L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele — Restaurant in London

The atmosphere was nice. The decor was kind of a blend of retro Italian restaurant and a tropical bar. There were these vibrant neon lights opposed to a wall with newsprint explaining the name of the restaurant. One of the customers was even taking pictures of the decor. The hightables were fairly comfortable. The facilities were annoying to get to but nevertheless were nice and clean. The downstairs was really nice and had a lovely, warm ambiance. The staff were nice.

And the food was pretty good. All I ordered was the Margherita with double Mozzerella and a couple of drinks but I think when reviewing pizza you have to try the most basic pizza to just make sure they get right. And it was pretty good. The sauce was a little watery, the dough in places was slightly raw and the Mozzarella was a bit overwhelming and could be done with a pinch of salt but all together it was of a high quality. I probably would've cooked it a minute longer and would have added more wood to the in-house pizza oven to get a nice char on top, but all in all the pizza was pretty nice. It was pretty stringy. At one point I was struggling to get the string in me it was so good. The sauce was really nice. I was mopping it all up with the crust to the extent that my plate was virtually spotless by the end of my meal. The external parts of the crust and base were lovely and crispy whilst also retaining some tenderness. The ratio of sauce to crust was nice and there weren't excessively dry bits of crust. Mouth-feel was a bit soft from the vast amount of cheese but the flavour was still pretty good. But the thing that goes most to its credit was the size. Considering you can get decent 14-inch thin-crust pizza for as little as £5, £12 for an extra cheesy pizza didn't really seem like a good deal anymore. But then it came to my table. It was like an American pizza. It was like a Dominos-size, authentic, Italian pizza. Like it was a big pizza. I shouldn't have been capable of eating it by myself. But it was that good and I did. Furthermore, I sat right by the kitchen and it was lovely to be able to watch them make pizzas right in front of me. I'm sure if they looked over they would be proud of their work, but disturbed by their clientele as I desperately tried to shovel the pizza into my mouth with my hand having got frustrated at having to use a knife and fork. But the quality made the struggle worthwhile. The freshness of the ingredients was tangible in the flavour. Right before me I saw the dough being made and proved. Right beside me I saw the Mozzarella being made fresh.

All together it was a very nice experience and one that I would happily recommend. Even with the issues I have I still think it deserves 5 stars. Either way with a name as hard to remember as whatever it is it could probably do with as much publicity as possible. Doesn't really role off the...

What an awful experience! My friend and I were waiting for long to come here, but definitely not a good choice. I am going to be very specific as few things went wrong. First moment we enter the place, they directed us to our sits and literally a waitress came offering a bottle of water which we said no. But we asked for some tap water that never came to us. We ordered 2 beers, which he brought with no issue. We ordered burrata with tomato. Well, our face when we saw the presentation was priceless. £12.90 for that, it is just unbelievable… the tomatoes weren’t fresh, they didn’t bring any condiments like Modena vinegar, salt… we asked for the salt and they brought us one that had a spider web… absolutely ridiculous… anyway, later on, they brought our pizza and pasta carbonara… pizza was decent, but too much tomato sauce and didn’t worth the money. The carbonara was over cooked so it wasn’t creamy… when ordered the pasta, the waitress asked if I wanted the guanciale on top of the pasta and I said yes as the way he suggested was meaning to put the guanciale separately from the pasta (they do in some restaurants). Well, that wasn’t the case, they added as extra topping, which it was extra £5 in the bill. Literally I put the last bit of my pasta inside my mouth and I left the fork on the plate, the waitress took 0.1 second to take my plate away when I didn’t even started to chew my food. Without even asking me if it was ok to remove. We told him that didn’t look nice and would be appreciated if next time asks and not be that intrusive. He made an excuse that he was young and tired from work and apologised… But I don’t want to not mention what was probably the most uncomfortable thing, having the pizza guy doing the pizza on my back and staring all the lunch to my friend. And not just staring, purposely listing our conversation in a language that he could clearly understand, repeating some of the things we were saying and making a very weird and uncomfortable atmosphere for us. Of course we didn’t feel that we wanted to pay the service charge so we asked to remove it from the bill, and the young waitress came asking us for an explanation to do it, in a very challenging way. Of course I told him how uncomfortable was the situation with the pizza guy and obviously being challenged for something that it is optional it is not nice either. Because I thought was a bit uncomfortable I didn’t go into detail of our whole experience and to be honest, didn’t look that they care much anyway. We paid and left. This people try to add things into your bill without being honest, service is mediocre and 0 professional. Obviously will never come back, and will share this experience with friends. ( excuse the light of photos as we had a very bad light in...

The food is...AMAZING. No matter what you order, you a) will be amazed at the flavor, b) will be stuffed and still have food left over. Be aware the pizzas are humongous; one pizza can feed 4 kids or 2 adults easy.

There is seating upstairs and downstairs. If doing a private event, I would ask for the downstairs which is far more private and where the restrooms are located.

The service is excellent. Servers are standing by waiting for your order. The place was filled to capacity and the servers still all took care of the customers as if they are all there to serve that one customer.

They are fast, the food is served promptly and with merely a glance you have everyone's complete attention.

The food. I ordered the Marinara Pizza, since it was so basic; the Donna Anna, a cured meat platter; and the Lemon Delight. To drink, I had a small coke for the pizza, water throughout and Italian coffee to finish.

There was enough food on the meat platter alone to feed 2 adults! And the fresh mozzarella braid was...perfect, for lack of adequate terminology. The nodini was also delicious, just plain, though I used to it more as a dessert, with chocolate sauce or preserves over it. And, the meats...oh, the meats!!!! Let's just say I enjoyed those most favorably.

The pizza was delicious, but by the time it came, I was stuffed from the meat platter and I had not even finished that, having to place most of it in a take away box. But, when the pizza came, I had to eat and enjoy it. It was too delicious to just put I'm mediately into a box. For a basic pizza, it was fantastic! The spices and flavor, the roasted garlic, all combined into an amazing pizza that expected little from and received far more than I could have imagined. It was a magnificent pizza and I shall definitely repeat the decision to purchase it again.

The lemon delight, a traditional Italian dessert, according to the waitress was interesting to start. I expected it to be colder, since it looked like ice cream. But, when I put into it, I was surprised by the cake flavor. Then I was surprised by the cream.center. it wasn't an icing kind of cream flavor, but a subtle lemon custard frozen into more solid a structure, kind of feel. It was something I shall have to repeast to give you a good description. For now, the jury is still out, though I can definitely say it is not mundane or bland. I just can't tell you yet what it is for me. It is an acquired taste, for sure.

And, even with me being uncertain about the lemon delight, I can easily say I am repeating this location and it was...