Totti — Restaurant in London

EDIT: As this is a very long review I will summarise it - awful food, and undercooked chicken. Probably the worst dining experience I have ever had.

RESPONSE TO OWNER: Nice try, but your facts are wrong.

Chicken - pink in the middle means undercooked no matter which way you try to spin it.

Parmessan - at no point was I offered any parmessan, either with my first dish nor the second one to replace it. As my original review was so long I decided not to include this criticism, as I thought not being offered it at the time was odd but I wanted my review to focus on more important matters.

Carbonarra - I did not happily eat all of it. It was inedible and I left most of it. Had you tried to charge me for it I would have asked for it to be taken off the bill it was so bad.

And now, the original review:

As with many people in Eltham I was keen to try out Totti when it opened. I really wanted it to be a success to keep the high street going. What a disappointment. I visited for lunch and ordered the Pollo Milanese. When I cut into the chicken it was clearly pink and undercooked. I called the waiter over to tell him and quickly the manager appeared as well. She apologised for the chicken “not being to my taste”, showing a complete lack of understanding of food safety. She took the dish back to the kitchen to speak with the chef. Shortly afterwards she returned to explain that the chef used paprika in the crumb coating and this is what must have made it look pink. This is a complete lie – when you cook with paprika it turns the outside of chicken an orange/reddish colour. It does not make the inside pink. So not only does the manager not have an understanding of food safety, neither does the chef. I asked for a Carbonara to replace it. The menu listed one of the ingredients as double cream so I knew it wasn’t going to be authentic but I thought it might be ok. It wasn’t, it was awful. It was swimming in cream with no discernible flavour of egg or cheese. The bacon was a soggy mass rather than being crisp, and a load of rocket had been dumped on top. It was barely edible. As for my partner, she had the pepperoni pizza. Surely they can’t mess up a pizza you ask? The dough of the pizza was dense and clearly over worked, and the top was a mass of grease from the vast amount of cheese used. They did manage to put some pepperoni on top, so got that right at least. What went well – they didn’t charge me for the Pollo Milanese, nor the Carbonara that replaced it. They also offered a free drink on the house, which I declined. In response to other reviews, the owners say they have passed feedback on to the chef. My advice to the owners is to go a bit further than that. On the wall of the restaurant is a mural of scenes of Rome and other Italian landmarks. Send your chefs there for a week to see what Italian food is actually like, as what is being served is nothing like it and to call yourselves an Italian restaurant is bordering on false...

EDITED - Inaccurate Claims in Totti’s Reply

1 Star — Appalling Food Safety and Zero Accountability

I visited Totti Italian Restaurant on Eltham High Street on 24th September 2025, and had one of the most disappointing and concerning dining experiences I’ve ever encountered.

I ordered the arancini starter, which was completely frozen solid in the middle despite being extremely hot on the outside. This is a serious food safety issue, particularly alarming for me as I am currently pregnant.

When I raised the issue, I was told there was no manager on site. My details were taken, but I received no follow-up. The chef then came out and stared at me in an intimidating way, which was completely unprofessional and made me feel very uncomfortable.

Since then, I have made repeated attempts to contact the restaurant — through calls, emails, text messages, social media, and even their website — yet I have received no proper response or apology. On one occasion, the manager even admitted she had “forgotten” to return my call.

The complete lack of accountability, customer care, and food safety awareness is shocking. I have since reported this to Environmental Health because it’s unacceptable for any restaurant to serve unsafe food and then ignore the issue.

I would strongly advise others to avoid this restaurant until serious improvements are made in both their food safety practices and customer service.

Response to reply

Thank you for your reply, but unfortunately, much of what you’ve stated is untrue. I have a call log confirming that your manager did not contact me several times, as claimed — in fact, I had to chase multiple times to get any response.

At no point was I aggressive, shouting, or threatening toward any staff. I am heavily pregnant, and my visit to your restaurant on 24th September was calm and uneventful from my side. The restaurant was almost empty, which can be confirmed by your CCTV footage.

The only reason I left this review is because, despite several emails, messages, and calls, I received no proper response for weeks. The arancini I was served were frozen in the middle, which is a serious food safety concern. Rather than acknowledging the issue and handling it professionally, your response here is defensive and inaccurate.

This matter has now been escalated further to the relevant authorities for...

Myself my husband and youngest daughter ate here a couple of weeks ago and the food, service and atmosphere was fantastic. On this occasion my youngest daughter didn't actually like due to her own taste her meal, no big deal it happens. I let the staff know that she didn't eat her meal because she didn't like it and was immediately offered for something else for her to be made, we said no because she had shared our amazing meals and really enjoyed them. The portion sizes are extremely generous so we were able to share our meals with her. We returned this evening with both our daughters and all ordered different meals from thr previous visit and goodness every single one of our meals were fantastic. While we were eating a member of staff the same member of staff I had let know about my daughter not liking her meal, came over and said welcome back she remembered us from our previous visit, it was such a lovely personal touch considering we had only eaten here once before, she came back again and cleared our plates while we all commented on how fantastic the meal was and she said jokingly about the specific dish my daughter had ordered previously. It made us as a family feel very welcome. Both my daughters have Autism and my youngest has very severe social anxiety as part of her ASD, While we were giving our orders the very kind waiter who took them I think noticed that she was unable to verbalise her order and was so kind and gentle with not pushing her and allowing us to make the order for her while he acknowledged that it was for her and she was just as important at the table as we were. This part is very difficult to explain but it was more than appricated by us that she didn't feel pressured to give her order herself. I can't praise this restaurant enough and it has now become after only 2 visits our favourite place to eat and I more than recomend that you...