Pentolina — Restaurant in London

What a fantastic restaurant! We ate there for the second time on Wednesday lunchtime and had a truly memorable meal. For a restaurant that's only been open for less than three weeks - we were very impressed. They are already full up for several evenings during the week - so I would urge you to book in advance. The main "A La Carte" menu changes regularly and features a range of wonderful Italian dishes. There’s also a new lunchtime "Lite Menu" priced around £15.00 that represents tremendous value for those local office workers who want a quick, tasty meal. I had the beef that was cooked to perfection - in my case - medium rare. Best steak I've had in a long time and beautifully seasoned. My girlfriend had “Filetto di Spigola nella Melanzana con Salsa di Peperoni Gialli e Rossi” which she loved! The dessert was a truly amazing Pannacotta with a rose liqueur. We washed it all down with a delicious Chianti Castello dei Rampolla ’09 for £29.95, which is great value. The bill for two was £90.00 - so £45.00 per head for a 3 course meal plus tea. Service is not included - but was so good I made sure it was north of 17%. Was it worth it? I judge any trip to a restaurant not only on the food and beverage - but also on ambience and the overall experience. Pentolina ticked all the boxes. We both agreed that we had found a local restaurant that we will return to often. The food’s great, Michele & Heidi are wonderful hosts and above...

A local favorite, the appeal of Pentolina is undeniable. Simple Italian, with a cosy interior, solid service, and decently priced to present good value for most. However, it is not perfect either. We've never been served half a burrata before; and despite the delightful tomato-croutons interlude, the size portion was rather small. The bread basket seemed like an after-thought of stale, whatever that was. A missed opportunity when it is the first thing that greets you. Our two pasta dishes were okay (umami packed wild boar and fresh mussels), but the pistachio and date sauce dessert was also weak, almost bland, and yet another missed opportunity where the texture and technique was clearly there. Pentolina is one of those restaurants that has the potential to go up a few gears; but for some reason, perhaps thinking of profit margin per dish, as most restaurants do, holds itself back from being truly, truly good. As a local, heres hoping it makes some tweaks go up a notch...

All in all, the general environment of the restaurant was pleasant enough.

We opted for a shared baked tomino starter which was fantastic, the saltiness of the cheese was really well offset with the addition of honey. The main criticism I have for the meal was in the main course. The crab meat was almost entirely pulverised (shell and meat) which resulted in an almost gritty texture, with a whole piece of crab shell also hiding in the plate. For a near £20 plate for food, I expected a little more care than that. Very disappointing for an otherwise positive experience.

The tirimisu was not all that special, the flavours were fine, but the ladyfingers were completely soaked and had lost most of their integrity, nothing bad, but nothing particularly good about it either.

If you're looking to find a new local Italian eatery, I would recommend you go and form your own opinion about the food, as the ox tongue linguine was...