L'Antica Pizzeria — Restaurant in London

Initially, I believed I would thoroughly enjoy this restaurant. However, several incidents occurred that led me to believe a five-star rating is undeserved. Firstly, the pizza was excessively salty. Secondly, despite three empty tables being available, we waited an unreasonable amount of time to be seated. Once seated, there was a further delay before our order was taken. I observed that the tables were cleaned prior to our order being taken, which I believe should be done in the reverse order. Our initial serving of ravioli was rather dry and lacked any remarkable qualities. I would have expected a garnish of something green to enhance its presentation. It appeared that the kitchen staff prioritized speed over attention to detail. Fresh juice in a tiny not regular size glass. The service was severely lacking. The waiting staff did not seem to have designated tables, resulting in multiple servers approaching us at different times to ask the same questions. Assigning specific tables to each server would improve organization and ensure smoother service. After being presented with the dessert menu, we waited an excessive amount of time to place an order and eventually decided against dessert. However, upon receiving the bill, we discovered that the dessert had been added to our bill, which further diminished our impression of the establishment. Overall, the establishment appeared chaotic, unhygienic, and disorganized in terms of service. Despite these shortcomings, a service charge was added to our bill. While the dessert amount was removed upon request, I believe that the service charge should have been waived entirely due to the significant inconvenience caused. The lack of professionalism displayed was disappointing. It is concerning that dogs are permitted in such a small and crowded establishment. I have reservations about the hygienic implications of this practice. Additionally, the hygiene of the place left much to be desired. Regrettably, I can not recommend this place based on my experience...

Ok food, bad atmosphere and lacking service. The place is incredibly cramped and loud - understandable since it's very small, but they are not even trying to mitigate it in the usual ways (soft walls, hanging stuff from the ceiling...). The tables are so close that you constantly get bumped by waiters or other clients. The tables are also way too small - 2 pizza plates do not fit on a 2-person table. A starter and 2 plates to share it also do not fit. Now onto the food: we had the meatball starter, which was completely under seasoned. Pizzas are ok - the dough is thin and well made, the Margherita with bufala was very good, but the one with Aubergine, sausage and truffle oil was again under seasoned, and not very truffly at all. Also, it had a bit too many burnt spots and the crust was a bit chewy. House wine (the only wine available in a a glass) is meh. Service was quite bad; 1- we had to ask for salt and pepper - twice, as the first waitress we asked disappeared. 2- we asked for tap water but when our drinks arrived we had to ask again. It came in a very small bottle, which was never refilled unless we asked. 3- while we were still eating our starter, a waiter came and announced "your pizzas are ready" as if it was our problem that they messed up their timings. We had to wolf down the last of the starter and couldn't enjoy it. No trace of an apology was spotted anywhere. 4- when one of the waiters had an argument with a client (screaming in the middle of the already loud room), all other waiters stopped working and just looked at them. 5- they had a special dessert on a blackboard. We ordered it, and were later told that they ran out. No one thought of crossing it out, or deleting it from the board. Overall, not a great experience, there are better pizzas in better atmospheres and with much better service...

This pizzeria holds possibly the strangest set of waiters in London...

🥱The manager was utterly indifferent to our presence 🤔The young lady waitress brought us empty plates then changed her mind and put them on a different table 🥊 The same lady brought us two pizzas which weren't ours and then made a fast swoooop to the table behind, almost knocking my husband's head off simultaneously 🐴 The man with the pony tail noticed we had been waiting for our main course for over 45 minutes but didn't think to check until I asked him

Overall, an odd dining experience.

The starters were very expensive (£10-12 each) but didn't justify it. I had to ask for a finger bowl to use with my king prawns; perhaps I should have used it to add moisture to the poor BBQd crustaceans.

The meatballs were average and the sauce was just undercooked and underseasoned passata. 6/10 overall.

Our mains of two pizzas were forgotten and none of the three staff thought to check (it wasn't busy). When I checked, the manager finally jumped into action and was all charm and finesse with us after the obvious mess up (probably to avoid this review).

As expected on a "rush" order, my pizza came out sloppy and under cooked 😭 but I was too hungry after being there for an hour to send it back.

Had it been cooked properly I think it would have deserved its reputation as a top 100 world pizza.

My advice: skip the starters and go straight for the mains but keep an eye on the pizza oven.

It was our first (and last) time visiting - to me it seemed like the place is resting on its reputational haunches and keeping its prices high based on...