La Famiglia Restaurant

I used to live in Fulham and went to La Famiglia a few times a month. We then moved out, but I have always come back, less frequently, but a few times a year. It was a favourite restaurant of mine, until the last time I went, a few weeks ago. I had invited a few friends, and had promised them a lovely evening. ......The waiters spoke in false Italian accents. I was seated outside, next to tables that were allowed to smoke. They were clearly friends of the owners, as no one who worked at the restaurant cared. The food had deteriorated. I won't be going back. I have been to la Famiglia more than 100 times

Truly one of the most awful dining experiences I’ve had to suffer in London. Their ‘set menu’ dishes looked like they had been mass produced. The chicken was tasteless (and raw in parts), and their dessert was inedible.The sort of thing you’d get at a terrible buffet. The service was incredibly slow, and the waiters completely failed to make eye contact with the customers. Never again.

Great fun, busy restaurant with good food in a nice area.

La Famiglia is lovely, but you do get the feeling that the regulars get the Rolls Royce treatment, and everyone else gets Skoda. Allocation of tables is just one example where I suspect this happens.
The food is expensive but it's good. And you really do feel like you've been transported to Tuscany when you go there.

My favourite restaurant in London. The staff are charming and attentive so I cannot understand the bad reviews of this very traditional Tuscan establishment, but what I can say is that if you don't like garlic then ask for the dishes without it or don't go to an Italian restaurant. The beef tagliata and the grilled tuna are my favourite dishes - absolutely delicious and if you don't want to spend a lot of money of wine then the house wine is very good. Will go back again and again...

I have to visit this establishment at least twice a month as my client insists on going there. I think I've eaten here no less than 25 times.
The place is always packed with old money Chelsea. You would think it was an amazing experience. It is in my opinion the worst food I've ever tasted. Seriously, 3 times I've had to take days off work after a bad experience hours after eating. The presentation is dire, everything tastes of garlic, i detect no seasoning and frankly i wouldn't give my generous leftovers to a dog. It reminds me of 1950's school dinners with added garlic. The sweet trolly just about comes up to standard. Service has always been good. But the 6 or so colleagues (except client) that join us agree with me on the food. I really don't know why people go there.

WORST SERVICE EVER!

The place was empty (except for one other couple), its 11:00 at night and they sit us at a table by the door which is cold (it's January). We asked (in a polite and friendly manner) to move and the waiter looked as though we'd asked if we could please dine naked or something, as if it was unheard of and bizarre. He said he would "ask someone for us" and rushed off looking very nervous. Another couple walked in and whoosh of the cold air was enough to make us get up so we stood there waiting for the host to say it was alright. The host walked around ignoring our little waiter, who was following him at his heels looking absolutely petrified, for about 6 minutes, which is quite a long time in a nearly empty restaurant when you're standing by the door. SO, my husband and I gave up, walked to another nearby table in the nearly empty restaurant and sat down. The host came over and asked that we move AGAIN to a table two tables down. NOW- here is the interesting part. When we asked why, the host told us that the table we were sitting at was reserved. There was nothing special about either of these tables, and there was no ostensible difference in size or location from the table where we were sat and the table that we were being asked to get up and move to. When we asked the host what the difference was between this table and the other table he barked at us, "ORDER FOOD, YOUR ORDER FOOD" and took out his little notepad. At this point my husband and I were like 'actually we won't thanks' and got up and left.

I'm so sick of london servers not understanding they're actually meant to expedite the verb that doubles as their freaking job title.

Okay so, yes, I can't rate the food because the SERVICE WAS SO RUDE I actually stormed out. I've lived in Central London for six and a half years, I eat out ALL the time and this is the ONLY time I've ever stormed out of a place absolutely furious.

Very authentic Italian restaurant. Italian staff and amazing Italian food at a very affordable price. Cannot recommend enough.

HORRIBLE STAFF ATTITUDE - good food

Booked by phone, hostess insisted abou 5 times that I give my surname rather then first name. Only when she saw that I might change my mind and take another restaurant, she accepted the booking.
Arrived at 8pm on a Saturday evening. Cute restaurant, nice atmosphere though half empty on a Saturday night in the heart of Chelsea, atmosphere looked promising. Been sat on a nice table, not too close to the neighbour, breadbasked on the table already. Bread dry and not definitely not home made, grissini sticks nice touch and the olive butter heavenly. Only when the menus arrived we saw that the breadbasked was £ 1.80 per person. Don't mind paying for it, but in this case I felt cheated.
Good menu with promising dishes. Food was excellently prepared. Description of the wine was lousy, did not reach to the expectations.
Waiters were something between 30 and 60 yo. Normally you'd expect a great service from people that age (like the guys in La Brasserie in South Ken), but there was no interaction at all, most of them looked horribly grumpy.
For main I ordered grilled Sardines and after having had in Italy many times grilled Sardines, I expected small fish with soft bones, where bones were no problem. The waiter took the order without any comment. Fish arrived, 3 big fish, about 15 to 20 cm. Full of bones, very difficult to eat. After giving it a go with the first fish, I gave up and called the waiter. Explained to him that these fish are impossible to eat. In a very friendly tone. He took a snotty look at me, said he will call his colleague. An old gentleman came, asked me what the problem was. I explained, he kept interrupting me, told me that I am wrong, I didn't have Sardines in Italy, their way is the only way to prepare Sardines. He didn't want to have my feedback and I insisted that he takes the fish back as even after filleting it correcly myself it was still inedible. Again a snotty look and he took the plate away without so much as a sorry. The attitude of the hostess, the snotty waiter, the attitude of that old guy who wasn't able at all to handle complaints completely spoiled the dinner for me. We wanted to have desserts and as usual coffees after dinner but after this poor experience we just paid the bill (2 starters, 2 mains, breadbasket, water, half bottle wine £ 67) and left. Of course, they did not remove the fish (£ 10) from the bill.
What a shame. Good food, nice decor but we will certainly no go back and this is due to the attitude of the staff. The restaurant is around for already 40 years but it was half empty on a Saturday night.

