The food was not really tasty The pasta that they recommended with ragout meat was very heavy The prawns came in that rich sauce and you had to clean them all and remove all the dirty stuff Also no bread or a toast next to the prawns ! You had to order bread on the menu to dip in the sauce read more

Polpo - Soho - Rigatoni ragout Prawns - Italian Near Me - London, XGL

For a respite from Piccadilly, Polpo is a venerable veteran. It's so inviting and the food has been superb for over 15 years. Grabbed a couple bar seats and had an Arancina and basic linguine with clams. So simple. So perfect. read more

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No complaints about this place. They were very nice and the food was pretty good. We had the zucchini fries, spaghetti and meatballs, and truffle croquettes and all were very filling and very good. This is a really nice intimate place to go in Soho, even before the theater if you're looking for something cute semi casual with good service and good food. read more

Had an early dinner - service was very fast and attentive Dishes on the small side but tasty read more

One of the most disgusting food service I've experienced in London. I asked for the head of the bass to be removed. It was brought with the head on. When I informed her , she was not happy. Instead of being professional, she went in the back and chopped it off an brought it out like this. It is irrelevant whether she heard me or not, it is disgraceful to the chef for her to butcher the chefs food and bring it out like this. This is disgusting and unappetizing and unacceptable food service. Professionalism is key under any circumstance and I feel bad for the chef. If you want food that looks like this then by all means go here. read more

Polpo - Soho - Italian Near Me - London, XGL

One of my favorite London restaurants. Absolutely delicious food and fantastic wine selection. Definitely get one of the pizzas and try the veggie meatballs. The desserts are quite strong as well. read more

Polpo specializes in small Italian plates, so it's recommended to order a bunch and share with friends. Around 2-3 plates per person should suffice. It's quite the trendy restaurant, so the dining room often gets packed. The spinach pipette was pretty good, but everything else that we ordered was just ok. Not really worth queueing up for. read more

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Been here more than 20 times over a few years. I noticed the menu is reducing to more core basics and less on what it was a year ago. Is less interesting compared to what they promote in their cook book, basically simple stuff. Cocktails and such remain the same, really good. Wine is served in small thick table glasses... wish they serve wine on wine glasses. read more

I was in London and this place came highly recommended. The food was delicious, so much so, that I went back a total of 3 times. Food is served tapas/sharing style. There's a mix of seafood options, italian, pizzettes, and veggies and salad. I tried almost all the seafood dishes and they were prepared nicely. The scallops with kale in cream sauce were perfectly cooked. The peel and eat shrimp was a nice portion of 5 large shrimp. Seafood was fresh throughout. In all 3 of my visits, I had the meatballs. They were so delicious. Moist, well seasoned with a tart cheese on top. Tomato sauce was rich and full of flavor. The pizzettes were awesome as well. A cracker thin crust pizza with fresh mozzarella and basil, but not doughy so it won't spoil your appetite. A clear 5-star place in my book food-wise, but the bartenders were god-awful. Not attentive at all (one girl was on her phone the whole time) and they will routinely mess up and bring you either too much stuff or completely forget about other orders (I waited 30 mins to find out they never even put in my pizzette order). If food is your priority, this place can't be beat. read more

BAM. Tonight's meal sealed the 5-star deal for me. This time I went with two foodies who, dare I say, enjoy the art of eating even more than I - which is a sight to be seen. Especially when we were presented with the menu. Eyes as big as saucers, we soon were tucking into apricot and sage rabbit terrine, prosciutto with buffalo mozzarella, and the most amazing pizzetta bianca I've ever indulged in. We then ordered six more dishes... and bread... and dessert... and ohmyGOD it was so good. All of it. So good. The 45 minute wait went by in a flash due to the sassy bartenders, stiff cocktails and seats at the bar. Match that with the atmosphere that I mentioned in my previous review, and this place is just an overall win. Go with your fellow foodies and sample your heart out! read more

