Strada

Came here for lunch with some co-​workers. It was someone’s leaving party, so there was a good number of us. One had to leave quickly for a meeting, so we asked if we could hurry things up and they were quite good about that.
I had a butternut squash and goat’s cheese salad. It was perfectly acceptable. Not amazing, but fine. I can’t say much more than that.

We chose this restaurant without checking Unilocal reviews first, and I didn’t found it THAT bad (regarding previous reviews).
I mean, sure there are dozens of better italian restaurants in London, but £10,95 for a 2 courses meal, for dinner (in most of restaurants that kind of menus are not valid for dinner), I was very happy with what I eat.
The atmosphere of the restaurant was really nice, calm, dim lights, little candles on the tables and the right volume for the music: really relaxing after a crazy day in this crazy city!
The waiters and waitresses were extremely kind, and we have been served quickly.
Now the food: I had a affetati misti (Speck ham, Napoli salami, vine tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, olives, basil and extra virgin olive oil) which was quite good, and tortellaci pesto pomodorro (Ricotta cheese and spinach filled tortellacci pasta, tomato and basil sauce with a pesto drizzle) for which I was disapointed with the pomodorro sauce which was too acid. But I really appreciated that the waitress come and offer to grate parmigianno directly into my plate: «fresh» parmigianno instead of the little pots of grated cheese you sometimes (often?) have on your table — you don’t know what’s in and for how long it’s in, and actually you don’t want to know…
So I would recommend if you’re looking for a cheap dinner without sacrifying your stomach to burger king & Co, but I wouldn’t if you’re looking for gastronomic italian cuisine.

Due to my terrible international calling plan, I wasn’t able to check Unilocal reviews until after I sat down. The food here was terrible, made worse by the fact that it was incredibly slow coming out. I got the rigatoni, and it was oversalted, and the ingredients didn’t work together at all.
Blegh, find something better.

‘Meh’ really the best way to describe my dining experience this lunch time. I wanted to test out the ramen in the hare and tortoise, but as the queue came out the door, my friend and I decided to nip into strada instead.
The taste of the food wasn’t too bad (I ordered the penne on the lunch menu) BUT it took so long to arrive, that I had to wolf it down before rushing back to work. *sigh* My friend had the seafood soup, but she was still hungry afterwards so had to wander over to waitrose for a snack!
It was pretty difficult to get the attention of the waiters/​waitresses, but to be fair, they were quite sweet once they noticed us.
so yes, meh. I don’t think I’ll bother to go here again.

Encore une chaine (décidément) mais italienne cette fois ! Malgré leur drôle de manie de mettre de la «rocket» sur leurs pizzas, elles sont vraiment délicieuses et grosses ! Pour 9 livres environ, un plat vous rassasie largement. Le cadre est sobre mais en même temps stylé, dans les teintes marrons et beige. Vous pouvez aussi prendre des salades, du poisson, de la viande ou des pâtes. Assez fourni donc.
Si vous voulez manger bien et de qualité, ça me parait être une bonne adresse à garder.

There are lots of Italian restaurants to choose from in London, and I hope you only choose this one in an emergency.
Overall terrible service — whether the place is busy or not — and food is average, to be kind. I’ve tried several dishes here: the steak is burnt and tastes burnt and has the consistency of cheap, frozen meat; the pizza is OK; the spaghetti ragu is disappointing (you would think there’s a meat shortage), though the noodles are cooked well; the risotto is mushy, and is actually fine, if you like mushy food.
The water is free, however, and not enough restaurants in England have the good sense to understand just how wonderful that is – though it’s not enough to make me want to come back.

Like everyone else says, food is generally quite good at Strada. I didn’t really expect to spend NYE here, but it was the only place open locally to grab something pre-​fireworks. My experience ordering something as plain as possible (veg risotto), as I had death-​fever at the time was slightly coloured by the fact that I instantly threw it all back up everywhere, but I wouldn’t blame that on Strada!
A bit soulless, and the seating could be better too, still, fairly reasonable prices.

A rather strange experience in this branch of the Strada Chain. The guys are so overly happy here. very forceful with their cheeriness. Although I was hungover after a festival the night before so I wasn’t wanting anyone to be loud near me.
You know what you’re getting with Strada: Italian food that’s yummy, and nicer the Pizza Express, but you won’t spend more than a tenner. no surprises, but a good feed nonetheless.
I went for the Caesar Salad — something I wouldn’t usually, but I thought some lettuce might make my hangover go away. Caesar Salad might just be my new favourite hangover cure. Yummy dressing, huge chicken breast and even some tasty croutons. Yay. Could have done with some cherry tomatoes or something to give it a bit of colour, but it was yummy indeed.
Lunch for a tenner, in and out in an hour. Full, less hungover and happy.

A chain restaurant of course, and a big chain at that, so not one of my favourites. Nevertheless it is handily close by, serves big pizzas and is never too crowded. Genial staff and ok prices too. Useful if you are going to the Renoir cinema next door. It has an outdoor area for summer too.

Food at Strada is lovely, so in theory, this should be a glowing review. Sadly, the service lets it down. The manager in charge when I attended was somewhat brusque (althouth the waiting staff were mostly friendly). Service was almost painfully slow, which wasn’t great when it was a lunch hour during work time. When it arrived, the risotto was lovely, but I barely had chance to taste it, due to having to wolf it down in a hurry. On top of that, the fire alarm went off (no fire, thankfully!) caused by an electrical failing, and none of the staff could find the key to turn it off. So nobody in the packed restaurant could have a conversation, and had to cover their ears. We ended up asking for money off our meal (which, to be fair, they did grant us) as we were so disappointed. What a shame, as the food really is tasty.

I had a great omelette here with my mum, sitting outside on the terrace. Quite a similar experience to Carluccio’s in fact, which is just along the corner, although for some reasno whoever put the review in decided to call it The Brunswick. Anyway, the meal was great until it came time to pay, then we had to wait and wait, pay another waiter, and ask for our change, which is always embarrassing.

Not good. One meal arrived just as we all finished, it was midweek so hardly a rush on. No explanation was given although after complaining they did knock off the meal from the final bill.
My own meal was at best ok and I would be pushed to recommend this place.