Strada (Battersea)

I visited Strada on 29 July 2009. On the whole, I found the experience quite disappointing.

I used to live in the Wapping area and regularly visited the Strada in St Katherine's Dock. It is a decent quality restaurant (although there is a strange faint chemical smell inside the restaurant). So I had high expectations for the Battersea outlet. My complaints were as follows.

First, it is incredibly noisy inside the restaurant. It was full restaurant restaurant (I went on a 2 mains for the price of 1 night) but nonetheless the accoustics cannot be right if I can't hear a word my wive sitting directly opposite me is saying. This is also a problem at St Katherine's, except it is not so busy so the noise is not a problem.

Second, the quality of the ribeye was poor. I actually was seeking to order the beef fillet, which is (or was) a dish available at St Katherine's. However the fillet was not available, so I had to settle for the ribeye. I asked the waitress for my steak to be rare. Her english was obviously not the best because she replied "medium?" I replied "rare, rare, rare". When it came out - you guessed it- it was medium to well done. It was dry and full of gristle. My wive's dish of seafood Linguine was not much better. Rather bland.

The only consolation was that I had a two meals for the price of one voucher. However, I would not have paid more than the £25 it cost us for two (certainly I would have felt ripped off if I had paid £16 for the dry overcooked steak).

Overall, a fairly disappointing experience. I am unlikely to return. To be fair, I went on a high.
Comment on this reader review

David S
4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Thursday, July 30, 2009