A gem in London! The food is excellent with exciting and interesting flavors. Having lived in Chicago for four years (America's food capital), it was refreshing finding such great food for reasonable prices in London. I dined here with three others and our server recommended we get 2-3 plates per person. It was a good amount and we left very happy and satisfied. I highly recommend the Flank Steak, Grilled Lamb, Linguine Vongole, and the Chickpea Meatballs. Make sure to save room for dessert! The flourless orange and almond cake, and the Nutella Pizette are divine! Come here hungry! read more

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Heard lots of great buzz around this place but don't think it quite lives up to the hype. It has potential but there is a lot of places I would go first. The downstairs bar that you can wait in is a great idea especially as this is a 'no bookings' restaurant. You can order starters down here but the starters aren't too flash. We ordered the crab arancini and stuffed olives. They came out on the same plate: no garnish, no sauces, no love (see my picture). The olives tasted ok. When we were taken upstairs for our table we sat at our table for 30mins before getting even a menu. We weren't in a hurry so we would have preferred to stay downstairs and get our own drinks. We ended up grabbing the drinks menu for ourselves (and we also grabbed water for ourselves too) Anyway bad service. A lot of attitude coming from staff. We were a whole table of hospitality people so always understand if it's busy but they were plain disinterested in service and more interested chatting to themselves. We ordered drinks. Then some more sharing things and some medium plates which all seemed to come out at once. And the wine came out after the food (I think they forgot to put our order in). Again simple apology or sincerity would have been fine but we inconvenienced the waitress by asking her twice. The octopus was lovely. A little cold but tasty. The mackerel tartare turned out to be salmon, not fresh. I can't remember the other dish we ordered but whatever it was supposed to be was over powered with a lot of olive tapenade and mustard on very very stale bread that we couldn't cut through. There was also some soggy deep-fried fish. At that point we asked for the bill and we to a much better place around the corner. So yeah go to a lovely french place around the corner. read more

Polpo - Soho - The crab aranchini balls and crumbed olives. Obvs a garnish shortage in Soho. - Italian Near Me - London, XGL

Great ambiance, mediocre service and food. We walked in Polpo after a long day of walking around the city. The interior and menu looked great so we took a small table inside. Our server recommended getting two plates each to share them all. She also said they would come out whenever they were ready, instead of all at once. We ordered the risotto balls--these were fried and cheesy inside but very small! We then got the beef meatballs in sauce. These were about four meatballs in a red sauce. They were tasty but not outstanding. We then got the broccoli with hazelnuts. The broccoli was a bit under-cooked and didn't have enough flavor. The service at this restaurant was a bit confusing. It seems the servers help all the tables, instead of being assigned specific parties. We asked four servers for our check and kept waiting for it to arrive! It was very odd and we couldn't understand why this took so long after so many people asked us if we wanted anything else. I would say the price and ambiance here doesn't match the quality and service. Very underwhelming. read more

Always crowded spot and now I know why--excellent Italian tapas. 4.5 stars Food: 4.5, Service: 3, Atmosphere: 3.5 Cost to worth it rating: 4 Eve award: best huge bruschetta Return worthiness: yes! Highlights: - Bruchetta: artichokes, prosciutto, and cheese. Best thing we had (and most everything was fantastic). - Spicy clam pizza: sounds odd and didn't know what to expect, but it was awesome. Not fishy with a good amount of spice, fresh sauce, and springy dough - Meatballs: another big hit. Delicious meat mixture and covered in sauce - Pasta: fresh with rich ingredients to coat it - Atmosphere: very lively Lowlights: - Crowded: usually hard to get a table Loved my fun meal here and will for sure be back. read more

The restaurant serves Venetian food in small, tapas plates. Our orders came with two arancini, three meatballs, and so on. It's easy to get carried away with one of everything (and then one or two extra when you find something you like). A friend and I shared a variety of small plates. They recommend 2-3 per person. The arancini were my favorite - unbelievably creamy inside a golden crust. I also loved the meatballs "alla Vedova" which were rolled in polenta (no sauce). The regular meatballs in marinara were flavorful. Even the bread was delicious - coated in olive oil, grilled, and dusted with sea salt. The special du jour risotto with rocket was WAY too salty. I could have skipped the mushroom piadina. We tried a few of the mixed drinks and they were great. The gin fizz was a sweet mix of gin and prosecco. And the dark and stormy used a spicy ginger beer. This is one of a few locations in London. I'll definitely be back next time I'm the city. read more

