Sorella — Restaurant in London

We went here on a whim, having seen that they're related to "The Dairy" just up the road. I hadn't been there before either, but wanted to give it a shot, so I checked out their booking service on line. It looked busy but the website lead us here. The other reason we tried it was because we hadn't heard of it before, so we were hoping that not many other people had either and that it would be quiet. It was murmuring rather than heaving and I think, bigger than The Dairy, so more space was available. It was thus reasonably calm in atmosphere. However, the bare walls would really amplify general chitchat on a party evening. For example, I couldn't understand what the wonderful Spanish waitress was telling me the food was, even on a Sunday lunch time, when a young lady sat near us, laughed repeatedly. Her mirthful braying, reflected from the walls in a deafening confusion of her own personal delight. We went for the tasting menu, which for £45 I think is a steal for food of this quality (extra £35 for wine and alcohol pairings). I can't remember all of the dishes, but they were of the highest quality, both beautifully prepared and presented. It's all seasonal so it changes, but their in house made bread, chicken butter, chicken liver mousse, charred cauliflower and veg course, smoked eel, braised then fried pork head, pigeon and in house salumis were very, very good. Only one dish didn't really hit the spot, as I thought the peanut sauce was too strong for the crab. However, if we had not been feeling quite so delicate from the evening before, in hindsight I would've had the rose vermouth recommended as a pairing. I could easily imagine how that would've changed things. All in all, excellent food, wonderful service, deafening walls if you're feeling sensitive. I will be putting the Dairy in the diary, for my...

Interesting experience tonight. Had 20:30 booking and turned up a bit early. Took 20 mins (20:12-20:32) to get first drink - two manhattans, drenched in bitters - which felt like a while but it seemed there was one waitress covering the whole place and we weren’t in a rush so no real worries. Only mention because of what followed.

Food was excellent. Really top notch. Liver parfait was amazingly light. Crab tagliatelle sensational. Pork cheeks were super soft if a little salty. Duck was cooked to perfection.

Order two different glasses of red wine and from our seat I saw and heard the waitress ask the barman which was which. He didn’t know…. She brought the wine over, plopped the glasses on our table and hightailed it out of there.

At 10pm we had just finished mains. Don’t think we’re slow eaters but again we weren’t in a rush so no issue. Music stopped (it was put back on later) and staff, particularly in the bar, were focussed on breaking the place down and tidying. Quite noisily too. Hoover was going (unseen) somewhere as well as another waitress swept the floor.

Were then asked in the most unfriendly, unwelcoming manner if we wanted dessert. Glad we did as this was also exceptional if a touch sweet (white chocolate cremoso).

Appreciate we were a late table (who turned up early) but I would have hoped for better from the staff at the end of the evening. Understand they want to get home but noisily cleaning up the bar and restaurant when you still have tables who may want dessert is a bit off. Would still go back, quality of the food...

1 star deducted due to charging us for ‘filtered water’ when we asked for tap water - it’s illegal to not offer free tap water to patrons when they request it if you are seating more than 10 people. Please rectify this and stop charging for water - tap water is perfectly drinkable in the UK.

Otherwise this place was cute but very overpriced - the arancini balls were delicious and the highlight. Get both types! Focaccia was lovely. The service was good - attentive but not too much so! Nice buzzy atmosphere, was just a bit too hot.

Had the mushroom / corn tagliatelle for main - nice but a bit too sweet, needed more pepper & salt and we weren’t given these on the table, or offered Parmesan with our pasta which seemed unusual for an Italian. My friends enjoyed the Ragu! Small portions though. The agnolotti my friend said was nice but very overpriced - £17.50 for 5 pieces of courgette pasta if you get the (only) veggie option. For these prices seasoning needs to be perfect and extras like Parmesan offered as basic. Is an atmospheric place and cute vibes but for the price needs refining and flavours improving to get people coming back. They are charging £17-20 for a very small plate of pasta that isn’t as good as places like padella, flour & grape, pastaio that cost half the price. And you have to get starters to be full so it really adds up. Personally would go elsewhere to more and tastier for your money - or just come for a drink...