Al Fresco - Whetstone — Restaurant in London

November 2019 update - they've added new items to the prix fix menu so I've added a few more photos...

Original review is below

I'm a regular at Al Fresco (Whetstone , so I though I should write a review of the restaurant that I visit more than any other, (well, it's less than 100 yards from my flat and I don't like cooking!) - as this is my regular restaurant, this review is a little longer than usual... but I hope it all makes sense.

Al Fresco has the best Prix Fixe deal (weekdays only) in Whetstone (IMHO) - it's the best value and has the greatest time-range (eg it starts at 12pm when the restaurant opens and goes on to last entry at 6.30pm - ie as long as you are sat down my 6.30pm, you can have the fixed price menu). This menu has a soft drink (you can upgrade to wine if you want), starter and main course (with a side eg salad or polenta) all for £12.10 (eg £11 meal and £1.10 10% service). There is always a choice of 5 starters and 5 mains - the Prix Fixe menu alternates approximately every week to 10 days.

I've tried to include some photos of Prix Fixe meals I've recently had (I only took the photos as my mother wanted to know what the food was like).

My favourite prix fixe dishes are... starters: bruschetta, calamari, tuna and bean salad mains: roast salmon, chicken with asparagus, chicken with spinach, vegetarian pasta with aubergines & olives, (and pizza - but don't tell my GP about the pizza!)

The portions tend to be Large (whether prix fix meals or a la carte) - but they do do doggy bags (eg one of my friends can never eat more than half her pizza, so she always takes the remainder home in a box for her next day's lunch).

The owners have apparently changed recently - but the managers and staff are the same - the core staff always seem to stay for a long time, so as a regular I always get a friendly welcome.

Most of the staff (managers, waiters & cooks) are Italian but they all have a good understanding of English - many of the other lunchtime regular diners are Italian too, which I think is probably the best recommendation for any Italian restaurant.

I have a disability, and the staff almost always get to the front door of the restaurant before me to open it - I appreciate this greatly.

My sister is vegetarian with dietary issues (eg lactose intolerant diabetic) and they always manage to accommodate her needs too.

Friends who used to live in Italy (and now live somewhere else abroad) always insist we go to Al Fresco, as they say it is real Italian pizza (which they can't get where they now live) - it should be real Italian, as the pizza cook is a Real Italian!

They do delivery too (I think this is via one of the well know delivery companies) and every evening there is a queue of delivery people waiting by the pizza chef.

Mustn't forget - they have a loyalty scheme now, so you get c.5% of the value of your meal in points (these add up for a free...

Went here for a friend's birthday dinner.

I had the garlic pizza bread then the risotto verde. It was great to see that the menu specifies what is vegan. I do love a risotto verde and they told me it would be vegan if I had it without the buuter or cheese so thats what I went for for my main course. The garlic pizza bread was nice with a good strong fresh garlic taste and nice thin middle. The so-called risotto verde was disappointing. For a start, it was not a risotto as they do not use risotto rice, it was just normal cheap white rice with green vegetables. I've no issue with rice and vegetables ordinarily, accept when you're sold it as a risotto. They're clearly taking people for idiots expecting them not to know the difference between arborio risotto rice and what might as well have been straight out of a packet of Uncle Ben's. There was very little taste to the veg which was, no doubt, frozen. The overwhelming taste was salt from the stock that they'd mixed the rice and veg together with. The cheesecake that my friend ordered was just a mass produced factory made packet cheesecake with a sugary drizzle out of a squeezy bottle. The whole meal lacked any sense of authenticity. Everything just seemed cheap and tacky. The strategy is clearly just to sell it cheap and pile it high. Nothing that we ordered came together (our starters, mains and deserts arrived separately by a good few mins) which is a pet hate of mine. Drinks took ages to arrive and they kept bringing milk on the side of what I requested to be a black americano. The staff were friendly despite joking with me about having to ask questions around my dietary requirements.

Given that I was there for my friends birthday I did not deem it appropriate to complain but spending £60 on rubbish food left a very bad taste in my mouth. I'll be voting with my feet on this one and won't...

Ok I'll start with saying that the restaurant looked lovely, tidy, clean, loved the decor and the old sewing machines around the place. I went there with my brother and cousin for lunch on a week day. I was a bit late so i entered the restaurant on my own and one of the waiters helped me finding the table. I was asked straight away if I wanted a drink, I ordered my drink and the food altogether. The antipasto came but they forgot to bring my drink, so I asked for my drink again and after 2 mins they brought it to me. My brother ordered mussels with tomato and garlic sauce. He didn't seem very happy with it, so I tasted it and all I could taste was mussels and tomato juice. The flavours weren't blending together. The tomato 'sauce' was more like a juice and couldn't taste any garlic or any other spice. So not very happy about that. When it was time for dessert we asked one of the waiters if the profitterols were fresh (sometimes in restaurants they just give you the frozen ones in a cup) and the waiter laughed and said 'Sorry, we don't work during the night'. We were very disappointed by that answer, so we ended up not ordering dessert but just a cup of coffee. The attitude of that person kind of ruined the end of the meal. Customer service is not great. Such a shame for such a lovely place. I hope it...