I love Polpo. It's one of my regular Soho dining spots - affordable good food and great atmosphere (reminds me of hipster New York). The cichettis are so tasty - my favourites are the chickpea/anchovy and chicken liver crostinis. If you don't like anchovies, I definitely wouldn't recommend ordering it because the smell and taste of it is quite strong! The fritto misto is another favourite of mine - fried but not greasy selection of calamari, fish, octopus etc...yum! The spinach/parmesan/poached egg pizzette is sooooo good - probably my favourite dish from Polpo. The meatballs are also very good. For dessert I'd highly recommend the ricotta/chocolate crumble - super rich but delicious. Service is friendly and prompt. Polpo's a perfect night out with friends for a quick bite or a casual dinner...not to mention they have a good selection of cocktails/wine! Only down side is that it gets very very busy so I find myself having to eat early if I don't want to queue (and why I hesitate to give it 5 stars). They do take bookings for lunch though which is a consolation! read more

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Polpo is most decidedly not a pizza place (desite the annoying Qype designation which forces it into the same category as the awful Pizza Express), and is extremely reasonably priced for such high quality food. They specialise in small dishes of the type found in the Venetian countryside (if that isn't impossible) - but more substantial than tapas. In fact we left the choice of food entirely to the owner/manager Russell Norman who russelled up 16 different dishes between the four of us and they were delicious, though as we also had two bottles of wine (a great Gavi di Gavi and an excellent Lacrima Morro d'Alba) and with only three of us drinking them (the other was on whisky....) our concentration became somewhat impaired. Despite only having opened two weeks ago, service was terrific - friendly without people rushing up saying 'is it ok?' every few minutes, and the atmosphere in the old Soho house (once lived in by Canaletto) was warm and cosy, and packed to the rafters with smart young things. Food came to £95 for four (the less said about our bar bill the better) and was great value for such a fun evening. Russell Norman has harnessed the power of the blogosphere to promote his restaurant and twitters amusingly about it. He is thus one of the first to tweet about his customers instead of the other way round. No doubt it will be a point of honour to get a mention in his nightly postings. read more

Polpo - Soho - Polpo is a bit dark for a good photo. This is the service bar next to the kitchens. - Italian Near Me - London, XGL

I had an absolutely wonderful meal there on Tuesday night with a very good friend of mine. We had Arancini, and the Pizetta, but we had spinach, egg and cheese on ours and my goodness it was to die for. I would have stepped over my own mother for a mouthful of that. We also had some of the Bigoli, some steak, rabbit terrine and for me the best cake ever. It was the flourless orange cake and my god it was the best cake I have ever eaten. Light yet so moist I could have eaten that by the bucketload. I really loved the rustic charm, very friendly service and delightful food. I shall be going back as much as I can. The only annoyance is that you can't book a table in the evening but you can't have it all I suppose! read more

Polpo - Soho - Italian Near Me - London, XGL

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We gave the Polpo two tries. Our first visit was on new years eve and we just wanted to have drinks and snacks at the bar. The waiters were really rude and we didn't feel welcome at all. But as Polpo is highly recommended in the travel guides we gave it another try and came back for dinner the following evening. The food was ok but nothing more. I had a gorgonzola/ham Pizza and it didn't contain gorgonzola at all. It was loaded with much to much cheese but not with the one announced. The Radicchio/Sellery/Apple/Pecorino Salad was much to sour (I think the dressing was just vineagar) and the Pecorino was arranged like Gold Dust (Nearly not existing). The wine wasn't good at all. There are better places to eat in London! read more

