Lina Stores South Kensington - Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in London

Frankly, I wouldn't bother. I live locally and popped in a couple of months ago, soon after this restaurant opened; it wasn't great. I have gone twice more in the hope that it had improved. It hadn't. Poor service, no-one welcoming you as you come in, no-one saying thanks and goodbye on the way out, no-one obviously in charge, and generally an air of disinterest. The food was mediocre; one main course pasta dish that was absolutely overpowered by lemon, another that was smaller than a small starter (with nothing said by the waitress when ordering), and a side of focaccia that (at Greek Street) would normally be light, fluffy, moist, and sufficient for 2 persons, here was literally 2 small slices of dry over-baked bread. I have frequented the Greek Street restaurant for a few years and (until recently) it has been great. This place in South Kensington has none of the original Lina charm. Lina Stores restaurants are being rolled out thick and fast and are starting to feel like a venture capital owned "chain", where it's about nothing more than milking the name and the concept. Avoid.

Update: I decided to try this this restaurant once more, early evening (around 18:30) on Tuesday 17th September. The restaurant was noticeably quieter than its neighbours. We chose to sit at the counter and were the only customers there. We weren't asked if we'd like pre-dinner drinks, and were asked for our food order before being provide with the drinks/wine list. Food was acceptable, although nothing special. Again, there was a general air of disinterest from the staff, and it was unclear who was in charge of the room. The staff, including those in the open kitchen behind the counter, seemed to have a little bit of unnecessary attitude. We paid up and left with no-one saying thanks and goodbye on...

Opening day visit: 19th of April

Just some heartfelt food burps @goodmore__ning

Surprisingly jaw-dropped in shock, sides and drinks shined over pasta itself. Yet the decor is a mouthful of Italian bistro coziness in the street corner. Right amount of murals and wall embellishments down to your memory lane. But the stomach are yet to be pleased, seems some polish is needed for polishing the protagonist of the show. Tips to try: 1 appetizer + 1 pasta = done for the checklist✔️ Gnudi Fritti Crispy out with light crunchy Gnudi inside, tomato sauce cleverly balance out the creaminess.

Focaccia al Rosmarino e Sale Marino, Olio d’Oliva Fair price, fair Focaccia. Smell, texture and colour as focaccia should be.

Burrata e Olio d'Oliva High quality olive oil Lina chooses simply level up the Burrata. Pici alla Norcina The only approved pasta tonight.. worthy of Italian’s so called comfort food - Sausage, rich cream sauce with little zing of white wine

Agnolotti di Topinambur Arrosto e Ricotta Tre Latti Lemon and Pinenuts are the highlight Lumache con Guanciale e Fave Very sorry to say… either that I’m covid positive or it truly has no taste. Beans and mint over powered Guanciale which made it become..hmm British sides? Tagliolini al Tartufo Truffle should be an easy win over, somehow it still lose us with zero aroma, but to comment on the use of 30-Egg Yolk Tagliolini, high quality texture, yes.

Tiramisù is very moody that day! Sweet, sugary and dry sponge finger in between, how can it...

While the food and drinks were amazingly delicious ( We loved the Truffle pasta and Limoncello Spritz) myself and my friend felt incredibly uncomfortable while dining here. We booked in advance and showed up a few minutes early to the restaurant which was empty when we arrived. Within 2 minutes of being shown our table (we hadn’t even put our bags and jackets away) , a waitress came up wanting to take our orders, when we said we hadn’t had a chance to look at the menu, she went away but came back 2 more times within the next 5-10minutes. This continued after the main when we were looking at the dessert menu, the waitress came up three times within 10 minutes asking if we were ready to order and on the third time she started to clear the table, taking away the paper placemat that also serves as a menu. At this point, we felt so unwelcome and uncomfortable that we decided to get the bill and find dessert somewhere else. After paying the bill, my friend was trying to finish off her drink quickly but ended up leaving it as we could hear the staff talking about us. All in all we were in an out of the restaurant in under 45minutes. While I completely understand that restaurants often have time limits on tables (usually 2-2.5hours), it would’ve been nice to be made aware at the start of the meal that we had less than an hour to eat rather than being rushed out. It should also be pointed out, that the restaurant was still half empty when we left, so we weren’t holding up the table for...