Ask Italian

This place is probably about 3.5 stars. I felt I should post a review after reading some rather harsh reviews. The food is actually pretty good. We had take out of a pizza and bolognese pasta and both were better than anything similar I’ve had in Paris. Quite tasty actually. A fine choice for a quick meal and a good atmosphere. Definitely touristy but decent enough and reasonably priced.

Great service, very tasty food: tried calamares, doughballs, and the ravioli maritimi with de-​li-​cious bread baked in olive oil. Not cheap but great spot for an early lunch!

Just around the corner from Gloucester Road Underground Station is this Italian restaurant. Ok, so it’s nothing exciting, but I’ve been in here quite a few times over the years (it’s easy as a meet up place), and they serve simple/​tasty Italian food. The service has always been excellent when I’ve been in and normally busy (this is a tourist area, and so has quite a few neighbouring hotels).

I used to live close to Gloucester Road Station and subsequently passed by this poor excuse for a pizza place virtually everyday. Eventually, curiosity and laziness got the best of me and, one night, I ordered a pie for take away. Even though it only cost £3, I still felt as if I’d been ripped off. Cardboard and ketchup would have been better. Oh well.
After that fateful night, I could never understand why the dining area of this restaurant always seemed packed. There were certainly plenty of other (better) dining establishments nearby. I guess they get a lot of business from the tourists and business travellers staying in the hotel dense area.

If the photo looks a little odd — it’s of the adjacent Waitrose — that’s because this branch of the ubiquitous pizza and pasta chain is a little odd; it’s part of the small shopping mall above Gloucester Road underground station, next to the supermarket.
Although modern, it has high ceilings and large picture windows which look out one way to the busy Cromwell Road, and the other across the mall to Waitrose (which is only about 25 ft away). This can provide a slightly odd feeling if you’re eating in the evening, watching people collect their groceries after work (as they watch you as they’re queuing).
The food is standard ASK fare, and therefore decent if unremarkable, but good value — you can have two courses, plus wine and coffee for about £25 a head. The service on my last visit was very friendly, if a little slow, as we arrived with a few other groups, so there was a 25 minute gap between the starter and main course (although they did apologise — unbidden — very nicely after about 20 minutes).
So, it’s OK if you’re looking for a straightforward bite to eat, especially if you’ve been visiting one of the nearby museums, and it seems popular with families and tourists. Absolutely not for a romantic dinner though — unless you’re trying to make a point