Bancone Borough Yards — Restaurant in London

When I went to Bancone Borough yards , I ordered the burrata , gnocchi , silk handkerchief pasta and the cacio e Pepe pasta. Starting with the burrata, it was okay, had a weird sour taste that I’ve never experienced with the hundreds of other burratas I’ve had in my life. Regarding the pasta, the cacio e Pepe was amazing but the gnocchi was very very average and the silk handkerchief was not as good in comparison to when I first tried it at the other branch. I’ve been to a different Bancone branch before and thought the food and experience was decent, hence why I came again to the Borough Yards branch, it’s safe to say that I will not be coming back. They have a sneaky way of handling things, I saw a different review where a customer had asked for tap water and was given the “filtered” water that you had to pay for. Same thing happened to me, they asked if I wanted water to which I said yes to but no one specified still, sparkling or tap which is something you’re supposed to do. The water that was given was in a bottle that looked like it was tap water , not bottled water hence why I thought it was free. When asking for more water, I asked for more “tap water” to which the water then explained we were drinking their ‘distilled’ water…. I wasn’t sure if asking for a refill of the ‘distilled’ water would charge us again so I asked for tap water. Turns out the distilled water I was already charged for was unlimited so why did the waiter not bother to tell me that?? Absolute joke to be honest. To make things worse, my friend was not feeling well and left half the gnocchi and silk handkerchief pasta so she asked for a takeaway box only to be told by the waiter that they don’t allow people to take their food back…. I guess this is a restaurant that supports food waste clearly. This restaurant isn’t necessarily cheap plus you’d think all the money they make by cheekily charging people for distilled water that they’d be able to afford some sustainable takeaway boxes for their customers… but no. Overall, extremely...

This place came highly recommended by friends who love pasta and good wine, but unfortunately Bancone Borough Yards left us unsatisfied. My partner and I had made a dinner reservation for Friday evening, but the only spot available was at the cramped counter on backless barstools. My dinner mate and I were uncomfortable the entire time, and my purse kept slipping off my lap, resulting in me having to clutch my purse under my leg throughout dinner, readjusting it every so often.

The restaurant was understandably packed and it took a while for us to be greeted and to be served drinks, but the service was friendly enough. At one point, the staff had to check in to see if we had received our first course, so I assume the kitchen may have been a bit delayed. We had the olives, artichoke and the burrata to start, which were OK. For our mains, my partner ordered the pork ragu, and I had the grilled pork chop. Both mains were lovely, and the pork was nicely cooked.

Here's where Bancone goes from 3 stars to 2: we were hoping to get a takeaway box for our leftovers, but were told they don't have any takeaway boxes. We stuffed ourselves with a few more bites to minimize waste, and asked for the bill. As we pulled out our cash, a bartender told us they don't accept cash. These were two very minor inconveniences, but after sitting at a crowded, uncomfortable bar with delayed service and food that was good, but not great, this was the last straw. We paid, thanked the staff, and left, but unfortunately my partner and I both agreed we were left dissatisfied with our dinner.

I would be willing to try Bancone's again, but likely not in Borough Yards. We ended up at a great little seafood spot down the block the next day, which was much better than Bancone's in both food and service (granted comparing seafood to pasta is comparing apples to oranges). This leads me to believe that there are likely plenty of other options in the Borough Yards that are...

“Underwhelming”, I think that’s the word I’m looking for. This is one of those hyped restaurants people (and social media) tell you to go. So we did a reservation. We were greeted by a friendly hostess, but it was the only kind service we encountered that night. My husband and I were seated between two tables, one of them had just received their main dishes when we got there. It took over 20 minutes for us to have our orders taken. The table next to our left had already ordered desserts. The other table on the right had just arrived and had already ordered. Us, for some reason, had to wait for a long time. When we finally managed to get our food, everything was so fast paced that it lacked a quality atmosphere. The focaccia was stale, it tasted like something you can buy from Tesco. Olives were the same, I’ve had better for free in different restaurants. The Lardo on Toast was good, but underwhelming. Maybe I had higher expectations that it deserved, but I think it lacked quality. It’s okay to have a simple and straightforward dish, but at least you’d expect high quality ingredients, which weren’t the case. It was mid. Then the mains arrived. They were really good. The scallops coated with miso were definitely tasty and different from what I’d usually expect in Italian restaurants. Also in a rush, our dessert was ordered. We got the chocolate with mascarpone. Again, underwhelming. The combination is interesting and the lime zest gives a hint of citrus that breaks the intensity of the chocolate. But, again, the brownie quality isn’t much different from what you can get in a high street store anywhere. I wouldn’t come back to Bancone. Even though my main dish was great, I don’t think it’s worthy to have to book and plan in advance. If it was a neighborhood restaurant in the corner, I would consider. But it’s definitely not up to its...