Il Giardino — Restaurant in London

My great affection for this place was tarnished after our recent visit, but I won't easily disregard the '10 years plus' of great experiences here, so I'm sure I'll give them a chance to redeem themselves sometime soon.

I used to consider Il Giardino's as a part of the 'secret Peckham': in the 90s, when there was no other restaurant in Peckham, Il Giardino's prove itself to be a lovely local restaurant with rustic deliciousness on tap and where they remember you, by name.

I have loved the menu, and the food is ordinarily great.

So what went wrong this time?

Well it went wrong from the moment we stepped inside; loud, tinny sounding music (like that from a phone's speaker) welcomed us with the sounds of techno house music: the 'music' emanated from a small but loud group of either friends or family, as they sat taking their ease in the public dining area. However their comfort was our discomfort.

Note, the owner did remember us, (it had been well over a year since our last visit) and as we sat down, we quietly hoped, now they had paying customers (we were first in), the family would shush down and the awful sounding music (I attached a video giving an indication of the volume and quality of the sound) would cease.

That clearly didn't happen, hence the 1 star; we eventually realised that this wasn't going to be the dining experience we were anticipating to celebrate our special anniversary with and after our gentle, repeated requests to turn down the noise were just ignored, an inevitable realisation dawned on me - you simply cannot stop water from being wet!

So, under the banner of live and let live, and not willing to be soaked any further, we paid for our drinks and reluctantly went elsewhere.

In the past we've always accepted Il Giardino's premium prices in expectation of said deliciousness coupled with supporting local shops.

As I said earlier, they deserve another chance, but this experience was so unpleasant...

I went here last night on a whim with my bestie. Luckily we came just before the dinner rush (about 6.30-7pm) and got seated right away! This place is very busy and often turns people without reservations away cause it's too packed so I'd say book to avoid disappointment.

SERVICE: Lots of reviews here talk about the wait, but please remember this is a small place with a small staff (2 kitchen staff and 1 waitstaff when I went) so yes there will be a bit of a wait BUT the service with this small staff is impeccable. The young man serving us last night was SO lovely, polite, and quick despite how packed it was. Love him.

FOOD N DRINK: We got 2 limoncello and raspberry drinks which were DELICIOUS. Nice strength to them, very well presented in very gorgeous glasses. We got the tagliatelle emiliana and tagliatelle carbonara and I have to say this is some of the best pasta I've eaten outside of Italy. V flavoursome, not sickly, quality ingredients and beautifully presented. Portions are moderate. Left us room for dessert (tiramisu and torte de nonna which were both DELICIOUS) and we didn't feel sick after. Great selection of wines, drinks, and alcoholic coffees that we want to try when we come back! Got given a mint w our bill which was a nice touch haha.

ATMOSPHERE: Beautiful family-friendly restaurant, great villa-style interior and very comfy chairs! Not too crowded and easy to move around. Toilets were very clean. It was very upbeat with music at the perfect volume and you don't have to shout over it.

OVERALL: An absolutely gorgeous little restaurant which is justifiably always busy. We were made to feel very welcome and valued and we had a great time. We can't wait to return! Please don't hesitate to book. We were smoking outside afterwards and saw some ladies wondering whether to go in and we honestly said go in,...

I think if the chefs here had entered into the 90s version of MasterChef, you know, the one with Loyd Grossman, they would have fared very well if not been very promptly and and sensibly announced the winners of the whole thing. In particular, I think the Aubergine Castle would have caused quite a stir and where would any Italian meal be without feta cheese? Not on 90s MasterChef, that's for sure.

To draw a further parallel, the place exists in a universe outside of regular space and time; you can loose hours here drinking wine by the jug (recommend at least 2) and entirely forget about the noise and stresses of London talking with the friendly staff and feeling assured that what lies beyond the walls of the interior is an endless void, a culinary universe undisturbed by things like deliveroo, avocado toast or sea urchin foam.

Didn't have the beer but it looked good and would like to have eaten the whole menu but unlike 90s MasterChef, the size of my stomach was still very much grounded in the harsh reality of this universe.

Overall good restaurant, wine was good, 5 out of 5 and bring back...