Small plate dining, associated with the tapas of Spain and the mezze of Greece and Turkey, appear all over the region. The less known Venetian equivalent, chicchetti, have many similarities. Combinations of meat, fish and vegetables, often served with bread or polenta. Can't go wrong. In the past few years, alongside several excellent new Spanish joints, we've also been lucky enough to welcome both Bocca di Lupo and Polpo to Soho. The latter, a buzzy little place on Beak Street, was opened by Russell Norman (ex Caprice Holdings) to solid reviews and even more solid word of mouth. A strict no bookings policy at this 'locals' restaurant led to regular queues down the street once the word had spread. He's just done it again too, with Polpetto, a beautiful little matchbox above the French House. Decorwise, it's got that Soho House style shabby chic look down to pat. low light from bare bulbs and simple furniture bely the thought that has gone into the joint. The staff are friendly and surprisingly relaxed considering the unruly mash of drinkers and diners crammed into their tiny bar space. A smatter of seats aside the bar are the best in the house, keeping you cozily ensconced in the amiable bar crowd. It's not a place for the shrinking violet. The Literary Lady and I are certainly no violets but we struggled to make ourselves heard at times. Like little brother Polpetto, this is definitely somewhere to come and meet and mingle and if you grab a bite, then it's a result. The atmosphere is key to the experience. But what of the food? There was a fair amount of it that grabbed us on the throwaway paper menus, and plenty of tasty morsels certain to soak up a lovely big Sagiovese, well priced for house at £16.50. We went for five plates to start and added another two on at the end, greedily tempted by a neighbouring order. Garlicky mushrooms served in a rather dry flatbread was so-so tasty, but no more than you'd expect from a student dinner party. For me, a duff note came with another student standby, sparse handful of garlic prawns, part shelled, in an insipid tomato and bean sauce. More positive notes came with thick slices of pork belly, tenderly braised and meltingly sweet with hazelnuts and the edge of radicchio. Mackerel tartare is a favourite on the menu, winter and summer, cut through with a horseradish cream, it's a pleasing combination and provides contrast to the meatier dishes. Their polpetta, gamey and (slightly too) salty meatballs are great winter beer fodder but not too sophisticated. The duck ragu was another welcome winter warmer, served with wormlike fingers of strozzapetti pasta and the bite of green peppercorns. Not 'posh nosh' as such, but simple and pleasing. read more

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Fabulous breadcrumbed olive Food is tapas style and very nice Atmosphere is casual and warm. Good quality but a bit pricey. The fact you can find plenty of Italian cocktails and alcohols is really cool read more

Venetian tapas?? What?? I've never heard of 'em, but I gave them a chance. This seems like one of those places foodies recommend. We went on a Wednesday night and even then it was still busy. We got there about 8ish and it was an hour and a bit wait. No worries though as they had a good selection of wines :) We finally were seated and we ordered LOTS (waiting makes me hungrier). I don't remember everything, but remembered the fried polenta was AMAZING, as was the risotto. I'm no food critic or even a foodie, but I just wasn't bowled over by anything, nor would I think to immediately recommend this place to anyone. read more

Beer before liquor, never been sicker... but gin before tapas, someone should stop us ! Post-elite-eventing tapas ordering was a bit of a whirlwind (this has nothing to do with sickness, just the rhyming!). We ordered something off of every section and had the table absolutely covered from asparagus to calamari with some breads, cheeses and meats thrown in for good measure. Best tapas I've had in quite some time, the common comment was everyone telling each other to try whatever was in front of them at the moment. you won't leave hungry and you won't likely make a bad choice. Amazing, I'm back on the tapas bandwagon. (I was off it for quite some time!) read more

