Al Dente

Fantastic contemporary italian restaurant staff friendly and service is first class. The risotto and the home made desserts was the best I have tasted

The Al Dente is a small italian-​run restaurant in the centre of Harrow.
As usual, we’ve been seated shortly after our arrival. Unfortunatly right next to the door where there is a light but constant cold draught from a leaking window.
The atmosphere seemed quite alright but why they chose blue lights to go with their white ones, I’ll never know.
The menu was quite diverse. I went for a starter (gratinated mushrooms in a garlicy tomato sauce) which was delicious and raised my expectations. I thought I’d be on the right road but sadly took the wrong turn after that and went for the Pizza Parma.
I have no idea what went wrong here. Did I expect too much from an italian pizza? Has the pizza been very italian but I failed to appreciate it? I mean the ingredients were fine — no doubt — but I’ve seriously had better frozen pizza. Actually this one tasted quite like a mediocre frozen margherita topped with ham and rocket.
My (italian) colleague however went for some pasta and was overwhelmed by its taste and consistency. But if you call your restaurant Al Dente, I guess you’ll have to be measured by that name.
After our main course, we had some tiramisu which was good, yet not as good as in the Trattoria Sorrentina down the road. After the coffee, we then got offered an apéritif (some sort of lemon schnaps) for free.
A nice gesture by the already very nice staff, who truly diserve a five star rating. Polite and attentive, yet not obtrusive — just perfect.
With all these ups and downs, the verdict is tough to give. If it was for my pizza, I would have made it three stars. But then even bad pizza is good. More importantly: My colleague totally enjoyed his pasta and in the end, he’s the italian.