Strada

Strada is just that Italian place you see as you’re walking around the nice parts of London. Not as many chains as the ubiquitous Pizza Express, but you know the areas you’ll find chains of Pizza Express to have at least a single Strada.
The place is nice and clean. Service stellar. Plates are cleared and orders taken swiftly. Staff are helpful with choosing items on the menu.
Onto the most important thing. Food. It’s not stellar, but it’s above decent. The starters, bruschetta with tomato and the mozarella and avocado were fresh and tasty. My main, the N’duja pizza was stellar, nice and spicy as expected. The seafood linguine less so. Only a single prawn (hate places that do this) but quite a lot of calamari and some mussels. If you’re going to include prawn, min. 2 should really be the requirement, unless it’s a beast of a prawn. That tasted okay, but as you can imagine the majority of these dishes are super easy to prep and cook. Getting them wrong is pretty much impossible.
The desserts were the best bit. The cherry ricotta cheesecake was standout for me. The limoncello trifle wasn’t far behind. Very nice ends to a decent meal.
So Strada is hands down better than Pizza Express in my opinion. Service is miles better, food is around the same standard and simply for the sublime N’duja pizza and Cherry Ricotta dessert, in the words of Arnie.
I’ll be back.

Certainly a great place, considering its a chain restaurant. The branch in Islington is really something when talking about these kind of places. I had a visit there with a friend of mine recently and it was pretty nice.
The atmosphere is really nice and I was really happy that there weren’t kids running around screaming and yelling like in most of the chain restaurants I’ve visited, like McDonnalds, Subway etc.
There isn’t that much of a choice what to order from the menu, but then again the quality of the food is surprisingly good. I had a stone baked pizza and a big cola, my friend had pasta and cola like me. Not really sure how his pasta was, but my pizza was amazing I was ready to ‘lick the plate clean’ as they say. It was obvious that it was made with fresh and high quality products.
The service was nice, the staff was friendly and helpful. Prices weren’t something to be worried about as expected. I’m certainly going to visit this place again when I have the chance.

Nothing special, almost can’t even remember what I ordered. Risotto was quite plain, expensive prices.

I don’t know, but I think its just wrong place wrong time.
I was there this Sunday. Weather was wonderful. The crowd was hungry so was I and ordered the pasta with seafood! Two or three hours later I had the worst stomach cramps ever.
I thought I ate too much, but with severe abdominal pains I made it home and the next morning it was even worse. Went straight to the doc and the result: food poisoning. I seriously don’t know whether the seafood was in the sun for hours or whether my dessert «frozen yoghurt» had an effect on the already bad seafood, no clue.
Well, I don’t think its a bad place, but i PERSONALLY will definitely not order seafood again.

Not a large menu choice available, but was a great atmosphere inside.
The stone baked pizza was excellent.
The atmosphere inside was bustling, and not too loud.
The service from the waitress was really good. She was very attentive, and happy.
Prices were very reasonable.
Its not the place I would have chosen to eat at, but would certainly recommend and return again.

Strada has a wood oven and outside seating, the décor is nice, good for lunch time or evening meals. The Pizza is nice, but in my opinion not as good as Pizza Express. the service was good, a bit pricy when compared to the pizza express nearby. The menu is large with an interesting selection on offer, therefore catering for a variety of tastes. Recommended.

Is it bad to say I had a fantastic meal at a chain restaurant? Because Sunday night at Strada was pretty good. I went with a friend and his 6 year old son who’d just flown in from LA — I don’t think they were as impressed as I was that it was warm enough to sit at an outside table on a Sunday night… but we found lots to choose from on the specials menu. Now I was fully prepared for disappointment, after choosing lobster risotto — but it was excellent. I couldn’t fault it. Plenty of well cooked lobster and tiger prawns, along with semi dried tomatoes and some double podded broad beans. The side of roasted butternut squash was properly roasted and not dripping in oil. I polished off the lot. Naturally I still had room for the chocolate pudding, and they managed to bring it still very liquidy in the middle as I’d asked for. My friend put away a seafood risotto, some garlic bread and most of his little boy’s pizza, plus some courgette fries — but then he had just been on a 12 hour flight. I had a bite of his cheesecake dessert — the cardamon in the base was a bit strong for my taste but at least it wasn’t bland. The waiter was the real hero though, helping to keep my friend’s jetlagged son amused, and suggesting an off menu pizza which was closest to the pepperoni one he’d asked for. All this plus a couple of glasses of wine, fizzy water and juice for £60. I could have done much worse. If only Strada were always this consistently good.

