La Famiglia

Restaurants

Restaurants and cafés

Chelsea

Expensive

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Time Out says

Wed Oct 17 2012

If you like your Italian restaurants upmarket but theatrical, this eccentric Chelsea institution is the place to come; if you’d rather enjoy your pasta in peace, without waiters clapping loudly and barking across the room, you may be better off elsewhere.

Tables sprawl through interlinking rooms, mostly tiled and all decorated in white and blue. The back area, where tourists seem to be relegated, is a curious indoor-outdoor space, covered in a striped awning with strings of lights and fake flowers.

The Tuscan menu is as rambling as the place, with several variations on a theme (one type of pasta with summer truffles, another with truffle oil). The food on our most recent visit impressed less than the last; the bread was stale, nettle agnolotti were swamped in mascarpone, and roast wild boar with turnip tops was tired-looking, though the herby flavour was good.

Service is odd – when ordering a bog-standard half-bottle of Orvieto Classico, we were asked if we were celebrating something. While the dessert trolley has retro charm, it was not wheeled in until all surrounding diners had caught up, and the roughly cut tarts could have done with cream on the side, especially at £7.25 a slice.

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Address:
La Famiglia 7 Langton Street
Chelsea
London
SW10 0JL

Phone:
020 7351 0761
Website:
www.lafamiglia.co.uk
Opening hours:
Lunch served noon-2.45pm, dinner served 7-11.30pm daily
Transport:
Tube: Sloane Square tube then bus 11, 22, or bus 19
Price:
Main courses £14-£30. Cover £1.85
Map
1. La Famiglia
  - 7 Langton Street
    Chelsea
    London
    SW10 0JL
  - 020 7351 0761
  - www.lafamiglia.co.uk
  - 51.482446,-0.181067

Facilities:
Eating and drinking facilities. On-site dining. Restaurant and bar facilities. Reservations required. Outdoor facilities. Tables outdoors
Occasions:
Business. Going in a group

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Comments & ratings

(1 rating)

Overpriced and overhyped. Food was terrible - tagliatelle was swimming in cream (not even a sauce) it lacked any seasoning. Tiramisu was frozen. Tables are so close to each other very easy to elbow your cute neighbour while you try to cut through the half done Osso Bucco. Overpriced a plate of pasta with mushrooms & courgettes that barely covers inside rim of the plate cost 14.00 . Don't care how long you have been in business or how many white suited servers or bow tied managers you have - food & consistency is key. Wont be visiting la familgia unless i am in a mood for bad food. What ma

Sue Gardini Thu Jun 2 2011
Rated as: 1/5
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I think that the service of this restaurant is absolutly awful, our booking was at 23h and when we arrived the waiter said that was very late and that we should order the food as fast as possible, when I told him that the last order was supposed to be at 23:45 (is what I read in the web) he looked us very bad, his behaviour was rude very rude and of course a simple apologie never came.. the restaurant was almost empty, the food is quite normal.. For sure no go back again.

borch Tue Feb 8 2011
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Booked by phone, hostess insisted abou 5 times that I give my surname rather then first name. Only when she saw that I might change my mind and take another restaurant, she accepted the booking. Arrived at 8pm on a Saturday evening. Cute restaurant, nice atmosphere though half empty on a Saturday night in the heart of Chelsea, atmosphere looked promising. Been sat on a nice table, not too close to the neighbour, breadbasked on the table already. Bread dry and not definitely not home made, grissini sticks nice touch and the olive butter heavenly. Only when the menus arrived we saw that the breadbasked was £ 1.80 per person. Don't mind paying for it, but in this case I felt cheated. Good menu with promising dishes. Food was excellently prepared. Description of the wine was lousy, did not reach to the expectations. Waiters were something between 30 and 60 yo. Normally you'd expect a great service from people that age (like the guys in La Brasserie in South Ken), but there was no interaction at all, most of them looked horribly grumpy. For main I ordered grilled Sardines and after having had in Italy many times grilled Sardines, I expected small fish with soft bones, where bones were no problem. The waiter took the order without any comment. Fish arrived, 3 big fish, about 15 to 20 cm. Full of bones, very difficult to eat. After giving it a go with the first fish, I gave up and called the waiter. Explained to him that these fish are impossible to eat. In a very friendly tone. He took a snotty look at me, said he will call his colleague. An old gentleman came, asked me what the problem was. I explained, he kept interrupting me, told me that I am wrong, I didn't have Sardines in Italy, their way is the only way to prepare Sardines. He didn't want to have my feedback and I insisted that he takes the fish back as even after filleting it correcly myself it was still inedible. Again a snotty look and he took the plate away without so much as a sorry. The attitude of the hostess, the snotty waiter, the attitude of that old guy who wasn't able at all to handle complaints completely spoiled the dinner for me. We wanted to have desserts and as usual coffees after dinner but after this poor experience we just paid the bill (2 starters, 2 mains, breadbasket, water, half bottle wine £ 67) and left. Of course, they did not remove the fish (£ 10) from the bill. What a shame. Good food, nice decor but we will certainly no go back and this is due to the attitude of the staff. The restaurant is around for already 40 years but it was half empty on a Saturday night.

Huanita Mon Sep 6 2010
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