Osteria Dell’Arte

So I’m usually a 4 star giver to establishments like this (i.e., food is great but service not so great, or, food is good enough for what you paid for but the service was awesome) BUT Osteria deserves their 5 star due to following reasons:
1. They know how to play with their dough (pizza was awesome, bread was great, pasta smelled/​looked delish)
2. Service is very busy but they are friendly and you can tell that you do their best to attend to your table as soon as possible
3. Price/​quality ratio is very reasonable
4. They have art for sale on the walls, which is a fun way to spend time while waiting on your food and be cool and not check your phone (although, they might want to spell check their price tags as items are usually for «sale», not «sail»)
If you’re in the area and looking for a good value for your buck with a nice atmosphere, go there!

I had a lovely meal here recently — mixed bruschetta followed by pizza and salted cod pasta with a bottle of gorgeous red wine and two cocktails came to £70 inc service. Not bad at all!
The pizza and bruschetta were great, though the pasta would have benefitted from a little more sauce — I know traditionally pasta shouldn’t be drowning in sauce but this was borderline dry.
Good selection of very reasonably priced wine and drinks.
The décor and atmosphere are perfect, cosy, full of character and buzz with all the art and plants.
The service is maybe a little cold or surly but it’s not a big deal.
Perfect date place but equally good with friends.

Solid, totally decent pukka Italian on Clapham High Street. Actual decent art on the walls. Not amazing, but not bad at all — the staff aren’t too twee — the thing that kicks it up to the magical fourth star is the wine list. It’s tiny, but totally decent. Well-​priced, good wine from unusual places (Sardinian whites!) with a bit that roams. They’ve also got a bonus set of grappas and whatnot from around Italy.
Only downside? It’s can be a bit loud — but this is more a problem with drunken muppets along the Clapham High Street!

We went here for brunch and the food was delicious. Service was great and meals were well priced. The restaurant is beautifully decorated and it was a really nice place to enjoy a Sunday brunch. Highly recommended.

Beautiful atmosphere! Friendly staff. Very tasty homemade cakes! I tried Cantuccini and Raci di Dama and Sponge Apple Cake! All very nice and not too sweet! Just amazing! Haven’t tried the food but love the atmosphere to study…
Will try the food soon and edit mu rating ;)

I have been here a few times — for just a coffee & cake, for lunch and for dinner — and has done the job each time! It’s a nice, friendly place with a casual feel and great atmosphere (…no pretences) — and I think it is a family run business. The food has come up trumps each time… always had a good meal.
I popped in there with my little niece on Sunday morning for a coffee and a babychino, and we treated ourselves to delicious pastries too! (‘naughty but nice!’).
Totally recommend this trattoria.

This is a great little Italian restaurant on the Clapham High Street. The staff is very pleasant and the food is quite nice. When we sat down, the table wasn’t entirely clean — there was a piece of onion left from the previous clients, so it wasn’t a promising start. However, with the very helpful and attentive waitresses and a very nice pizza and some incredible hazelnut gelato, the experience quickly turned around. The prices are more than reasonable. I didn’t think there was a «wow» factor, but it was good for we needed: an Italian place near the tube.

I’m somewhat torn on whether or not to give this place such a low score given the circumstances but the prevailing opinion from the ones in the know on our group was very unsatisfactory.
A group of 15 or so of us visited on a recent Sunday afternoon for a late «lunch», which ended up taking two and a half hours to get through, so it turned into dinner.
We arrived at half past two, were sat quite promptly and wine was first on the agenda, which arrived quickly, sadly that was the first and last thing we would order that came within a reasonable time.
It took until about three to finally get any food orders in, and then another HOUR for the food to arrive, and this included the bread and olives which should take minutes.
When the food did arrive it was average and I had a major case of pizza envy with anyone in our group who ordered one as they are clearly the best thing on the menu.
I had seafood spaghetti, I’d have given that three stars but not the overall experience.
We ended up eventually getting out of there at five o’clock so that’s the longest lunch I’ve sat through on record, and I actually left early with a few others, a few stayed on for coffee’s, we’d had enough.
I certainly won’t be in a rush to return, I think the message is if you cannot cater for large groups then don’t be greedy, accept the booking and then proceed to provide a horrendously frustrating experience for everyone.
Some of the group didn’t seem too fussed, the easily pleased ones, but you come to expect a certain standard of service and it was sadly lacking that day.

