running around we decided to wait for our table as this wasn't ready. You wait, and wait and wait until finally at 9.40 we managed to sit down. *Please bare in mind that this is not the first time this happened ... it seems to be a usual thing to make customers who have reserved wait*

The food was good, don't get me wrong but the pizza has this thick crust which wasn't crunchy and believe as an italian myself... that is not what an italian pizza is about!

Even saying so, please try this place but be ready to wait and wait and wait for the table, the drinks, the food and wait even more for the bill! Seems like they didn't want us to leave!
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AF
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A great meal! The atmosphere was lively but not too loud; all staff were really friendly and service was prompt. We went for a pre-theatre meal, and as we were tight for time we were happy to find that the food arrived without any delays.

The food itself was delicious. Main course portions were ample, and starters and desserts looked pretty well-sized too. Pizzas were cooked to perfection in a proper pizza oven: a thin base but deliciously thick crust. Highly recommended.
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Anna
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Monday, July 14, 2008

Are you looking for the real Italian food, atmosphere and fun? Spacca Napoli is the best place where you should go and get all. The menu is plenty of choises, i really suggest the fantastic aubergine roll, dry tomatoes and the amazing mozzarella di bufala. After that you have to try The Pizza, with friarielli & salsiccia made from two expert guys (Michele & Nicola). All the staff is wonderfull, helpfull and kind.

I wanna say really Thanks to Francesco, Francesco da Ischia and Luigi for the great time I spend there
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Erica
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Cracking Napoli-style Pizza. Really authentic. Have been several times and never fails to be top quality.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Fantastic food.

The food is truely excellent. The prawn and mussel chilli linguini is the best item on the menu. For the first time of my life I ended up eating 2 pizzas with peperoni. You dont get better pizzas outside of italy (and inside as well). The staff friendly and attentive. And best of all the prices are reasonably too!
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Jan
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, May 19, 2008