Via Emilia by Food Roots - SHOREDITCH — Restaurant in London

This is one of those times I really didn't want to have to leave a bad review, but in order for things to improve I feel like it should be said.

The service can I say was fantastic, the girl who served us was so warm, accomodating and checked in with us so kudos to her she was an absolute star.

Now onto the many issues with the food. First yes I have a dairy allergen and I went to an Italian place yes yes we get it. But, not all Italian has dairy in....so I went in. Saw there was vegan options. So I asked about it..turns out not vegan at all. The gnocchi has dairy in? Why may you ask? I have no idea. I have never in my life had plain gnocchi that had dairy in. This is crazy to think about how many people came in with the same allergen or vegan and went and ate dairy. Absolutely unforgivable.

Then I thought hey why not the Ragu, ragu doesn't have dairy in. Wrong! The chef for whatever insane reason has milk in the sauce??? Someone please explain how in 14 years of my career as a chef, cooking Italian food as well there's dairy in the Ragu?? I need a great explanation for.this.

Unfortunately for the poor server explaining and asking the I assume aggressively speaking Italian chef was not happy about the questions and could see him visibly kicking off. To the chef deal with it..it's your job. Some customers have allergens...honestly it just made me super uncomfortable and set the tone for the quite frankly abysmal plates of pasta that arrived.

I order the mushroom dish, which was incrediblely salty the pasta was not al dente it was just not cooked, the spaghetti dishes were so strong with chilli it was the only flavour and the pasta was dry and unfresh..

Don't even get me started on the gaps between tables to even get to the toilet.

Overall I don't understand why this place is still going. If you're going to do tapas style pasta you better make sure that the pasta is absolutely spot on.

I would never ever in a million years return. Not to mention I was incredibly ill after just like the times when I've accidentally had dairy..

Willing to bet that's why but here we are. Don't bother going. Plenty of great Italians...

We got here as it was opening (according to Google maps) for dinner but they weren't opened so they've really got to update their times. Their doors didn't have much indication of their opening times either. What I found rude was one of the waitresses saw us, and instead of a simple "come back later at _", she just locked the door and walked away. We came back and tried to open the door, but the staff saw us and ignored us. So in the end we just had to call them whilst standing outside and ask what time they opened.

We came back as they opened the door, which was lucky because after we sat down, they started turning people away as they were fully booked so we mustve been one of the last walk ins.

We ordered squacquerone cheese with gnocco fritto to start with. The cheese was quite mild and creamy, but nice to spread on the salty and crispy on the outside but soft and pillowy on the inside bread.

For pastas, we ordered taglioni al cacio e pepe, pisarei e faso and tortellini in brodo. I thought the cacio e pepe was quite dry, and there wasn't much sauce clinging onto the noodle. I loved the other two dishes. The gnocci with borlotti beans in tomato sauce was so comforting and moreish, I actually transferred the taglioni into the sauce to mop it all up. The tortellini was familiar to me - it reminded me of dumplings in soup. It was so meaty, with pork loin, mortadella and parma ham inside, each bite was filled with some salty porky goodness. The broth was so flavourful, I finished every last drop.

We were quite full but somehow still had enough room to stretch out to share a tiramisu between the both of us. A great dessert to finish off our Italian meal.

This was the first meal where I took advantage of the #eatouttohelpout scheme. The whole meal came to just under £25 😱,...

Sorry slightly below 3.5 for me. The staff are absolutely nice and wonderful, but the food is quite average. The menu isn’t exciting enough. The space is cramped and stressful.

Meat mix is nice. From neck to leg, Parma to prosciutto :3 The sausage has a beautiful black pepper aroma. And all of them are tasty, although I’d like to know more about the producer — in comparison with supermarket packs.

The #9 anolen in brod is lovely like pork dumplings. The chicken soup is heart warming. I chose this one because it’s less common. It does appear more similar to pelmani. The pork, ham, and cheese filling is a cute mixture of tender meat, umami, spices, and melting cheese.

My friend’s classsic bolognese ragu is also nice.

Both pastas are al dente, although slightly lacking springiness other than the firmness. I’ve had better ones…

The smaller portion is helpful for sampling, but still too big for a tapas style “pasta flight” across the region. With the meat starter, two pasta dishes are more than enough for us, and we had to skip the bread too.

Tiramisu tastes good but personally I’d prefer it to be more moist. More soak the ladyfingers in more coffee and beat the mascarpone to a fluffier texture.

Environment: Small space with small tables. The small space fits 50 people and can be difficult to get around. Cold wind comes in with customers.

The staff are friendly and patient.

It’s interesting to drop by if you happen to be around (reservation is recommended), but there really isn’t anything for me to...