Italo — Restaurant in London

I really, really wanted to like this place and here's the reason for one star.

WARNING: long read.

GOOD: The food was outstanding, paninis as well as lunch menu consisting of a Sri Lankan daal, which two of my friends Had in addition to their two orange juices.

Location - situated off the main street in a picturesque square near a public park with one way lanes made it ideal for an outside meal.

BAD/SAD: It really is disappointing to write this, as the service was SEVERELY disappointing.

We caught on early on when the servers were bringing out incorrect orders for both coffee as well as food to multiple tables, including our own. My two friends, who ordered the daal, were brought out more to which we told them we already finished them. We noticed this happened with a nearby table where they had already consumed their coffee.

Upon paying at the end of the meal, my two friends who had identical orders, paid separately. The lady who was taking their payments instructed the gentleman who was taking my payment that I had ordered the same as theirs, which was incorrect as I ordered the ham and cheese panini and espresso (pictured). Not sure why she had this assumption as she didn't take my order to begin with and this was the first time I was even in contact with her. The lady who was trying to assist, left and then the gentleman asked for the payment but I mentioned what I actually ordered. He kindly took the payment and then me and my two friends proceeded to leave the café. Upon almost crossing the road, the lady, who I will now identify as the one with brown hair, green/blue eyes and a Nike sports top, stopped us in front of ALL of the customers and accused me quite aggressively that I did not pay for my orange juice. She asked what I ordered and I detailed exactly what I did in front of other customers, who were.now listening to this conversation. She then mentioned that there were 3 glasses of orange juice, indirectly accusing me of lying about my order. Obviously this was a horrible and embarrassing experience.

I soooo wanted to like this place, but a great panini with a side of false accusations and unwanted sass is not on the top of my favourite things.

Aside from this I don't think she should be smoking in front of the customers, all within breathable distance from outside diners.

Happy for y'all to contact...

We went to their guest chef set menu which was fab I misunderstood what family style meant but it was nice, we sat next to some friends who were happy chatting amongst themselves but were also happy to engage with random odd exchanges.. There was a bigger group who were having a brilliant time.. i think because we were maybe a bit stereotypical too polite English, we took minimal portions because we weren't sure how much would go around (some dishes there were two large platters either end, others one enormous one, so I know when some were dishing themselves out loads I regretted my restraint but there was some leftover so topped up.. Food was fantastic We went for the two dogs menu and initially I was cautious of the name as wouldn't usually choose American style but the description of the dishes won me over and it was absolutely awesome We were going for my birthday so was choosing between this and the Norwegian/ Hong Kong menu but im definitely a more meat than fish girl so this was the definite choice for me.. We ate well and while initially I was wary of the 55£ up front given that we had two appetisers before the main and a lovely dessert im sure it was very good value 😋 I didn't register how much drinks were (seen as i wasn't paying and also I just scanned quickly as we ended up sharing a bottle of wine) they had an incredible list of wine/drinks and i did look up the beers (there were a couple), I don't think they were crazy expensive.. Anyway it was a lovely meal and i can understand why its my mates favourite

We ate at tables lined up in the street and as we arrived before dinner were allowed to sit at the tables alongside and bring our own drinks before to allow them to focus on dinner prep.. it was lovely surroundings too (I had a sneaky swing in the garden before dessert :) ) Unusually I was too busy eating and chatting to take pictures but the food was beautiful as well as tasty and all...

While this is a great place in the middle of a green residential area and has great coffee I cannot give the same compliments for the staff. Most people I've interacted with were not pleasent and to be honest were quite rude. The opening times on Google are wrong and they refuse to fix them. Last month I went there at 18:30 on a Friday where the closing time is supposed to be 20:30. When I got there the had put all the tables away and were locking up. When I asked them what was happening they were not apologetuc at all for the inconvenience and they just said that they closed earlier because they did not have enough customers. Similarly I have been there the past two Sundays and while the closing time is 19:30 they closed at arounf 17:30-18:00 both times. When I told them that I was confused about their opening times and suggested that they can just adjust it on Google the lady there could not have been more dismissive and rude. It is honestly a great shame for such a nice place to have such an awful...