Buona Sera Jam

This place is really great for a date. It’s fun being in a restaurant up high and it feels secluded. The food is great there too. You need to book so you get up in the high tree house which is the best spot.

It’s worth a visit just to experience the quirky seating arrangement — it was like eating in a treehouse! SUCH a great use of space but they’ve also designed it really well. Impressive waiting staff as well, transporting drinks and plates up the ladders without error (at least while we were there).
My Sangria light was just the right amount of wine-​y, zingy and a lot of fresh orange chunks.
We shared 3 starters among the 3 of us — tomato and basil bruschetta so deliciously garlicky it made our tongues tingle, sweet and sour spicy ribs with a generous amount of meat that just fell off the bone, and decadent little deep fried balls of goats cheese, with a creamy beetroot and tangy balsamic sauce. All delicious and the plates were thoroughly cleaned off all traces!
I had the gnocchi ragu, and my companions had the gnocchi with spicy sausage (a special) — all deliciously stodgy and tasty and comforting, with a generous sprinkling of parmesan to top it off (on our request).
I couldn’t resist the ‘ice cream selection’ dessert, and went for a scoop each of vanilla (creamy, but not the best quality), chocolate (pretty standard — no pieces of actual chocolate within it but still nice enough) and salted caramel (pretty good, but not the best I’ve had). What made it for me was the topping of grilled marshmallows (that’s right, GRILLED!). Yum :)
The girls had Irish coffees, which did not skimp on the whisky!!! The nougat ice cream was pretty good too. Next time I think we’ll go for the mango and coconut though, it sounded a good mix of tart and creamy, with a meringue heart!
For Chelsea, the price wasn’t bad either. For my starter, sangria, main, dessert, and the (already added on) 10% service charge, I paid £32. I’ll be back (and definitely make sure I get a top table again! I just don’t think it would be the same on the ground floor).

Great dinner and service and a very unique set-​up with the booths (you really have to sit up top). Just make sure your company is prepared for the small climb.

Cool setting and good food. Seating on the top level is unique and quite trippy though it does start getting tiresome as the setbacks are so hard.
Food quality is good and price is fair, and the service was lovely. Not much in terms of a bar, though, so if you have to wait for a table, go next door to get your libations.

Two tiered seating what is there to argue with really!
Great fun to fight with other patrons for the top bunk.

This place is lovely to come for a drink (or a meal, but we just got chips and a beer each so I wouldn’t know what the food is like). It’s cute and quirky and I’ve definitely not been to a bar like this before — you have to climb ladders to get to the top seats! It’s amazing.

Pasta on a ladder, or under it, or on it, or under it, or BOTH MAYBE but probably not.

Completely original seating and decent, fairly-​priced food? This place totally exceeded my expectations.
You’ll have read about the seating arrangements here. Wooden slats on scaffolding work to place some diners at ground level in booths while hoisting others into the air just between them. Treehouse dining indeed, and I really enjoyed the unusual setup. Unique, cosy and perfect for a date, it’s also an impressive use of a small space on pricey Kings Road. Kudos to the owners for having this vision.
The food is Italian, and given the pull of the novel seating, surprisingly good. Nothing special, but perfectly reasonable for price, if perhaps in slightly smaller portions than I would have liked. The wine was similarly well-​priced and of decent quality for the money.
The service was quick and friendly and the table easy to book. This would make a perfect date place but is worth checking out at least once for everyone else too.

You can eat upstairs and the food is average. That’s about all that’s memorable here.

Great food and really fun, especially for the kids. Great week night place. Kids like to sit up the stairs.

Good food for a decent price. Nice foreign service. Highly recommend for anyone who would like to try something new in multicultural/​multi-​culinary London.

Great Italian hideout of a restaurant near Sloan Square with great service, excellent pasta specials, great desserts and a small, but good selection of wine. Amazing ambience and very unique how they have bunk style booths.

This place is a great destination when you’re after an affordable meal in a non-​standard setting. Great for dates or night out with friends. The food is not outstanding but it’s decent enough Italian fare, and I have plenty to keep my vegetarian needs happy.
My only regret is that the one time I visited, I was with a friend who’d broken her leg. So there was no clambering up the ladder to the top deck! Maybe next time…

Stumbled upon this tight and charming restaurant on our first day in South Kensington — Chelsea and was blown away by the fast service and OUTSTANDING food. Spaghetti, pesto linguine, chicken with artichokes, and dinner salad were as good as any I’ve had in America. Would definitely return.

I was really excited to try this place after hearing about it from a couple people and seeing the inside. The two-​level seating is awesome, and you can also adjust the lighting intensity and music level (although that didn’t work for us) at your table, to make it a romantic evening if that’s what you’re in the mood for. The wait staff was very friendly and extremely helpful (two of the things we ordered weren’t on the menu), but the food was slightly disappointing. It was good, just not great, and I expected more from such a cool looking restaurant. So go for the experience, but don’t expect to be blown away by the food.

