Fratelli La Bufala

Sometimes I walk past a restaurant and look in, thinking «what an awful tourist place, I bet its expensive and rubbish».
I do not relish in being right, but I was.
From the very beginning, the drinks were ordered but didn’t arrive, we had to ask!!! Food was ordered many minutes after we were ready to. Food arrived separately when they had even asked if we wanted it all together! I had an awful pasta dish, no flavour, not interesting, expensive, my friends were satisfied with their meals but we were in a rush and had to wait 20 minutes for all the dishes to arrive on the table.
The restaurant didn’t seem busy, hardly anyone was eating but the 2 waiters seemed to struggle to serve us all. Service, when they were attending to us, was friendly, they seemed stressed though and understandable, 2 staff were stood behind the salad counter and 1 pizza making guy were not helping them, not taking orders etc. But this seemed to be the format of the restaurant, I would not blame the staff but would urge the management to review the way the staffing of the restaurant works. The food, as mentioned, took forever and no-​one else was eating!
A couple who had arrived before us tried to pay at the same time, they said they were in a rush and yet the waiter couldn’t accommodate them and they wanted to leave without paying because they were so mad-​totally understandable.
This echoed our experience; waiting for the bill and waiting to pay took an unbelievably long time too, in the end, we walked to the salad counter where they explained only the waiter could take the payments and there was only 1 card machine.
At the beginning of the meal, I jokingly said to my friend we should buy a sandwich from Pret instead and I really wish I had! A poor experience which no-​one should ever have to repeat. I understand that the other branch is much better in service though!

We just happened by Fratelli while on a self guided walking your. We ordered green beans and fried zucchini as starters. They were perfect! The zucchini was actually succulent. But the mussel and bean soup I had was incredible. One of the best soups I’ve had anywhere. My niece had the energy salad. Everything was fresh, beautifully presented, had complex flavors… Excellent. I was surprised by the poor reviews I read afterwards. The service was also good.

£7.50 for buffet plate of tantalising tapas AND a drink (had a Peroni) — WIN in my book!

The last time i ate at Fratelli La Bufala was about 2 weeks after they opened in New York. The reviews in NYC appear to have the same consensus as in london where the service is generally a let down and the food really inconsistent.
Anyway thought i’d give this place another a try as it was bucketing down with rain as usual and FLB was the closest restaurant in the area. I got the Gnocchi which was surprisingly… not too bad. We also had the capricciosa which was OK, and along with the service the experience was not as painful as id experienced before.
id probably come here before eating at a pizza express … but that’s not saying too much.

Hmmm, a chain restaurant from Italy? I really like going to Rosso Pomodoro and this place looks a bit slicker than RP. I remember first seeing FLB on Shaftsbury ave and wanted to try it. Proper lunch break anyone?
The place feels a bit gimicky but I do like the color scheme of the décor (red/​black). They have a lunch menu — 2 courses for 10 pounds that I went with. I had the caprese salad and was really disappointed mainly because of the quality of the cheese. It was too salty and thought you could get something better at Sainsburys.
For the main course, the seafood spaghetti was actually pretty decent. Nothing to rave about but pretty good given how much you paid for it.
The pizza looked really good and willing to give this place another try… but not any time soon.