L’Artista

Nice stuff. Employees was nice and let us feel welcome, answers all our requests. Food wasn’t so tasty. Pasta marinara and pizza margarita not something I can recommend. Home next time they will be better.
Employees: 5 stars
Food: 1 stars

Having constantly seen queues outside the restaurant, and the great reviews online, I put L’artista on my «to-​do» list. I finally got the chance to visit over the weekend, and I have to say I was hugely disappointed.
It was a Sunday afternoon around 4pm, so it wasn’t very busy. The service was mixed… some of the staff treated us as if it was a hassle to serve us and never cracked a smile, whilst others were very friendly and helpful.
When the starters came, it all looked very promising. We ordered the bruschetta and the parma ham with roasted vegetables and pickles. Portions were generous, and enough for three people (there were two of us), and it all tasted great.
For mains, we ordered a pizza each. Judging by the many reviews here saying their pizza is authentic, and one of the best in London, I was expecting something great. What we had however, was a pizza that didn’t even match up to a supermarket own-​brand ready-​made one. It was one of the worst pizzas I’ve ever had. It should have been a clue not to order the pizza when all the tables around us ordered pasta!
It’s unlikely I’ll want to revisit L’artista…but I am tempted to see what their pasta is like.

How this restaurant managed to receive almost 4 star review is beyond my understanding!!! I visited the place on Wednesday evening for casual dinner with my mother and sister. Waiter serving us was polite enough but seemed unhappy to work there and his service was at minimal requirement. Although ordering the food went smoothly, after the dishes arrived at our table, he never showed up to ask if we are satisfied with them. My gnocchi in 4 cheese sauce was worse than bought from supermarket. Disgusting isn’t even a word to describe it. In fact, I am pretty certain I would make one better myself never having cooking it before. It was grainy, tasteless and smothered in heavy cream cheese sauce that was utterly bland. The amount of the sauce looked more like a soup and challenge was to fish out the gnocchi. I requested a change to tomato mozzarella salad after also tasting my mothers spinach and ricotta ravioli in creamy sauce. Ravioli was uncooked and taste of the filling was dry and bland. I also have tasted my sister’s mushroom taggiatelle which lacked salt and pasta quality itself was pretty bad. My salad arrived pretty quickly, and having in mind that its pretty hard to mess up such simple dish, I was shocked yet again. Instead of sweet and juicy tomatoes, I got plastic tasting ones, almost like they would be purchased at Tesco’s. Mozzarella was of terrible quality, probably some cheap brand cheese supplier is responsible for this. The only thing that was of acceptable standard was green pesto. I am a frequent restaurant goer, and I have spent almost 6 months in Florence, Milan, Sicily and Lago di Garda area, so I know a thing or two about Italian cuisine. The food at L’Artista is far from artistic, as portions they serve can feed two people, served without any finesse and far far faaaaar from delicious. I would never ever go back to the place as I would get better Italian food buying ready meal at local supermarket.
The atmosphere was not pleasant either, bright lights, no music, had a feeling like I was at the street food market. Stay away and don’t waste your money.

I wish the staff were more friendly, they don’t smile at all. But pizza is delicious almost like in Italy.

My Sicilian friends took me to this place, so their recommendation should speak for itself as well. We had a grand time — the quattro formaggi pizza was one of the best ones I’ve had in a long time — perfectly crispy and thin, and with just the right amount of the melting delicious cheeses.
The pasta portions were huge — almost everyone was taking half of their meal home. And oh, the deserts — definitely don’t skip the deserts, no matter how stuffed you are — it’s worth it :).
With the lovely and friendly waiting staff and a nice complimentary shot of light Italian liqueur to end the night, I really have nothing to complain about. Will be back :).

Still the same great place. Nevertheless I’m no longer so impressed with the quality of the food, especially as my friend had a hair in her pizza and another in her salad. Great atmosphere and location but that really is not cool.

I was very impressed by our experience at L’Artista. We arrived with a big group, and the Italian servers were very attentive and helpful. We shared a handful of starters — prawns, bresaola, mozzarella — which were all delicious. I then had the Quattro Stagioni pizza, which was full of flavor and fantastic. I also tasted a friend’s side of spinach, which had loads of garlic in it and was incredible. The house wine, as I would expect at an Italian restaurant, was actually very good — a montepulciano — and the scoop of ice cream (I had pistachio) was the perfect end to the meal. With pizzas at £7 this restaurant is great value for money, and I would highly recommend it. Can’t wait to go back!
The only downside is the loud trains passing overhead occasionally, but in a way that gave it character, actually.

