Arte Pasta — Restaurant in London

I like to support local businesses but I had such a terrible experience with this place, which is a shame as it looks and sounds great.

Called up to order a takeaway, was told I couldn't order on the phone to collect but that I would have to go there and order in person. I got there, ordered the pappardelle beef cheek ragu and sat on a chair out front to wait.

Around 20ish mins of waiting and not feeling very confident about the experience so far (the waitress seemed rushed and hassled), something told me to check my bank app. I usually don't log into financial sites without using secure wifi. so, the hunch I had that something wasn't quite right was very strong. My app told me I'd been charged £17.60. I went back in and asked to see the menu again, which confirmed the dish was £16.

I asked a (different) waitress whether they charge different prices for takeaway vs eating in and she told me, adamantly, that they DON'T DO TAKEAWAYS. So now I'm not only annoyed at being charged a different amount to what's on the menu, but also confused. I've ordered and paid for food to takeaway, so why am I now being told that they don't do takeaways??

The waitress I was speaking to then has "words" with the other lady. Telling her off for serving me takeaway, which was very awkward. The second waitress then told the first waitress to give me the £1.50 difference (even though I had been overcharged £1.60, but at this point who cares about ten pence). She also told me how busy they were and that I'd have to wait a while for my food. It was now 30 mins since I ordered. There was no apology, in fact I was very much made to feel as though I was the one being a nuisance, rather than a paying customer who had been given wrong info and charged the wrong amount for her food.

I went to run an errand to kill some time but got back and still had to spend more time siting outside waiting. The pappardelle beef cheek ragu was finally brought out to me a whole hour after I first ordered it.

From the incorrect information on whether they do takeaways, to being overcharged, to spending ages waiting outside, to awkwardly having to witness the lady (who I later found out was the owner) tell off the waitress for serving me food to go, to not getting an apology and having my complaint email ignored afterwards the whole experience was shockingly bad.

PS. Update - Interesting to see I got a response to this review but yet got no response when I complained via email to them after the event. I was busy and didn’t get around to reviewing for awhile, life happens. Also not my fault one of your staff members told me you do takeaway. Either way, the food was great as was the decor/vibe of the place but unfortunately, on this occasion, the customer service didn’t match up....

IT’S A CON! On the face of it, a delightfully buzzy, authentic Italian in the heart of Walthamstow. The reality: an extortionate, overly lengthy menu that didn’t match up - leaving E17 still lacking a decent trattoria.

Things that were bad: we were given the wrong menus (!) and only realised when we saw things on other tables that we didn’t expect to see. it took 30 mins / 500ml of wine to be told that our pasta main was no longer available. these were forgivable offences, as explained below. However the food really didn’t hit the mark. the smoked burrata antipasti was almost £12, and was simply a lump of it presented with some dill oil. Additional bread was £4.50… come on. the salsiccia piccante salad, frankly was odd. About 8 slices of the sausage (delicious enough) was ruined by the addition of Granny Smith apple slices and salad from a bag. Weird. Also pricy. the polenta with smoked red papers and onions (how could you go wrong) was more like tiny slices of left over pimento from the bottom of the olive jar you’ve got in your fridge. Again, nothing to really eat the polenta with here. finally our pasta main, potato stuffed tortellini with truffle sage butter sauce. Well, very thick with an odd pastey texture - I suspect it was frozen. The sauce looked a bit like mushroom soup from a can - not what you expect. Everything was drastically under seasoned. Remarkable for an Italian pasta place. (?) it was as if the chef thought replacing the salt with balsamic vinegar on everything was a good idea. we only agreed to pay for the salad, polenta and burrata listed above, as well as 500ml of house white and no service charge. It came to over £50 for two people. It’s eye-wateringly overpriced.

The good: the menu mixup was handled very well and we were offered anything we wanted and / or another carafe of wine. the staff really were lovely and made the process of complaining slightly less skin crawlingly awkward. the focaccia was delicious. If this place was a bakery I’d come for that. Although again - MORE SALT!!

The chef needs to cut the menu in half and focus on doing simple achievable things well. If you want to import your food from Italy, fine, but show it off, there is also great local produce one could use to make great Italian food.

Save your pennies and go to Stokey or Highbury. (Yes - plenty of cheaper options that...

Expectations weren't high for this place but somehow it still fell short.

Food was mediocre and exceptionally poor value for money; £93 for two people, 3 courses, and no alcoholic drinks seems a little on the high side for a neighbourhood venue like this, and even more upsetting when you actually eat it; Not much flavour, even as someone who isn't that fussy about food we were both a bit let down.

The prices for the meals and some of the starters were actually acceptable and portions were big enough, but extras like drinks and desserts are truly terrible value; £3.75 for 200ml bottles, small servings, etc

The menu's are also visually not that impressive, plain single sided paper with no pictures and a somewhat clumsy layout; Would have liked to see something a bit more sophisticated for the price.

The venue is nice enough though; It was clean and food was delivered quickly; It's clear some effort was made for the decor, and the staff were very friendly; The booking process was also very easy.

Don't plan on returning though; its a shame because I really wanted to like this place. Some days they do 50% off food and maybe then it would be worth trying, but I still don't think I'd have...