This is the first time ever I bother to rate a restaurant. The experience at La Famiglia was so bad, that I just feel the urge to tell. We went there on May bank holiday for a family lunch. Although we arrived before the crowd (there was only one couple there before us), we were offered the worst table in the restaurant, right opposite the entrance. As this was very drafty, we asked if they had another table. The answer of the "Head of Seating" was, "No, not for three". Later other groups of three arrived and even without reservation were offered other tables. This happened right before our eyes.
This Seating Master turned out to be our waiter. While taking our orders, he all of a sudden turned his back on us, rushed to the door and placed arriving guests, leaving us in the middle of the sentence. He did this twice, without even a word of excuse. I haven't experienced anything like this before, nowhere in the world. After my husband and I had ordered, he wanted to run away again, although we had not ordered anything for our child yet, and when I dared to ask what they offered for children as there was no children's menu and the dishes were not suitable for small children, he literally snatched the menu from my hands, hastily telling me two dishes and looking really annoyed. At this point we should have left the restaurant, our good spirits were gone, but we did not want to go and find another restaurant at that time of day. So we waited for the starter to come and it came very quickly. Too quickly, as did the main course.
My rocket salad with parmesan was a tiny portion with 4 little pieces of Parmesan for 8.50. The "dressing" consisted basically of very acidy vinegar. My husband's carpaccio was totally tasteless and seemed to have been prepared days ago.
We had ordered wine by the glass, a "Chianti" was offered and brought. It tasted lousy and was the cheapest stuff you can find. It is really not difficult to find drinkable and affordable wines in Italy and in a restaurant of this price category you really wonder why they insult their customer's tastebuds with such a bad wine.
The main courses: my fish was OK, but nothing to write home about. The sauce for my husband's meat tasted like the stuff they serve in factory canteens from 10-liter buckets.
We did not take the risk of a pudding, but asked for the bill. The toddler's portion of Penne Bolognese was charged with 10 pounds.

We go out a lot and have been to restaurants all over Europe, but this visit to La Famiglia stands out as one of the worst, if not THE worst.
I can absolutely not understand the overwhelming reviews on this site. If you don't care how the food tastes or how unfriendly the waiter is, but want to show off your Hermes-handbag or your Moncler-Jacket, by all means, go there. But if you want to have a nice meal, even the big chains offer better food and service.

A lovely place for dinner. Excellent food and service. I love the place. Ideal for a date!
Staff was perfect in finding the right balance between discretion, advice and doing their work.
For less than £60 for an excellent dinner with dessert and wine, totally worth the experience.

Probably one of the best Italian in London, great food, excellent service. Very traditional menu, mainly influenced by disches from Tuscany.

A great place for romantic dinner.

My most favourite restaurant, and a Chelsea institution.

I order something different every time- and it is always delicious- right down to the olive oil.

Been delighting diners for years. A little bit of Tuscany in Chelsea.

The food is memorable.
The service is excellent (I left a huge tip)
The desert trolley is worth saving space for.

Not the cheapest of Italian meals, but certainly one you'll remember for a very long time.

A nice cosy Italian restaurant that offers an excellent selection of top quality seasonal meals.

Their mushroom risotto was certainly among the best I ever had and the seafood starters I tried were all excellent as well. The duck flavoured with the delicious sweet sauce for the main was also outstanding. There is generally a good variety of pasta and other meat dishes on offer too. And the tiramisu for desert was truly exceptional, producing sweet overtones at just the right level.

And while the general setting is fairly simple, as one would often find in family run Italian restaurants, the quality of the food and the attitude of the very friendly staff generate a very pleasant atmosphere. Overall, this place is probably among the best one can find for high class authentic Italian cuisine.

A part of Italy in Fulham, this really fels like an italian trattoria transplanted to Fulham,Real wholesome Italian food, attentive waiters, no pretentiousness, I felt like I was in Tuscany, and sensible prices, i believe the’ve been there 20 years and you can understand why, And the Angel hair pasta in truffle sauce was heavenly, Go and enjoy

It’s nice to see that some things never change. La Famiglia is one of them. It really does feel like a family run place and everyone makes you feel very welcome.
Not too busy on a Tuesday lunchtime, so no need to book (or is this the first sign of the recession biting).
The food was a little bit too rich & salty for my liking (melanzane, followed by grilled chicken with mustard sauce), my own fault for not opting for the risotto. The dessert trolley is a killer - I would love to come back for afternoon tea and try some of their cakes.

One of my favourite restaurants in London. It’s classic Chelsea with a Tuscan tradition that is - and feels - genuine. We are greeted with a smile, taken to a table even without a booking and from then everything goes well, great service, nice table, nice traditionnal decor with pictures of the “Family” hung on the white walls all in white and blue tones, and fantastic food. The menu is classic Italian Trattoria (no pizza) with strong influence from Tuscany: great pasta (I recommend the wild boar pappardelle), meat (rabbit is great) and fish (sea bass). This is a wonderful place for a family lunch over the weekend, particularly if you have young children - they will be very welcome and feel at home. In the summer they have a great terrasse at the back which feels like being… away in the South. Not exactly cheap but fair for the food and location (lunch for 2 plus 2 children was £100). Good for a romantic evening or a dinner with another couple of friends too.

Best Italian in town I love it.
Great with kids, great for a romantic meal. Fab staff

Lovely family run italian restaurant.

Starter, main course, dessert, wine = £40