10 italian rooms in London we have eaten in, sorted by editor score. All cuisines in London | Italian across every city.
Italian cooking in London ranges from grand riverside dining to fast pasta counters, and the city has long treated it as a second home cuisine. The River Cafe in Hammersmith, opened in 1987, set the seasonal benchmark, while Padella at Borough and Bocca di Lupo in Soho show the two modern poles: cheap, fast hand-rolled pasta and ambitious regional cooking.
The River Cafe ★ 4.6
hammersmith · Thames Wharf, Rainville Road, London W6 9HA
Ruth Rogers's Italian dining room on the Thames in Hammersmith London, opened 1987 by Rose Gray and Rogers, still the city's defining seasonal Italian.
Padella ★ 4.2
borough · 6 Southwark Street, London SE1 1TQ
Tim Siadatan and Jordan Frieda's hand-rolled pasta counter at Borough Market in London, opened 2016, runs a daily-changing list of fresh-pasta plates.
Manteca ★ 4.6
shoreditch · 49-51 Curtain Road, London EC2A 3PT
Chris Leach and David Carter's whole-animal Italian dining room on Curtain Road in Shoreditch London, opened 2021, charcuteries pork in-house and rolls pasta.
Luca ★ 4.4
clerkenwell · 88 St John Street, London EC1M 4EH
The Clove Club team's neighbourhood Italian on St John Street in Clerkenwell London, opened 2016, runs British-Italian seasonal cooking in a tiled dining.
Bocca di Lupo ★ 4.7
soho · 12 Archer Street, London W1D 7BB
Jacob Kenedy's regional Italian dining room on Archer Street in Soho London, opened 2008, plates dishes from Piemonte, Friuli, Calabria and beyond.
Lina Stores ★ 4.2
soho · 51 Greek Street, London W1D 4EH
The 1944 Brewer Street deli's first sit-down restaurant on Greek Street in Soho London, opened 2018, runs hand-rolled pasta and Italian-deli classics.
Popolo ★ 4.1
shoreditch · 26 Rivington Street, London EC2A 3DU
Jonathan Lawson's Italian-leaning dining room on Rivington Street in Shoreditch London, opened 2017, runs hand-rolled pasta, North African accents.
E Pellicci ★ 4.4
shoreditch-spitalfields · 332 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 0AG
The Pellicci family's 1900 east-London cafe on Bethnal Green Road, Grade-II listed for the 1946 marquetry interior, runs a daily Italian-British greasy spoon.
Padella ★ 4.5
borough · 6 Southwark Street, London SE1 1TQ
Padella's hand-rolled pasta counter at Borough Market in London, opened 2016, runs the city's best-value fresh pasta at £8 a bowl, the cheap-counter.
E Pellicci ★ 4.3
shoreditch-spitalfields · 332 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 0AG
E Pellicci's 1900 Italian-British family cafe on Bethnal Green Road in east London, Grade-II listed for the 1946 marquetry interior, runs full English.