Il Bacio Express is the cheaper, cozier sister café of Italian restaurant Il Bacio on the very same street. They have gone pretty crazy this year with their Christmas decorations making it an even more tempting pop in spot along the tiresome Christmas shopping route. They have a fantastic specials menu which changes daily. On my last visit I had a delicious and venison and olive ragu for about £7. The pizzas are all thin base which as far as I'm concerned is the only way and the veggie pizza is tasty enough to tempt me away from my regular meat feast type option. The service is also incredibly good and it's a great place to go for a quick snack and a drink or a full-blown yet reasonably priced meal. read more

Il Bacio Express - Italian Near Me - London, XGL

This is a great little Italian place in the middle of Church st. It is ALWAYS busy, and for good reason. The food here is great, I particularly like the pasta's. The service is friendly and really prompt. It is a little squeasy, but I guess that's part of its charm. The large windows open onto the street in such a way that it feels like you are dining outdoors. Highly recommended. read more

Il Bacio Express is smaller and cheaper than the other Il Bacio (which is on the opposite side of the road a bit further down). I always eat at this one, it's got much more character. The staff are hilarious, from time to time they play old Ibiza balearic classic house, and the pizza's are big, cheap and delicious. I flit from the seafood spaghetti to the Il Baccio pizza (parma ham, asparagus & rocket), best thing to do is bring someone else and do shares, as both are good choices. They only serve three types of wine - house red, house white and house rose. I've always been happy with the house red, which they serve in little clay jugs. I have so many fond memories of spending many drunken summer Sunday evenings here, sitting on one of the large tables outside, with a big group of friends, slightly hazy from a heavy weekend, it's the perfect wind down to prepare you for work on Monday. It's the perfect place for big group dinners, my sister had a brilliant birthday lunch here, it was a blazing sunny afternoon, we took the whole of the outside seating area, and it felt like a little street party. The best thing about il Baccio is the price, no matter how much I seem to eat or drink here, the bill is never more than £20 a head (and I get through a lot of wine!). They don't accept cards though, so make sure if you're coming in a group, everyone knows that. read more

Good Italian food - not the cheapest but tasty and good portions. Hopefully the bigger version of baccio further down the street is roomier. This place is just slightly too cramped and gets very loud- acoustics are mot good plus they seemed to be playing the same songs on repeat. read more

Il Bacio Express - The photo doesn't do it justice- mushroom and cream pasta - Italian Near Me - London, XGL

You can call before going and reserve a table or order your take-away. Young staff is always smiling and listening to all your enquiries. Traditional music and the sight of the cook give an authentic atmopshere by feeling somewhere in Italy even if it's a little restaurant , there is "his brother" across the street which is bigger. Pizzas are cooked in a real oven so they keep the smell of the raising flour. Unique! A special note for the Verdure one with the chewable mushrooms. If you are tired ask for a delivery at home. read more

Il Bacio Express is the place to come for an inexpensive, informal pizza meal. The younger brother to the bigger and more formal Il Bacio down the road, this is a great place for Sunday dinners after the Saturday night before. The pizzas are generous and mouth watering. Keep an eye on the specials board for some interesting combinations! The staff are happy to tailor the pizzas to your tastes. The stuff that's not pizza on the menu is also pretty good. Try the lasagna, it's better than your mamma could ever make! Beer and wine and lovely coffees to accompany classic Italian desserts such as tiramisu are also available. They also do take-away if you can't stand the bright light of a hungover Sunday afternoon! read more

Great Sardinian (don't say Italian) restaurant on Church Street. Absolutely stunning pizzas - my favourite place in London. The pizzas are huge, remember to ask for the pizza box, the staff are friendly, helpful and are happy to save the remains of your plate from the waste bin. It's been known for one pizza to last 3 meals (incl. breakfast) Eat in and takeaway available. read more

I Love this place. Great staff Great pizzas Great Pasta Great Atmos Great Value Great Great Great Favourite pizza place in the whole of london read more

Il Bacio Express - Heaven. - Italian Near Me - London, XGL

Not happy at all, firstly the cutlery must be from the pound shop at 20 for £1. My 20 month old wanted pizza, so we bought a margarita off the kids menu, £8.50. It is smaller than the normal margarita £6.70. But comes with drink and dessert. My son didn't have either. We were charged The full £8.50 You would think that they would charge £6.70?? Crap ignorant staff! read more

This is a very good restaurant for eating in. Quality Sardinian food and atmosphere with friendly,efficient service. Excellent value for money. Will definitely be returning. read more

