L'assaggino Richmond — Restaurant in London

We ate here at 6.30pm on a Friday night. It was our first visit. The restaurant is small, cozy and set over two floors. The four of us were greeted warmly and were seated upstairs. The restaurant was around half full.

Firstly, I would like to say the service was exemplary. We were well looked after by our waitress.

After a shared starter (burrata), we ordered four pasta dishes. The portions were small, especially compared to other family-run Italian restaurants in the area.

Three of the dishes were OK though unremarkable. The lamb ragu, for instance, was a little gelatinous, made with a sparse amount of mince rather than a slow cooked lamb shoulder. The special with clams lacked seasoning and was a bit bland. The lasagne, ok if a little dry. Plain but perfectly edible.

The fourth dish, a carbonara, wasn't good. It tasted of burnt garlic - an unpleasant, acrid flavour over-powered the dish. We all tried it and agreed it should go back. The waitress was very apologetic.

However, a minute later the manageress appeared carrying the unfinished dish. Waving it in front of us she demanded to know what was wrong with it. When we explained, she said in an accusatory tone, 'well, you've eaten half of it’ - not difficult given the small portion size.

She told us that she had tried it (!); it was how their carbonara was supposed to taste and emphasised that, given she was Italian, she she should know.

Her response was unexpected, defensive, rude and unprofessional.

Despite being locals let’s just say we don’t look like typical Richmond residents and I can’t help but wonder if that played a role in the manageress’s behaviour.

N.B. We tipped for service but not for food - although the tiramisu was good.

Replying to L'assaggino: This was exactly the level of sarcasm we received when we complained. Carbonara doesn't have cream in it though some restaurants use it. We wanted the authentic version. There was something burnt in the pan that badly flavoured the dish. If you didn't add garlic then maybe the pan wasn't clean. We didn't ask for a discount - just the cost of the main removed from the bill -...

If you're looking for an authentic Italian, I would recommend this place.

It's down a little alley way / lane, where there is a strip of shops.

When I stepped in I was surprised with how small it was! It's no more than a few metres wide. It did feel a little bit like everyone was on top of each other, but maybe I'm just not used to small places, which I guess can provide more of intimate settings.

We decided to go upstairs instead of take the last 2 seat table downstairs. We climbed the very steep stairs and got a table by the top of the stairs and to the side of restaurant. The tables are quite small and there honestly wasn't room for anything but our phones to go on table.

This Italian does not to pizza, just in case you were wondering! Pasta only.

The service was fairly quick and the waitresses were quite attentive. They were all Italian and very knowledgeable about dishes etc. When ordering it seemed there were many things not on their menu i.e soft drinks and more of a wider variety of dishes. My date liked fish and there was only one fish (pan fried sea bream) option as mains on the menu, thankfully, otherwise I don't know what he would have eaten. We didn't wait too long for the food to come, maybe between 10-15 minutes. As everything is fresh though and made to order, this is to be expected. I opted for the pasta gambretti with prawns.

I had a vanilla ice cream with wafer and my date had a tiramisu. (He is amazing at lighting and took those beautiful food photography shots 😍)

Food was tasty.

As I looked around it was mainly groups of friends and families that wete eating with a few couples.

To get to the toilets, they are on the top floor.

All in all, seems like a much loved local authentic Italian restaurant in the heart of Richmond.

Decent Saturday night meal out, wouldnt necessarily be my choice of evening eating out, but it was nice to do something different as admittedly I prefer more...

I give it three stars, because I did not see the attention to detail for what was paid at the end of our dinner. I used to live in Richmond for seven years and currently, I return three or four times a year. This restaurant was suggested by my ex-partner and I happily agreed, as he has a very good taste in fine dinning! It turns out, it was his first time! Our reservation was for inside, but the Manager kindly, allowed us to be seated outside :) I am a smoker, I know, that I am a thug ;) To start with, we ordered a Prosecco, Spritz and tab water. We received bread and olives and had to wait for the olive oil. Then, we ordered our mains, mine was calamari with Mediterranean paste and my ex-partner ordered some pasta with octopus. I had to ask for black pepper, I also, had to use tissues from my handbag to give to my ex-partner. My calamari were very rubber, I ate them all, as I was very hungry :( The pasta with the octopus was delicious! The toilet is located on third floor, with the kind presence of flies, a lace curtain presumably covers the window overlooking a residential area, the sign for not putting the toilet paper in the loo is high and unfortunately, you see it after you do the business. The manager was clearly overwhelmed and busy, so please do not take my review as an allegation. My ex-partner forgot to buy me a flower and he was embarrassed to ask if he could gift me the rose in the vase on the table outside. I did it for him and the Italian Manager happily agreed :) The staff were kind and attentive, but the overall experience, does not reflect the prices. Would I return, no, and I do apologies for it, but the likes on social media does not bring the quality that you advertise