La Porchetta, Bloomsbury, London

I was looking for a bite around the Bloomsbury area last night and stumbled upon La Porchetta, which I would describe as a homely but reasonably stylish pizzeria with great service and a lovely feel about it.

In fact every aspect of the restaurant, from the classy tiling in the main dining section and toilets to the little personal touches (a couple of men on the table opposite asked for the bill but instead received a little limoncello and a small cake) – every aspect EXCEPT the food itself, would score around FOUR stars on most people’s scales. That is to say, hardly fine dining, but overall a pretty lovely place to come regularly, or to stumble upon and make you remember why you love discovering new places in London.

Unfortunately for the diner, however, the food is not four star by any means. Nor is the value for money good.

I was tempted by a lovely description of the specials that evening, however when the meatfest of a pizza arrived it looked and tasted greasy.

In fact: a greasy pizza served on a slightly undercooked base, with dull, low quality ingredients.

None of the crisp wood-fired oven edges you might hope from a traditional pizzeria, nor the fresh tastes that burst in your mouth. The tomato base was watery, and the cheese was heavy and utterly undelightful.

If this pizza had cost £6.50, I might have put it down to experience and moved on.

But the homogeneous taste of grease, oil, and crap meat described as the “chef’s special” cost me £11.95!

If this is on the specials menu, would I be right in assuming that the other standard non-special items on the menu were even worse?

My pizza was washed down with a glass of red. This restaurant serves just two reds by the glass (more if you buy a bottle) – naturally I chose the more expensive of the two, purely as a disappointment avoidance strategy – especially as I was dining alone.

Although this, the most expensive wine served by the glass, was hardly that expensive for London standards (just over four quid if I recall), it really was rubbish indeed.

Being the Brit that I am, I didn’t express my dissatisfaction at the time, in case I was judging it overly harshly and/or I was disproportionately grumpy for some other reason – so I said “yes, lovely” when asked.

But on reflection, having spent the best part of twenty quid on dinner for one that consisted of nothing more than a rubbish pizza and a rubbish glass of wine (plus the ubiquitous ‘discretionary’ service charge), I must say that was not twenty pounds well spent.

All in all, lovely service, gorgeous little place, but the food itself is a huge, fat disappointment.

I come here regularly with friends from work and it is such a nice place with a homely feel. I am a Coeliac and they have gluten free pasta which is great for me because I can enjoy my pasta like everyone else! The food is great and we always leave very happy with both the food and the service we receive. It is definitely worth a visit.

I ate here on a Monday evening and was surprised at how busy it was, it was packed but luckily I'd booked.

We had the garlic pizza bread toppped with tasty tomato sauce to start which was absolutely delicious, followed by a huge pizza which again didn't dissapoint. They have a huge list of pizzas and pasta dishes so I was rather spoilt for choice, but was more than happy with my Bufala pizza topped with mozzarella, parma ham and rocket. We just had house wine to drink which was very palatable. The staff were friendly and attentive despite rushing around the place as it was so busy. All their pizzas and pasta dishes are less than £10 and the portions are huge so it's definitely great value for money and I'll certainly be going back there!

Update: I'm upping my rating of this place to 5 stars: I've been back a few times now and the pizzas are excellent - they do the best Fiorentina in London!!

Not sure why it is so popular, maybe it is the large portions. Food was OK but would not return.

yellow cab the best

Having tried out the sister restaurant in Finsbury Park I decided to head head with a friend for lunch one day and it did not disappoint. It's down a little street between Holborn and Russel Square and has really got a nice charm about it. Even though there seems tyo be a number of these it has kept a type of small restaurant charm. Portions are big, we started with the brushetta and then had pizza. All the food was fab and we were able to take away the leftovers. Yum!

The food was excellent! The menu was really interesting and had good combinations. The prices were very reasonable especially given the superior quality of the food

Better than ever - che taglio!

Tucked away down a (semi)alleyway between Holborn and Farringdon, this is an especially friendly and cosy pizzeria - great value for money.

Staff (and kitchen?) seem to have changed since the summer, and pizza was better than ever -

Recommend the calzone (without salami - senz’altro…)

The best pizzas I’ve had in the UK by a long way! The bases are thin and crispy, with just the right amounts of toppings and seasoning, and good prices too. I’ve been here many times and always come away full, as the portions are quite big - a main is definitely enough for me! The wine list is good too, they do a particularly nice Nero d’Avola. Always busy, and you need to book later on, but if you just turn up by about 7 there is usually some room for 2!

Discovering there was a La Porchetta within walking distance of work was a revelation. After many great lunches at the Rosebury Avenue one, this branch was a bit of a surprise. Small and rustic inside, it contrasts with other restaurants in the chain, which tend to be a bit more white and modern.

Still, what people come here for is the food, not the decor, and no surprises there - it’s pretty fantastic for the price. Others have recommended the huge pizzas, but I often go for the pasta instead. The classic Penne Amatriciana is gorgeous, as is the seafood linguine. Look out for the specials too, I’ve had some absolutely amazing dishes from there (I tried to recreate one at home and failed miserably - sometimes it’s best to give up and go out)!

Went to this charming little restaurant last night with 6friends and I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed. The starters were amazing and huge! Main course, for which I had pasta was massive (perhaps a little too big) and so tasty! Puddings here are excellent also. I had three courses and we shared a litre bottle of red wine (which cost under £10) and it came to a tiny £16 each! Staff were friendly, polite and worked very hard as the place was packed. It took a little while to get our bill but for great food at a great price, who cares!! If you want to go to this restaurant then I recommend you book. We did and the place was up to capacity, which says it all!

There are a few La Porchettas, all serving extremely large pizzas with lots of toppings. Most have lithe Italian waiters and lively music (although I noticed the newest one in Chalk Farm lacks the cosiness and Italian-ness of the others). This one is the liveliest, smallest and cosiest, hidden down a side street off Queen’s Square and usually crammed with customers in the evenings. It opens after six p.m. and is small, so it’s advisable to book a table. The music is loud but good - usually well-beloved funk, reggae and rock. The pizzas are huge. My favourite is pear and gorgonzola, sounds strange but it’s amazing and you can’t get it anywhere else. Some people can’t eat a whole pizza because they’re so big (the pizzas, not the people). Some people eat huge bowls of mussels, which I find horrible (I tend to retch under the table when that happens), but everything else about the place is wonderful. They do pastas and other Italian dishes, and the desserts include the usual tiramisu, profiteroles and some lovely cakes. Wine is plentiful. All is pretty affordable and the atmosphere lively yet cosy, loud but intimate, busy but friendly.

This is a brilliant, friendly, authentic Italian restaurant. The pizzas are great - proper thin italian pizzas with great toppings - I particularly recommend the Pizza Ortolana and Pizza Rucola. All the staff are Italian and the prices are very reasonable. The pizzas range from about £5 to about £8. I've never had any of the pasta or risotto dishes here but I've heard good things about them and they look really nice.