Sophie’s Italian Restaurant & Pizza — Restaurant in London

I was in London for 1 night. I booked a last minute ticket to the theatre. I didn't want to spend huge bucks, but didn't want fast food either. I strolled past Sophie's on my way to the show. It looked cosy. As I walked in, I was greeted with a big smile and welcome from the waiter. How nice! Here is my review.

The deal: There was a pizza/salad/wine deal on the board at the entrance. This seemed like a good deal, so I took it!

Food: Top marks for the pizza. It was REALLY nice. The dough was fresh, and that's so important. And it wasn't a big thick dough pizza, nor was it too thin. Just in-between and it worked perfectly. I usually prefer really thin pizza, but this was very good. The toppings were just enough, not too much. I was offered chilli oil, which I really like on a pizza. This was fast becoming my favourite pizza joint!

The salad however was a bit on the small side, and not enough salad sauce for my liking. But I could have asked for more, it wouldn't have been a problem. I just decided to eat it as it was.

Oh, by the way, the pizza came out on a HOT plate, well done for that too (hot food on hot plates, cold food on cold plates: golden rule)

Atmosphere: It was very quiet as I was early, but I quite like that, so it suited me. It was nice and warm so I felt very comfortable.

Cleanliness: Top marks. 5 stars. As I sat down, the next table left and the waiter come through with a spray disinfectant and a CLEAN cloth! Wonderful. My table was very clean and not sticky like some places. Well done.

Service: It was prompt, professional and courteous. I liked it. I asked for a few extra things and it was not a problem. Easy going and caring. The owner (Fatos) had a lovely chat with me. Owners on the floor chatting with guests is a sign of a good restaurant. Again, top marks.

Anything else? Honestly, it was really a perfect start to my evening (dinner+theatre). But I just wondered about one thing: I sat at a table which had a setting, looking out on the street, which was lovely. As I ordered the 'deal', which included a glass of white wine, the waiter removed the lovely looking fancy wine glass, only to return with a regular 'ikea' style of glass with my 'house white' in it. Why change the glass? But that didn't matter at all. I'm picking!!

Would I recommend it? Would I go back? Yes and yes. Absolutely. I hope my review helps them and helps others to find a good value, clean, professional restaurant. Keep up the good work, it is very much...

Sophie’s Italian restaurant which from the roadside is very inviting is repellent once inside.

Left waiting at the door to be greeted and seated with only 1 table already seated in the restaurant.

Once eventually taken to a table we had to wait an age to be asked what we would like to drink and order. We ordered cocktails and the sever said he didn’t know what he was doing and he did not disappoint. Weak and tasteless.

The king prawns I ordered for my starter were partially raw with a very gloopy unseasoned weak sauce with a side of rotten rocket. Nice. For my wife’s starter they used inferior tasteless plain white baguette which we later saw our server return from the shops with more.

For our next round of drinks we got so fed up of waiting because our server had gone shopping that I turned round in my chair to make eye contact with the barman who was now in shift and had to loudly ask for another round. My drink was pleasant though the Bellini my wife ordered was terrible. Old gone off peach juice is not recommended.

Our main’s had now arrived, I ordered spaghetti alla marinara which on arrival looked very nice but the sauce was unseasoned, weak and the seafood within the sauce was clearly the mixed frozen bits variety that come in in a bag so it all was tough and tasted the same. My wife ordered the lasagna which you’d think would be a cornerstone of any Italian restaurant. Thick layers of oily cheese between unseasoned bolognaise and no béchamel. Come on! It was crap!

It was time for the bill. Our server was back from the shops. He had already taken the raw prawns off of our bill which was great but was unaware of our other concerns. I let him know them and he sincerely apologised and was clearly embarrassed. He went to speak to his senior colleague and got the inclusive surcharge of 12.5% taken off too.

Overall the worst experience my wife and I have ever had...

Went for a meal in here on a Sunday evening. Service was very slow but eventually, after waiting about 15 minutes, our order was taken. We chose the offer, pizza or pasta, salad and any glass of wine 22.95. The staff had to return to check what wine we had ordered, which was one red, one rose, not too difficult really. The food came and to be fair, my pizza was lovely, very tasty and well cooked with a nice light base, 5 out of 5. My Wife's pasta was a bit bland but ok, a good portion, 3 out of 5. We never got the salad. Service continued to be slow, our plates had not been cleared before we asked for the bill. No one came to check if the meal was ok. Other customers were complaining about lack of order taking, service etc. The bill took a while and was wrong and then changed. It then took us a while to attract their attention to pay. I paid with a credit card and asked for the receipt and the girl couldn't work the machine, so I took the bill instead. We got up to leave and no one wished us good evening or said thanks.... Quite the opposite, as we got out onto the street, in front of other diners on outside tables, one of the waiters rushed out after us and accused us of not paying. I explained we had and pointed to the young lady who had taken our payment and he said she was new. I told him again that we had paid and that it a shame he had not been so quick to bring our salad out!! Eventually he got a thumbs up from inside and he said it was ok, to which I replied is that an apology. Shame as we had seen good right ups of this place, let down by very very poor service. I get they need to ensure no one makes of without paying, but if they had paid better attention to us and the other customers, this would not have happened. A very embarrassing experience for us in front of other customers, very very...