Bocca di Lupo

Food lovely, imaginative, creative Italian Cuisine. However service was appalling, no warmth friendliness, proclaimed at the end of the night how exhausted he was. Had run out of several ingredients, no apologies. Coffee machine broken, no offer of an alternative - great food, ruined by dreadful service

This is the first time I write a restaurant review and feel compelled to say that my experience at Bocca di Lupo was very very poor. Having booked a table for 21:30, my wife and i duly arrived and were told that our table wasn't ready. While I understand that table handovers don't always run smoothly, we were told that we could not wait in the restaurant and had to go away and come back in 15 - 20 min... we were told there was "a bar across the road". After coming back, we were "allowed" to wait in the restaurant for another 20 - 25 min and conspicuously ignored by the space cadet of a maitre d'... Food nice, deplorable service. Don't recommend going through the hassle, there are plenty more good italian restaurants in town...

I've dropped in twice in the past two months (the last being yesterday) without reservations; the trick is to go very early or quite late. Staff are very courteous and attentive, but a waiter was so aggressive (in an oddly polite way) with pushing the drinks! Bocca, this makes you look desperate and into fleecing customers, please stop him. Food is fantastic, and the fresh menus make it fun to come back. Salads are fresh, flavourful and piled high; pastas are definitely home-made. They triumph at pillowy gnudi in ragout, their pumpkin tortelloni generously buttered and scattered w rustic breadcrumbs. This place makes Italian food really sparkle, and while The prices tend to the ritzier side, it's important that I as a customer felt that it was so worth it.

I can't believe the review by "Pau"l below - can only imagine it's a rival restaurant trying to destroy a reputation. Bocca di Lupo is bloody marvellous. Accusations of tinned or somehow not fresh food served are ludicrous. Everything I've ever eaten there has been spectacular. Go!

Totally agree with TO review. Great staff, fantastic food, buzzing atmosphere. The crab linguine was delicious, and the guy next to me was raving about his courgette flowers. We turned up at door and just had to wait 20 mins for a seat at the bar (the best place to sit). Loved watching the kitchen in action. Ignore all the moaners below – I'm with Frank! this is a great place to eat and I've recommended it to loads of people.

delicious delicious delicious! best italian in london at that price..

I was expecting great things from this restaurant and I was very very disappointed. It was bordering on awful. I love authentic anything and as a hard bitten londoner, I will happily pay over pay for a decent meal! I have my little stable of eateries that don't disappoint such as the La Poule Au Pot if I fancy french or Yauatcha or China Tang if want Chinese. I was looking forward to adding a new Italian to my little black book! I ordered a large Linguini from a very limited menu. It was a mean portion with a few prawns some other bits and pieces in a tinny tomato sauce. I love Linguini and I know what a good one tastes like. This was not it! and at £24 quid it was over priced . I even had a piece of cannelloni that found its way in for good measure. My friend had the sausages on a bed of lentils. That was actually revolting and tasteless. The Matrade was cool when he asked us if the meal was ok and we said no it wasn't and we didn't pay for the sausages. The pasta was ok, but posh pot noodle ok. Don't get me started on the cold pickled broccoli as a side order! £60 pounds considering a main course was knocked off was ridiculous.. Be warned. If you like a decent portion then eat before you go. or go to Byrones for a burger as at that is at least honest food. and not sitting on a bar stool of culinary hype.

Went tonight and it was excellent. We sat at the bar and it is really the best spot to be. I can sense why previous commentators had negative things to say about the regular dining area - it seemed too dark and too cramped. The bar is a muchmore open, yet more social space. The food was great- we were both salivating when we saw the rosemary steaks sizzling on the grill. As a desert, I can highly recommend the sanguinello - chocolate with pig's blood and sour dough. Just fantastic. Pricing was reasonable, especially considering what little value other (hyped) London establishments offer for the money. Go, go, go, but make sure to sit at the bar.

What can I say about this restaurant? This is the first time I ake time to write a review. This is a place I will certainly not go back. These are the reasons why:
1) Staff and most importantly the manager are not Italian which gave the impression of a not authentic place
2) Italian food can be oily but here is just too much
3) Food menu is way too limited considering the type of restaurant they pretend to be
4) Wine list is good and they also offer "caraffe" (500ml) like in Italian trattoria. However here a caraffe costs not less that £20
5) As said, main menu is really limited so we decided to take the "usual" tagliata which was not too tender and very fat.
6) Very noisy despite the fact there are very few tables and it was not even full.
7) Pretentious: in order to reserve a table it takes over a week but at the end the restaurant was not full at all.
7) Last but not least, the waiter added £10 "by mistake" at the moment we were paying by card....

If these are not reasons enough not to try this restaurant you are very brave.

There are so many other real Italian restaurants in London so I see no reason why you should try this one. My personal suggestions are La Famiglia, Locanda Ottoemezzo, Osteria Basilico (fantastic tagliata!).

I think you weren't allowed in because the kitchen closes for savoury food orders at 11pm so places that late in the evening are limited. As far as i've seen there is no dress code and staff from all over the place.

informal appearence? not having an english accent? what are you talking about? 90% of their staff there is not english... the best place to practice your italian accent if you like one (I am allowed to say this as i am italian).... maybe you were not let in because ...errmmm... maybe because you did not book? wish people would review restaurants talking about food and their service and stop moaning about ghe fact they were not let in whitout a booking.... arghh!!

note about my previous comment: The bad experience of not even letting me in was on Saturday March 20 (and not March 21)

Today, March 21 10:45pm, the hostess didn't let me in, maybe because of my informal appearance, not being white enough, or not having an UK English accent. Informal? informal is not the right categorisation, fascist will be more accurate.

We had a lovely experience at Boca di Lupa. The food was delicious, the service and wine advice were good.
The only negative is that you are allocated a two hour slot, which is too little if you really want to enjoy a three course meal.
But overall, I woud recommed a visit.