I had high hopes from the moment this place opened its doors, only working a block away. We strolled in yesterday at about 1pm without a reservation and were offered a seat at the bar. The menu was appetising, and we ordered quickly as we didn't have long. Our drinks arrived straight away and our first order (Polenta topped with Salt Cod) came within 5 minutes. The creamed cod was really tasty but unfortunately the Polenta really let the side down being cold, damp and sweet. I suspect it would have been lovely had the polenta been crispy and hot. Also it was only one rather small piece. Our Tapenade & Tomato Pizette arrived another 5 minutes later, hot crispy and tasty. It was nice but nothing to scream about. We were already halfway through our beers at this point when the food simply stopped coming. We'd probably had 50g of food each and both looked around confused and food kept arriving but nowhere nearby enough to eat. 30+ minutes later we had chased and cajoled and though the staff seemed to be looking into it and promising us of food shortly to arrive nothing did. They were all very sweet and obliging but this didn't seem to help expedite our food. So after almost an hour we'd had a beer each and 75g of food and we cancelled our order to go to the sandwich bar next door. They initially intended to charge for our two tiny pieces of food and beers, though whilst we were in the midst of paying, the manager came over and apologised for the wait and said there would be no need to pay. This was definitely a saving grace on their part, had they not said that the tone of this review would have been much harsher and I would have definitely not returned. All this said; the sweet staff, tasty food (what we received), & nice ambience will make me go back again. I'd really like to experience what all those food reviewers loved so much; surely Giles Coren can't be wrong... 3/10 : Definitely some overdue homework read more

A firm favourite of mine, and the rest of London so it seems. It's success has a lot to do with the restaurant's savvy use of Twitter as a self-promotion tool (check them out at @PolpoSoho), but even more to do with fabulous food and a gorgeous atmosphere to boot. I was first taken here by the lovely Mel Seasons (http://fakeplasticnoodles.com/) for lunch, and one of our group was vegetarian. We perused the tapas-style menu of Italian cicheti (which just means small portions) and small plates. Our waiter was great, explaining the dishes and ordering format (plates come out as they're ready unless you state otherwise). Both meat-eaters and plant lovers alike had a great meal. I fell back in love with polenta (grilled), which I'd previously marked down for being bland. The mini pizza was divine, and the spinach with chili was delicious. Since then, I've been back and back. Friends love it, colleagues love it. Every single person I've taken there has had fun. It's got a great atmosphere (the 18th century building it's housed in used to belong to Caneletto, famous for his paintings of Venice), and it just calls out for afternoons of red wine, espresso and chatter. Don't be put off by the crowd at the front door, it can be misleading as people sometimes crush in to drink at the bar. I haven't ever actually had to wait for a table there. Though, it only sits 55, so pick your times carefully. Prices are pretty good for the quality of food you get. Though the cicheti and crostini itself are priced per portion (£1.20 upwards), so make sure you order per person. The rest are smaller dishes, so can be shared. Wine is average cost for London, and the cocktails - which come in Italian style glass cups - start from £5. Polpo also has a good sized private room for lunches or dinners, that can seat 30. I haven't been in there yet, but I'm thinking about booking it for my birthday! read more