Not particularly eye-​catching from the outside but Osteria Dell’arte certainly has it’s own atmosphere within. The staff speak Italian, the energy is homely and the place feels like summer despite the time of my visit being winter. In true Italian fashion the food tastes fresh, light and prepared with a passion for food.
I had Gnocchi Al Pomodoro (potato dumplings with a cherry tomato sauce and buffalo mozzarella) as a starter (even though it is intended as a main but it seemed sensible since it was practically the same price as the starters and they are dumplings so how filling could that be?) — well this is quite a substantial dish it turns out, simple but still satiating. I then had Cernia Di Fondale (pan-​fried stonebass, asparagus, tiger prawns and a homemade potato and crab tortellone) which was a smaller portion than anticipated (see photo) but still impressive as the fish was just the way I like it, well cooked without much fishy aroma yet lightly seasoned to give a pleasurable taste. Warning: there is little by way of asparagus or other sides and only one prawn with this dish. I then had a gluten-​free chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream — this was scrumptious; the cake was a good balance of the crumbly and melt-​in-​the-​mouth effect that a good cake should have and the ice cream did it’s job.
It has to be said though that the heat in the restaurant was noticeably over-​the-​top as it was high enough to cause the decorative balloons to pop and prompt people to strip off layers of clothing. Two friends and I visited this restaurant on a Saturday evening and the service was noticeably slow; the waiter forgot to bring the juice I had ordered and any food took over 30 minutes to arrive. My friends were also not impressed with the wine but I am not much of a wine-​drinker so would not be able to offer an opinion on this. Overall Osteria Dell’arte can offer a satisfying and tasty dining experience but is a few tweaks away from being exceptional.

If you are looking for a good Italian restaurant in Clapham, this is the right one. I can say the food is great — exactly what you would get in Italy. The waitresses are friendly and always willing to suggest the appropriate wine selection to accompany your dish, so you can trust them without any doubt. The prices are reasonable as well.

I come out to Clapham once a week and usually have between 1 hour — 1 hour 15 minutes to eat a meal. So we wandered into Osteria Dell’Arte one evening, looking for a quick meal.
It’s quite a funky and homely restaurant — they have this cool projector that shows silent movies on one of the walls. The service is attentive, but not «in your face». The food could have arrived slightly quicker — but I wonder if that is more a factor of our impatience to eat quickly than a reflection of the restaurant.
I had a seafood spaghetti — no idea why, but I was expecting either a cream based sauce or a tomato based sauce. I got neither, and instead just a savoury, nondescript sauce. It was a nice enough pasta, perhaps slightly overdone. My other half had a pizza, which again sounded really nice from the menu description. It tasted OK too, but perhaps a tiny bit soggy. Overall, the food did what it needed to do (i.e. fill us up!) and we had a nice meal; if we had more leisure time I’m sure we would have enjoyed it more too. I would go back again to try some other items from the menu.

Great spot! Waiters are super friendly, food is delish and not too pricey, atmosphere is cozy and fun. Service can be a bit slow, but the manager gave us some amaretto as an apology so can’t really complain! And I love that you get bread, oil/​vinegar, and olives to start.
Tomato & garlic bread — This is basically a cheeseless pizza with light tomato sauce and garlic. Really tasty but filling for just two as a starter.
Risotto with beef shaving and lemon — Yum yum yum! Absolutely loved this and wish I wasn’t so full from the tomato garlic bread so I could’ve eaten more.
Pasta with asparagus — Really tasty. Nice fresh veggies, lovely sauce.
House red wine — Not great. Would be worth paying a bit more for a better wine.

