LARDO — Restaurant in London

We were looking forward to eating at LARDO last night as it was our first time and it looks good, but sadly it was a bit of a shambles all around.

We had an hour and a half for dinner before catching a movie which is normally ample time, however they were slow to take our order, then the waitress returned to say she did not have my choice of aperitif. That rather set the tone for the evening.

The positive aspects of the experience was that the starters were very nice and came reasonably quickly. They also gave some nice focaccia and oil. The wine was good as was the trendy ambiance in the restaurant. This should have been a lovely evening.

Mains here are quite pizza focussed and LARDO only have three non-pizza mains – being fish, meat or pasta of the day. You’d think with such limited options they would have them available but no, the meat of the day was unavailable and the pasta dish had to be made with pork meatballs instead of lamb as described on the wall.

This was a bit moot however because it took so long for nothing to arrive that we needed to leave for the cinema and had to request the bill without ever receiving our main courses.

In fairness the manager was apologetic and removed the starters we ate from the bill, leaving us to pay for just the drinks, although he couldn’t offer an explanation as to why we hadn’t received our food when other tables who’d ordered after us had. Sadly the saga wasn’t over - as a final insult, when I checked the receipt after we got home I noticed we’d actually been charged for the aperitif they didn’t have available! And they hadn’t felt it worth cancelling the service charge despite the lack of service.

Perhaps when the scars have healed - and we’ve eaten - we might give LARDO another go, as to be fair the food on the other tables looked wonderful, but we wouldn’t risk going before a...

Awful experience. TL;DR: The restaurant was overbooked, and everything we asked for was seen as a huge inconvenience to the waiter who was incredibly rude.

Arrived on time for our booking and stood waiting for 20 mins, when we were about to be seated I asked the older male waiter who I assume was the manager or owner if we were able to add the 20 mins we waited onto our booking (rather than be rushing with a shorter slot) and was met with a bizarrely rude response that took us aback and started the evening on a horrible trajectory.

We were seated outside the covered terrace (which was the only reason I'd booked here, booked on the back of their newsletter announcing the terrace opening, and wanted to be protected from unpredictable weather!). Our table was old and busted, and looked like it had come from the depths of the basement and been shoved on the pavement where there shouldn't have been a table. No table number on it so we couldn't order drinks through the app system and we were there an hour before we were served a bottle of wine.

After asking if we could be moved inside if any table became available (the wind was so strong it would have been tricky to eat or relax), the manager gave us some more rude remarks and generally seemed like he hated us.

Everything we ordered took forever to arrive and anything we asked for was met with rudeness and contempt from the waiter. We were eventually moved inside which was much better, but the service was still terrible. We arrived at 6.45pm and didn't get the bill until 11pm. We only had pizza and drinks!

Have given two stars because the food - although it took hours to arrive - was tasty, if simple and quite standard for an Italian in this price range.

Go somewhere else unless you want poor service from a...

22 Aug 2021: Still amazing food, and their staff are incredibly nice and efficient, despite being usually very busy. You can book online, and they have a lot of outdoor seating available which is also covered. Perfect for families too (and can accommodate buggies). I had the special brunch kedgeree which was very well seasoned and had really nice salmon and a perfect egg on top. For those who don't drink alcohol, they have a good selection of cocktails (Crodino, my favourite, served with fresh orange juice!), and also an alcohol-free beer. I finished with a panna cotta which was really good and not the usual gelatinous mess you sometimes get in places (or at home). Tbh their pizzas and special pasta dishes are still the most amazing things on their menu, despite having really exceptional small dishes too. Tough choice...guess we'll have to keep going back.

2 years ago: A great, great, restaurant. Our favorite perch is by the kitchen, where we can see all the bustling activity going on. The pizza's are delicious, and so are their specials. Their pasta is everything to write home about. A few years ago the chef, when we questioned the freshness of the clam starter in response to a 'why aren't you eating them' (smelled and tasted off), started to pick them off my plate and slurp them one by one out of their shells, exclaiming after every one that there was nothing wrong with them. He'd eaten half the plate before he shrugged and asked if we wanted anything else. :) I love this place. I have, and will go back, because apart from the yummy (bar one) food, it has the extra vroom a place needs...