I’ve given it 3 stars because Husband enjoyed it’s happy and non-​pretentious style, but I’d give it 2.5 if I could.
There were lots of Italian customers as well as wait staff and tends to be packed. A couple of people have recommended it. These are all good signs. Maybe that’s why I’m so baffled.
I would be happy to wait an extra 1 – 2 minutes for my wood fired pizza’s toppings & centre to be cooked a little. The toppings are not fresh– it’s all the wholesale frozen/​refrigerated/​tinned kind. The chilli oil is not spicy. The music seems to be from a liquidated Planet Hollywood CD– not that is necessarily bad, it just seems weird for the atmosphere.
The prices were decent, portions large, staff nice, toilets clean. Not nearly as noisy as some reviewers have mentioned.
I’d probably only go here again if other people really wanted to.

We have been coming here constantly for the past the last 2 years and we have never been disappointed. The pizzas are fresh, tasty and reasonable priced. Very friendly attentive staff. All in all, this is the perfect place with large portions especially the salads and calzones– YUm Yum

my boyfriend and I lived here for almost a whole year before we actually stepped in because we assumed that since it was Italian, there would be nothing that would be gluten-​free. How wrong we were!!!
The place itself actually is very colorful and friendly, and the menu is decently priced relative to most things in Golders Green, especially because the portions are HUUUUGE! They do a pretty solid risotto, and they can put any kind of sauce you want in it from the pasta section! My boyfriend got risotto with the sauce they use on the Rigatoni Picchio Pacchio dish, and his was wayyy more delicious than mine!
We actually came to the restaurant because I was craving Spaghetti alla Bolognese (boring, I know) and I hadn’t been able to shake the craving for a couple weeks. However, my spaghetti ended up being much less tasty than my boyfriends dish, and was not satisfying at all. He even took a look at my food and said it was just plain bland with way too much noodles and too little sauce. However, his risotto was delicious so we shared that :)
They have a quirky old car parked next to the restaurant, although I don’t think it actually runs. Like people have said, it is right under the tube station and therefore can get noisy. However, I think that it’s actually part of the charm! And while we were eating here, the noise never bothered us… in fact, I dont think I even noticed it!
They seem to have an amazing gelato bar, and there were lots of people sitting there while we were eating, just enjoying some gelato! Their pizzas looked alright, I had no desire to try it. I did think it was cute how there are bowls of candy around the restaurant for kids to take! It seems that a lot of locals and families frequent here.
I would say this place is good for large portions for the price, as well as a fun and festive environment, but the various dishes definitely seem to be win or lose, depending on what you choose!

Acceptable food. Huge portions. Reasonable prices. Friendly service. Nosier than World War II.

Great place to eat. Lively warm atmosphere. Simple Italian dining with generous portions and not overpriced.

I’ve eaten here a few times and had a few take aways. I’ve always found the pizzas very tasty and the service friendly. I really like the décor inside; there are lots of pictures of celebrities. The food is reasonably priced too.

Very nice food. I have been there a couple of times now and was never dissappointed. The staff is polite and fast. The owner is a character! The pizza is great! Very nice toppings and great crust. The pasta is cooked to the point and the sauces are very nice. I would recommend L’Artista any time! My tip: The Seafood salad! Its huge and very tasty!

Good pizza and solid Italian dishes, just don’t let the noise from the trains bother you. Yep, it’s located under the tracks for the Northern Line. The prices are reasonable and the service, well, sometimes it’s better than other days but never lousy.

I got to be honest: the only thing I’ve ever eaten here was the pizza and it was absolutely lovely! Beautifully made, and the base was well cooked.
The place itself is small and can get a bit stuffy/​hot (usually in the evening) but overall the food and service are good.
Definitely worth a visit!

L’artista is a really well known restaurant is golders Green, it is right across the road from the station, and people exiting it will always see L’artista packed with people.
It has outside seating, but personally hate it as the bridge above is noisier than a turbo jet engine and there are a couple of bus stops just next to it, so you constantly have people staring at you eat, which is kind of distracting.
Everything is typically Italian here, the pizzas are great and the pastas are served significantly quickly (which is something that I don’t like, unless I am starving) and are massive in portions (which is something I adore and yearn for when walking into any restaurant).

Having gone to L’Artista quite a lot when I was young, I’ve been avoiding it for years without really ever knowing why. Last week I was made to break my boycott when friends arranged for us to meet there and after eating, I remembered why. It’s just not really that good. It’s pretty tacky for a start, but that’s not terrible and I supposed it’s quite fun when you’re out with the family. But what’s really wrong with it is that, for an Italian pizza restaurant, the pizzas just aren’t any good. They’re kind of sloppy, and pretty tasteless. The only reason I didn’t come away feeling too angry was that it’s cheap — less than a fiver for a margarita with (free) onions.