I have been living in Clapham for almost 3 years and since I discovered this place it has been my fav place to come for a good pizza! It is very reasonably priced, nice relaxed atmosphere, never too busy. Great place to treat your hangover on Sunday (has a very filling deal for under 10 pounds before 5 pm…)

Arrived as two hungry and tired people after SW4. Didn’t realise this was famous for its pizzas, nor did I notice how nice the place was until after we walked through the door (having persuaded my friend I’d rather go for a dodgy Italian over the dodgy Indian opposite). Service was nice and friendly, but the food left a little to be desired. First off, the small platter of bread, olives and olive oil with balsamic vinegar — not too many issues, but the dish of oil was rather deep, and there was barely any vinegar in there, so it was hard to get any thing other than a whole load of oil onto my slice of bread. After that, my order of tagliatelle with asparagus, roast tomato and cream sauce was rather bland. The asparagus was very stringy too, with strands of the vegetable getting stuck in our teeth. I was rather disappointed, having realised I’d gone to San Marco’s Drury Lane sister restaurant Sapori many years ago and had an amazing pasta dish, but I guess not all restaurants are created equal.
Bill came up to £35 for two pasta dishes and two alcoholic drinks (inclusive of cover of £1.50 each for bread, olives and olive oil)

I have been to San Marco a few times already. This is the place I go to if I want good italian food in my local area. I went back again recently and was not disappointed.
Yes, there were not many people there but the service was pretty efficient, food was as good as usual and we were also offered complimentary drinks — my favourite liquor «Limoncello» — with our bill, which I found quite reasonable.
£30 for an apéritif & a 3 course meal, I call that cheap.

Very poor quality pizza, bad service and over priced for what it is.
Head to Alba for a far superior meal!

San Marco is a really friendly, unpretentious, bright and bustling Italian on Clapham High Street, ideal for a first date or group dinners alike.
For the latter it is good due to the layout, especially the long bench along one wall; and for a date, it’s great for it’s informality but at the same time quality and laid-​back yet professional style.
The food is wonderful and reasonably priced. There are regular specials alongside a constant menu. I am a fan of the risottos and the pizzas are also brilliant. Last time I was there we were given a complimentary lemoncello at the end of the meal.
They also do take-​aways, which I used to take advantage of when I lived in Clapham.
This is a great option for dinner on Clapham High Street — a lovely little family-​run business, which is obvious from it’s authentic Italian flavour in terms of both taste and ambience. Lovely.

I came here one Sunday for lunch one day with a friend who insisted that the place served up the best pizza in London. I wasn’t quite so optimistic and from the outside, it certainly didn’t look as though it had won many awards. Never judge a book by its cover.
I was very pleasantly surprised. Lunch time dining certainly has its benefits in the sense that the prices are a great deal cheaper. My home made pizza was a mere £5 and was delicious — thin, crispy and fresh as a daisy. I oed for the tuna version and they certainly did not hold back on the fish. Yum.
The staff were wonderful — very upbeat and all Italian which definitely gives the place an authentic feel. It just goes to show that looks aren’t everything (although the waiters were rather handsome!).

I came here once for lunch after my friend told me that they did the BEST pizzas. Looking at it i was’nt so sure. Its not tatty as such, just nothing at all special to look at — and i was sure we could find somewhere nicer.
I was however, very pleasantly suprised. As we were eating at lunch time (i cannot comment on dinner prices) my home made stone baked HUGE pizza was just a fiver! It was thin and crispy — just how i like them — with just the right quantities of toppings. They did not skimp on the fish and meat and i did not feel overpowered by the cheese! It was honestly one of the best pizza’s ive ever had.
The staff seem to be italian as they can talk italian very well, so all in all i felt like it really was a little part of Italy in London.
Would definitely go again without a doubt.

We had been tipped of this restarant by a friend, so i think that it already hasa good rep…
I went here over the weekend with a few friends and had a really nice time. The staff were all very friendly Italians, that gave great service and the food and wine was delicious! It also worked out at pretty good value for money around £25 each for starter and main plus wine.
I had mussels to start, (which were yummy) and seafood linguine for main, which was also yummy. Olives and bread were provided before hand. All of the people I was with agreed that the food was top-​notch!
I especially liked the atmosphere of the restaurant, it was friday night, but didn’t feel too busy or rushed, just kind of chilled out, at the same time, it had a pleasant bubby feel. Funky music was playing, which added a great modern feel.
This is the kind of place that suits most occassions, whether you are a couple or a small group of friends. check it out