Trullo — Restaurant in London

People love to say “oh Trullo is aaaaamazing / I’ve heard it’s sooooo good” and there are countless 5-star reviews online, so of course I was so excited to finally dine at Trullo! I’m not one to write reviews (literally, ever) nor one to moan about poor dining experiences - I’ve worked in hospitality before, so tend to give people the benefit of the doubt and am generally pretty chill and easy to please! My experience at Trullo wasn’t “shocking” or “terrible” or anything particularly dramatically BAD, but it was significantly below average and, among all the 5-star reviews of people who had a wonderful experience, I thought I’d share a different perspective from someone who didn’t.

We were seated downstairs in the “cave-like” area towards the back of the basement. Initial impressions were “wow this is so cool and intimate and chic” but a couple minutes later we realised (a) it was totally impractical to get in and out, it was super cramped, and you really had to be careful not to hit your head (speaking from experience of someone who totally whacked her head oops); (b) it was dark (we had to use the flashlights on our phones to read the menus like giant losers because the single flickering candle was not helping) (my eyesight isn’t bad btw); and (c) it was pretty impossible to get the attention of the serving staff (more on this below).

We spent 10 minutes looking at the menu until a waitress came over and asked for our drinks order - we realised we weren’t given drinks menus and so had to wait another 10 minutes for that to be dropped off. No probs, all good, stuff happens. Once received, we then waited AGES for our drinks order to be taken. All efforts of “pls come over here” eye contact were completely futile - no one was paying any attention to us. After being seated for maybe 45 minutes (that's a guess, but it sounds about right) and being completely ignored, we hadn’t even ordered drinks…! Someone finally came (after we literally stood up and waved down the serving staff like absolute loons) and then we ordered drinks, starters and food all in one go (we were starving). Drinks then came, all good. Then pasta came… hmmm but what about our starter? We didn't mention it and instead scarfed down our pasta (pursuant to starving) and then ordered dessert (again, with difficulty, pursuant to being ignored). None of the staff checked in on us throughout the meal, asked if the food was ok, asked if we wanted another drink etc. Plus, the starter was added to the bill at the end (which we asked to be removed given we never received it) - not a good look, Trullo.

We ordered the beef shin ragu pappardelle and the tagliarini with mussels, along with tiramisu and the vanilla pannacotta for dessert. The food was good - it wasn’t “aaaaamazing” nor was it the best Italian I’ve had in London. The price is high, portions are small and the service/experience was disappointing - while I don’t want that to taint my opinion of the food (and I’m trying not to do that - as I said, the food was good), I wasn't blown away and don’t find myself wanting to come back for it.

All in all - won’t be back and won’t be contributing to the “oh Trullo is aaaaamazing” chorus. 2 stars is...

Accessability: There's a step at the entrance of the restaurant. Two floors with steps/stairs leading down. I don't think a wheelchair user would be able to enter the restaurant at the ground level. Someone who may have a disability where they're able to walk upright (maybe using a cane/crutches) might find navigating the space tricky, but could be doable. It's dimly lit, for those visually impaired. I would suggest the resto highlighting those little steps inside that could easily be missed by anyone, but especially those with visual limitations.

Went a few weeks ago with my sisters. We ordered a bunch of different plates to share.

They have some Halal options, definetly ask in person.

Pasta: The beef shin, crab pasta and cheese curd ravioli (i could be getting the latter wrong, it was the 'special') -The crab pasta was the winner - a perfect summer dish.

Antipasti: Arancini, monkfish carpaccio and burrata. -The arancini and burrata were nice, but can you ever go wrong with those two? -The monkfish had olive oil drizzled over, which we found a tad too strong and overpowering - sadly we weren't big fans of that.

Cheese: A little dissapointing considering the price and size. we've had bigger portions for the same price elsewhere. The cheese were tasty and the jelly was great.

Service: The young guy with the braids who was managing our table was great. Informative and friendly. He informed us on what was Halal and made sure he steered us in the right direction.

Only real issue I have was when we entered is that I told the foh person that it was my sisters birthday so it would be great if you made it special for her. he in an attempt to be positively reassuring brushed me off. i had chosen the 'birthday' option when making the resy, already. we had to tell out waiter that it was my sisters bday which ruined the whole surprise dessert because we couldn't wait any longer at this point. he had no idea, to no fault of his own. he brought out some ice-cream for her which was appreciated of course. I did express my dissapointment when we paid the bill because it feels counterproductive to choose the birthday option if we're going to have to ask for it in person, in front of the recipient. the waitress was apologetic and understanding (it wasn't her fault) but i think it's one of those small details restaurants need to work on. Ive experienced it time and time again. don't have the bday option if you're going to provide nothing for your customer. Mr 'brush off' shouldn't be in such a hurry to say " i know i know" if he isn't going to let his team know what he knows, you know?

A great restuarant though....

I was recommended Trullo by a good friend of mine whose restaurant recommendations I completely trust. Being a big fun of Padella myself I expected Trullo to be even better, or at least as good, as it’s Padella’s sister restaurant and more established than Padella. To my surprise, it was the biggest restaurant mistake I’ve made in the last few years.

My family were visiting and I decided to take them to Trullo for dinner, we were 3 diners. The service was really slow from the start, even to just bring some water to the table we initially ordered — which was surprising given the restaurant didn’t seem very busy. We decided to order 3 mains and 1 starter to share. We ordered 1 bruschetta to share — we were concerned it wouldn’t be enough for 3 people so we asked the waiter if he thought the bruschetta would feed the 3 of us otherwise we’d order more, he was very positive it would… well, I’m afraid it didn’t even feed my little nephew — £13 (if I remember correctly) for what we got is just unbelievable, it was okay but nothing special (a small piece of toast with 2 large slices of tomato on top and some spices), I’ve definitely had much better and bigger bruschetta for less in other restaurants. On top of that, it took around 30min to arrive. Over 40minutes later (and now it’s over 1h waiting for the mains) the mains arrive — fine, food is good, very small quantities but good (personally I’d say the same quality as at Padella but smaller quantities and more expensive). Considering what a terrible service we had we didn’t even consider desserts as we knew this would take another hour. We ordered the bill, which took another while to get, paid and left the restaurant completely disappointed, apologising to my family and promising to never come back.

It’s worth noting 2 things: firstly, we are not big eaters, these were definitely very small portions specially for the money we paid, and secondly, the staff weren’t efficient at all, it’s not that the waiters/manager were busy, it’s just that they didn’t seem to be in the mood for working that night, we saw them chatting and laughing through the entire dinner with no apparent awareness that the service was being terrible.

I don’t like complaining at the table and I genuinely hate giving bad reviews, I don’t think I’ve ever given any, but this was a disastrous dinner that shouldn’t have happened.

I emailed the manager directly to explain everything, I'm still waiting...