Polpo - Pics @ The London Foodie I thought there would be nothing else to add to the media frenzy surrounding "Polpo", the new Italian darling and makers of cicheti or small-eats, or tapas or whatever-you-wanna-call-it in Soho. It's been blogged and highly praised by just about every food blogger in London - but after my disappointing meal there last Saturday, I thought I would put pen to paper and dare to differ. First impressions were excellent - the décor was charming, the front-of-house staff very friendly and the place nearly full and buzzing with a beautiful and trendy crowd at 5:45pm. We started the evening by ordering a couple of their breads, "White Bean Bruschetta" @ £4 and "Wild Mushroom Piadina" @ £4.80, followed by a selection of "cicheti and crostini". The white beans had been cooked in rosemary and were very aromatic and perfectly al dente, a good Italian version of beans on toast. The "Piadina" was similar to a crepe and was filled with fried wild mushrooms. Both breads were nicely prepared although the portions were ludicrously small. We ordered two portions of each, and struggled to share them among the five of us. Our selection of "cicheti and crostini" included "arancini" @ £1.50, "anchovy & chick pea crostini" @ £1.10, "potato and parmesan croquette" @ £1.20 and "salt cod on grilled polenta" @ £2.10. I love Italian "baccala" (salted cod), and cook it frequently at home - I have made a similar dish of flaked salted cod with parsley, garlic and olive oil over grilled polenta a few times at home. These intensely flavoured ingredients should balance beautifully with the blander polenta, and when well made this dish is truly heavenly. Polpo's version however was very disappointing - the polenta was cold and soggy, and the salted cod completely tasteless. We ordered three pieces and we all agreed they were rather poor. The "arancini" were tiny and very uninspiring, and so were the "anchovy & chick pea crostini" and "potato and parmesan croquettes". I tried a bit of each, and struggle to find anything at all to say about them. Completely "passable" comes to mind. The more "substantial" meat and fish dishes that we ordered included "Slow Roasted Duck" @ £6.10, "Calves Liver, Onion and Sage" @ £5.90, "Grilled Flank Steak with Mushroom" @ £6.90, and "Fritto Misto" @ £6.60. We also ordered a portion of "Pork Belly, Radicchio and Hazelnuts" @ £5.70 but it never turned up. Two of these dishes were good - the calves liver was well cooked, although not as delicately flavoured and soft as it should have been, while the "fritto misto" (deep fried whitebait and seafood) was crisp and utterly delicious. The flank steak was beautifully presented but in my opinion lacked seasoning, and the slow roasted duck was unexciting. It was served in a pool of tomato sauce and did not look terribly appetizing. All portions were very ungenerous. To accompany the above we also ordered a portion of "Roast Potatoes and Rosemary" @ £3.70, "Grilled Polenta" @ £3 and "Fennel, Curly Endive and Almonds" @ £3.90. These were all well made and flavoursome, but again the portions were minute. For pudding, we had a few "Affogato al caffe" @ £2.60 each (vanilla ice cream immersed in espresso coffee), "Flourless Orange & Almond Cake" @ £4.40, and "Honey & Walnut Semifreddo" @ £3.80. The affogato tasted just right - both the ice cream and the coffee were of high quality. The orange and almond cake was light and delicious, and I enjoyed it immensely. I did not try the semifreddo but John seemed impressed with his choice. The wine list was impressive and reasonably priced, with bottles of white and red starting at £15 through to £38. Polpo serves most of its whites and a few reds in 250ml and 500ml measures at no extra cost. A bottle of 750ml will cost £15 while 500ml & 250ml measures will cost £10 and £5 respectively. This is a nice thought, and the flat pricing structure should encourage wine drinkers to try different wine combinations to accompany their cicheti. My dinner companions were old friends from a wine club I used to belong to in Dulwich (Dulwich Wine Society), and therefore our wine choices were good but rather pricey. We had a couple of bottles of Gavi (white) @ £30 each and two of Barbera (red) @ £21 each. The total bill came to £208, including service, or £42 per person. The general consensus was that it was a disappointing and expensive meal and some of us were still peckish at the end of it. Verdict - A clear example of style over substance. Good deep fried fish, good desserts, excellent wine list but tiny, ridiculously tiny portions. Some of the dishes were seriously disappointing for a restaurant currently the subject of such hype. I am not planning a return visit. read more

A place where you go and wait to seat in a very uncomfortable seat, with no back support and high tables. It's noisy, so you can't talk with your friends without yelling. Therefore, you all stare at each other while a waiter comes with a menu. Prices are promisingly cheap, but the waiter says you have to share dishes. So you ask two dishes, stuffed olives and a mushroom risotto. It's all very good, but portions are tiny. I don't mean tiny for Italian standards (I know we can overreact on our portions sometimes...), I mean tiny for French standards. To make it clearer: I have paid 4 pounds for the stuffed olives portion. A portion comprised of *three* olives. (very good ones, but still...) Time to pay. One of your friends mistakes a fiver for a tenner. The manager comes and almost yells at him - "there are five pounds missing, figure it out". Your friend laughs nervously. You and your friends go home a bit hungry, with £20 less in your pockets, and you wonder if you should buy a cheap pizza in a truly Italian place on the way home. At least it's not that noisy in the streets, so you can chat with your friends for the first time tonight. read more