I seem to be eating Italian more than any other cuisine at the moment!
Strada is a place that I used to avoid. I wasn’t that amazed by it’s offerings, found the menu to be dull and would have the odd pizza usually purchased with one of those 2 for 1 vouchers.
But recently when stuck with no where else that was open and hunger that was making me feel faint I went to the Strada on the Southbank and ate my words as I practically licked the plate clean.
Again on a lovely Friday evening, my beloved and I took a long walk from Camden into Angel and found ourselves feeling hungry and walked past Strada Islington. It looked great as had great outdoor seating space as well as having the doors open so you could eat indoors but enjoy some elements of alfresco dining.
It is Upper St and not some beautiful hilltop in Tuscany after all. Even if eating Italian in Islington is a faux homage that people like to create in their minds.
We shared some pizza bread with capers and tomatoes (they were kind enough to omit the anchovies) and then we shared a scallop and pea risotto with a chicken salad.
It was really nicely done. Everything was cooked well, was pleasant to eat and was nicely presented. Menu prices weren’t shocking or felt like they were trying to bankrupt us and the staff were really friendly and left us alone to a vast degree which was great.
We shared a Tiramisu just to break with the tradition of eating Panna Cotta and again it was very simple but very nicely done. No one does Tiramisu like a Sicillian friend of mine but unfortunately she isn’t available to whip a tray out whenever we want. Believe you me we have tried but failed and like Santa her Tiramisu only comes once a year if you’ve been very good.
On a Friday evening when I eat a meal I don’t like feeling like I am being processed or have the impression that I am being rushed. Friday is the start of the weekend and I like to do so in as relaxing or pleasurable way as possible. It’s also good when eating out that you are not being interrupted every 5 seconds, especially if waiting staff have been primed to go on the up sell for absolutely everything.
As an aside that continual up selling that some restaurants like to do really irritates me beyond measure.
But this Strada doesn’t do any of that. If you need anything the staff are attentive but they did seem to be able to read the tables well. It was busy but not unbearable and every table was well spaced so none of us felt like sardines trapped in a can.
I would recommend this for a place to go to if you haven’t made reservations and fancy something chilled.

Was at the restaurant in Islington (London) and had a pizza and some wine.
I liked that you could see the fire in the pizza oven.
As there were mirrors on the left and the right –made this place somewhat interesting — perhaps just when there alone, but I kind of liked it that I could also see the people’s faces where I normally only would have seen there backs. And you could even look around using the mirroring of the mirror.
It’s not the worst place to go in Camden.

An Italian friend of mine said «this is the closest thing to a real classic Italian pizza». I like the fact that the crust is so thin, so it is not so heavy. This is a favourite when I am with the younger family members, who doesn’t like pizza. I am please they have opened up a new branch in Spitalfields too now, just between the Rejuvenation Centre and Christchuch, so handy for a lunch in the City.

This branch is a small and cosy one. Been here a few times and have never had an issue with the service.
Food is about the same as the other Stradas.
Nice place to visit if you are in the area.

Good value and very keen staff.

Strada, probably one of the better pizza chains round upper street (beats pizza express and ask hands down.)
nice atmosphere and solid pizzas, recently with all the 2 4 1 meal deals knocking about it can be great value.

Standard Strada italian: Better pizzas and menu than pizza express. However, better options around Angel (La Forcetta and La Porcetta) — Not the same place though!

A fantastic restaurant that really doesn’t have a ‘chain’ feel to it unlike it’s competitors. The food is fantastic and generous with really authentically Italian tasting pizzas. It has a laid back feel and is a good for both casual evenings out and Sunday lunch with the parents. Not too pricey either and really excellently situated.

I had a lovely meal here a couple of weeks ago. The waiter was great and couldn’t do enough to help us.
I went for a pizza and it was obvious that the ingredients were fresh, and the thin base tasted authentically Italian. Me and my friend shared a bottle of the house white and we just couldn’t believe it was the cheapest bottle, it was really delicious so that was excellent value. It’s also nice that the tap water comes in sophisticated frosted bottles rather than a tatty jug — it makes you feel like you’re having mineral water, yet it’s free!
A very pleasant dining experience, and great value.

Freshly cooked pasta and pizza. Good service – I especially enjoy the free filtered water. Outside seating is nice, but watch out for gusts of wind that blow cutlery and napkins off the table. Their constantly changing daily specials have always been a hit. Their desserts are their weakest point, I feel. But the place is very fairly priced and offers a good value. Their wine selection is also fairly priced.

Good food for a chain restaurant. This branch profits from its location and wonderful interior. The staff is very helpful and friendly. Prices are average, not too expensive.
Good option for lunch as well!

wonderful ambiance helpful staff exquitite cusine