Lina Stores Soho - Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in London

Where do I begin… I went to Lina Stores three times in my final three days in London. All three experiences were equally amazing for quite a few reasons. I don’t bother writing reviews unless I’m absolutely blown away… I was blown away here.

On the whole, the food here is free of funny business and full of simply satisfying dishes that you’ll be eager to come back for.

The “Panzanella” is among the very best antipasto dishes I’ve ever had in my life. I ordered the dish each of the three times I went and it tasted exactly the same every time. The tomatoes alone were incredible and it’s clear they source the best produce available. All of the other components blended together perfectly, creating an antipasto that could compliment any of their main dishes.

The “Sedanini con Ragú d’Agnello” was a an incredibly comforting dish with a lamb ragu that was bursting with flavor. The natural flavor of the lamb carried the show but the touch of garlic and parsley from the gremolata made it perfect. I ended up ordering this twice out of three occasions.

The “Gomiti e Piselli” was a much lighter dish than the sedanini and was the perfect lunch dish because of it. Anything involving guanciale is bound to be delicious, and this dish was certainly no exception. Combined with a proper portion of peas and whole lot of grated cheese (like all of their pastas), this was another incredibly well balanced dish.

The Desserts: I had the Zuppa Inglese and the Cannolo which were both perfectly portioned treats to complete an already perfect meal.

What ultimately made the experience so special to me, and what made me go to Lina Stores three times in three days was the SERVICE. Just being able to sit right in front of the open kitchen was a unique experience. You expect the waitstaff to be kind and accommodating (which they were), but it’s such a delight when the kitchen staff are more than willing to answer questions and talk about the food. Salvatore and the other man working the kitchen (unfortunately I did not get his name) were incredibly kind to the overly excited American tourist that came into their restaurant. I’d also like to thank Joseph and the rest of waitstaff as well for making this place a reason for me to come back to London soon.

Personal request… Please open a location in...

We came to Lina Stores for a special meal and it lived up to the occasion. We started with a beer and a tasty blood orange bellini. Our seats at the counter gave us a great view of the busy kitchen, and it was nice and bright compared to the dark and noisy downstairs seating. The restaurant was bustling so we occasionally had to catch a server's eye, but a man who I presume was the owner had come up to us fairly early in our visit and talked me through the veggie options. He did a great job selling me on a salad starter featuring beautiful tomatoes, which though a tad salty was very enjoyable. My partner had the nduja and ricotta starter and he raved about it. He then had the rabbit ragu which he enjoyed, and we shared three vegetarian pastas - this was a lot of food for just two people and I probably should have limited myself to just two veggie ones! The star was definitely the truffle and ricotta pasta which was divine and indulgent. The very green gnudi were flavoursome, though again a tad salty for my palette, and I think they would get a bit tiresome if you had all four to yourself. The burrata filling of my third pasta dish seemed a bit absent, but the tomato sauce was lovely and fresh - I actually felt it didn't need the pine nut topping which was slightly overpowering. In spite of my nitpicking, I thoroughly enjoyed our meal at Lina Stores and would love to come back and try the other veggie dishes, as well as getting more of that truffle pasta! For such beautiful food it felt like great value, and I recommend booking a seat...

Subpar experience on many fronts.

Party of 5 at 5 PM, expected low key ambiance. Seated in an insanely awkward corner table near the toilet where I was literally sitting on the pointed edge of the table because my family in the cushion seating was cramped. I tried to rotate around the table for more space and was asked by the waitress not to sit directly across from the cushions because I was now blocking my partner’s mother’s path and it was a fire concern. Added annoyance that the larger table next to us wasn’t utilized until the end of our meal - where a party of 3 got sat there, adding insult to our cramped injury.

Antipasti was fine, nothing crazy. Did enjoy the artichoke.

Pasta comes out - they didn’t have mine. They make it sound like they just forgot it upstairs, but as it came out 15 minutes later it was obvious that they forgot to put in the order. Papardelle came out borderline crunchy - which isn’t really the noodle texture I’m hoping for.

It would have been nice if literally anyone admitted the mistake - or offered to bring out another glass of wine on the house, or comped the dish. Instead the waitress came by acting like we weren’t cramped and had food missing.

Basement gets loud FAST. For 6 PM, I literally could not hear my partner across the table.

Oh, and the toilet has a mold problem, as evidenced around the sinks. As I have a severe mold allergy, I went home with head cold symptoms on top of a generally bad meal experience.

Maybe the other locations are better? They’d be better off closing...