Ooops, I said to my friend, as we walked past the big posh Il Bacio (IB), following an almighty stuffing at Il Bacio Express (IBE). I had meant to go there, but thinking I knew where we were going, walked straight past the big proper one, and headed to the more compact and bijou IBE. It was Sat nite, about 8.30pm - so IBE was full. Went to the Daniel Defoe for a quicky, whilst table was freed up. Owner/ manager of IBE was a star - got us seated ahead of some peeps who'd turned up after us, but choose to wait it out in the tiny door area. I thought I knew about pizza and pasta but this place was great! Sardinian, not Italian, is a superb variation on what you thought you knew. Also had small innocuous TV showing Italian footy, then a Nat Geographic prog on engines - incl Ferrari. Excellent!! There was a constant flow of pizzas being taken out by the hordes (well, maybe 4-5) of pizza delivery dudes. This must be the delivery service base. But it doesn't interfere with your experience. Was quite hungry, so was friend, so ordered baby octopus in spicy tomato sauce, and smoked salmon bruschetta. Then we ordered a pizza each. If we'd know now, what we didn't know then, maybe we would have been more conservative in ordering. We all know bruschetta is a couple of thin slices of toasted bread with a garlic herby tomato topping. Not at IBE!!! It's 4 slices of ciabatta, absolutely loaded with tomatoes, herbs, garlic, and a huge slice of smoked salmon on top. the 4 slices would have made a loaf if put together!! It was MASSIVE! The baby octopus was tasty, and still on the large side for a starter. We had noticed other pizzas when we came in, so knew what to expect size wise= a full 12"!! Already well on the way to a stuffing, and with 2 pieces of the bruschetta placed in a doggy box, out came the pizza....... Oh, what a joy!! Superb!! Thin crust, with tomato sauce, Parma Ham, Peccorino cheese, Cherry Tomato and some rocket stolen off my friend's pizza. Soo tasty - I had to eat it all, just couldn't resist. We had a Garaffe (sp?) of red wine - not bad at all. All in for 2 people, well really enough food for 4, was £40. A right royal treat! So don't need to go posh to IB, go to the more friendly, intimate and certainly tasty IBE. read more

Pretty good food. Service was ok. Nice coffee. A,little,disappointing considering how busy it was.

Il Bacio is both nice to sit in and for delivery. They have a range of very tasty Sardinian specialities: pastas and pizzas that are worth trying! read more

Lovely staff, great large pizzas in a cozy environment but the house wine is undrinkable.

Great pizza, thin delicious dough base - fresh and falvoursome toppings, reasonable prices, nice street location with pavement seats if you are lucky and for the chronically lazy then you can take away and it still tastes as good. on the best places to grab a bite along church street, always busy but can generally squeeze in. read more

Il Bacio is a super little Italian cafe on Stoke Newington Church Street. The menu is pizza and pasta with a specials board that changes every few weeks. Food is consistently good, and rarely is anything unavailable. They are happy for you to share a dish (especially puddings!). Small selection of alcoholic drinks. The only down side is that it is small so you sometimes can't get a table. read more

Such good pizza! I'm usually a dyed-in-the-wool Hawaiian fan (yes I know!), but all the toppings on offer here sound so good I'm slowly working my way through them... Since moving to Stokey and being introduced to these fellas by my new housemate, I'm well and truly sorted for my takeaway pizza needs! Next up: a Parigina... read more

In contrast to the previous review, my family love the house wine! Great pasta and pizza. Especially the pasta - it never tastes like this elsewhere, and its how I imagine it tastes in Italy/Scicily. I don't like the pizza place across the road which is also part of the Il Bacio empire, the pizza's aren't as good in my opinion. Have never tried the the more expensive Il Bacio - have never felt the need to and my dad fancies the waitresses in this one so probably will never try the other one either. read more

Let me begin with the fact that I'm italian and maybe my standards are too high. In my quest for a decent pizza I have given il Bacio several goes as it's my local pizzeria. It's very hit and miss. The dough is good but the toppings are increasingly worsening. Ordered 3 different take away pizzas last night and despite a promise from the guy at the oder end that the delivery will be with us in 30 minutes we had to wait 1 hour and 40 minutes for them to turn up. No apologie, discount or phone call was given. The toppings were mainly cheesey, barely any tomato and very salty. The Margherita did not have any basil, now, let me tell you a margherita without any basil is like a shepherd's pie without the mince. My quest for a decent pizza continues as it's addio to Il bacio. read more

Great pizza in a v relaxed environment

Special place. Stay away - it's mine!

I used to really love this pizza restaurant, but I feel the quality of service and meals has gone down a bit. However it's still a great place to grab a quick bite of pizza from their clay oven. read more