Of course, I had to get ill on my arrival to London. An incredible pain in my stomach. I was supposed to meet with my friend later in the evening. So I decided to have a long walk in central London.
On Kings road, I felt quite hungry and it already was almost 3 in the afternoon. Despite the fresh air of January and the beautiful weather, I was still feeling bad. I knew the best thing to do in such a state was eating rice. So I started searching for an Italian restaurant. I love risotto and hoped it could help.(I know I could have had some chinese rice dish or even a paella? A risotto is more neutral… No spice).
I eventually found this small Italian restaurant with a strange and very long name: Buona Sera at the Jam.
The interior looked amazing and a little mad. Strange wooden booths on two levels which separates you from the other customers. I sat down and ordered a risotto with meat balls. I know, It wasn’t the best choice for my stomach anyway. But surprisingly it helped a lot. It was warm, very tasty and deliciously creamy. And the price was incredibly low: 6 pounds for a big portion! As I felt better, I ordered a glass of Chianti. And finally had a dessert: a very nice panna cotta with fresh straberries.
My waitress was a romanian girl, very charming and attentive.
16 pounds for a tasty risotto, a glass of red wine and a panna cotta are almost a bargain in London.
I got out very satisfied.

I love this restaurant for its unique seating arrangement. As recommended by the other reviewer, a high seat is a must, just ask for it when you book, but dont search it you’ll ruin the surprise.
The food is good, nice size portions at affordable prices.
The only thing that seems to let this place down is the hit-​and-​miss waiting staff. Too many of them appear to be grumpy, which i find always puts a dent in an otherwise nice visit to this little italian!

Was very wary coming to this restaurant because of past reviews, and uncertainty if they were cool with walk ins. After much research, and seeing that it was usually always packed with people (usually a good sign), we decided to make a reservation.
Making our way into the small restaurant, we were so excited to be seated in the upper table area, kind of bunk bed like seating.
I wore 4 inch heels and still made it up the little ladder with ease.
The service wasn’t as intimidating as some reviews had made it out to be, the waitress was pretty prompt, but understandably rushed. Ordered the Bruschetta (nice mix of olive oil and tomato) and the gnocchi (wasn’t fresh, but okay.)
It was pricey for what it was worth, but good to have tried out. The upstairs seating was the most unique part of the whole evening, a little cramped, but still fun.
I might go back here when I’m in Chelsea again. Might.

This has to go on my list of «weridest eating experiences ever». Okay mainly that is because I am eating and drinking 7 ft off the ground but also because I just don’t get it. Okay so we are eating in a tree house but why is the food Italian?
This place is snuggled in west London and had it not been for Miss Laura N upping roots and shifting over here I probably would never have discovered it. As far as the food goes it’s nice but nothing to write home about but the experience itself is great making this a perfect date spot or even a treat for kids.
As for prices, it’s fair but I’m so baffled by the seating that I almost forget my handbag as I leave. Nice try, I may be back. We’ll see!

Laura and Miriam, sitting in a tree…
E-​a-​t-​t-​i-​n-​g…
Wait… eatting? What the hell is eatting?
Actually — this precise emotion threaded throughout our experience. For all of the fun, good natured, and amply expected frivolous fun that one would anticipate from a dining experience that is literally set above the competition, there were a lot of «what the hell is that» moments.
Amazing house wine… but a starter that took 45 minutes?
Fantastic grilled cod… but cold potatoes in the soup?
Tasty fresh ciabatta bread, but avocados in the caprese salad? (ok, in all fairness that was a good realisation!)
While I’m tempted to dish out three stars, I just can’t bring myself to dip below four. You’re dining in a tree house for crying out loud. Add friendly service and a cheap house bottle of red and I’m sold. Just don’t expect rustic Italian magic. Thank you Mario, but our Italian stallion is in another castle.

My aunt endearingly calls this the «tree house restaurant» — and after you’ve climbed the wooden ladder up to one of their second-​tier booths, you’ll find it quite obvious why.
This is such fun and cozy little gem of an Italian restaurant, I think you’d be hard-​pressed to find its match anywhere in London. The interior is small, the lighting date-​appropriate, and the décor is basically nothing but the wooden booths — but entirely charming… once you’ve settled in you’ll forget that there’s even anybody else in the restaurant.
I’ve adored every bite of pasta I’ve had here — simple, lovely and flavourful. And their avocado salad is fresh and perfectly made.
As I recall, the service maybe has been a bit slow — but I’ve enjoyed the all-​around experience of dining here too much to notice.
*Highly* recommended if you’re looking for something-​out-​of-​the-​ordinary in terms of atmosphere that also serves up delicious Italian food. But be sure to book ahead… especially if you want to snag one of those top booths.