We all know how much it sucks when our younger sibling outshines us. And boy, in the world of sibling rivalry, Polpo is the stodgy older sis to the much hotter, more outgoing little sister, Polpetto. We made it in just under the wire on Saturday night before things got super busy. We sat down to a lovely bottle of red and a sickening display of PDA at the table next to us--wouldn't think it the most relevant info to the review, but it is in terms of people watching, which was fantastic! Like all siblings, these sisters share some qualities. Both are bacaro-style places serving the same types of Venetian-inspired small plates. I got that vibe at Polpo for sure, but everything just felt a little rundown and dirty. It seems like the place would really benefit from a fresh coat of paint. We ordered the arancini and bocconcini, which were okay, but nothing superb. Both could have used a hit of acid--balsamic or lemon or something. We had the spinach, parm, and egg pizzetta, that paled in comparison to the pork shoulder and pepper pizzetta at Polpetto. The other dish that stuck out to me was the cuttlefish risotta, that we had also had at Polpetto. It was beautifully done at Polpetto--and the reason we ordered it again; here it was undercooked and rather a turn-off. I'm pretty sure I'll be sticking with the cooler little sister from now on. read more

I spotted this place one night after attending an elite event hosted by Yelp (thanks- it was very cool). I have heard that it is very hard to find a table there, and I love a challenge got in asked for a place to eat, was told it is going to be 45 minutes wait!!! it is a challenge; I will wait - luckily there was a stool behind the bar to sit on and wait after that fairly long introduction, I have to say that they food was disappointing and the service was kind of ...... in a hurry- waiters don't have time for your questions (if you need to ask about a platter or so) I was happy I finally got a table there but don't remember eating there fondly nothing special and won't be going there again read more

Oh Polpo, I wanted so much more from you. I got the gist of things: a trendy joint serving Greek-leaning Mediterranean food in tapas portions with good ingredients. I was expecting clean flavours, a focus on top-notch ingredients, and simple food, simply presented so that the individual components could shine. Alas, not so much. All our dishes fell into the category of bland to the point of sadness. I'm all for not messing up a stellar ingredient, but the ingredients weren't stellar: if you want to not season your fennel at all, you best be sure that fennel is at its prime, that your olive oil is brilliantly flavourful, that the cheese you grate over it has presence. Otherwise you end up with a sad, vaguely fennel-y plate of tough white greenage and pale, oily disappointment. The mixed fried seafood dish wasn't seasoned, either: the batter was clunky, the whitebait overwhelmed the other components, and it all cried for a bit of salt, at the very least. I think it's a bit sad but telling that I can't actually recall what else we had, even though we had about seven dishes in all. That's seriously underwhelming. The one dish that did stand out, for the wrong reasons, was the sliced steak salad: contrary to the "thou shalt not touch thine spice rack", this was salted to the point of being inedible. Overall, we left feeling as though we'd dropped far too much money on bland, uninspired tapas composed of bland, flavourless ingredients. What a waste of a good concept. read more

I visited Polpo last month on the recommendation of Jay Rayner. I had just been for a beard trim in Liberty's then I whipped down Carnaby Street to this gorgeous little bar. I had a great holiday in Venice last year so as soon as I read about an authentic cicheti bar in Soho I just had to go! It was packed to the rafters which was very pleasing because it was absolutely freezing outside. It is and it isn't authentic. Unlike cicheti in Venice it is expensive, but, the food is very good. We had a bottle of Prosecco which was excellent and the wine list looked fabulous. A great evening, and looking forward to my next visit! read more

What an absolutely devine surprise this little restaurant was. We had a wonderful late lunch at Polpo in Soho. We were a table of four and chose to share around six dishes, which we initially thought mightn't be enough, however we ended up having to walk off our lunch in Hyde Park later! They are famous for their meat balls and I can totally see why. We ordered the classic and the spicy pork and fennel which were outstanding. Paired with a salad of rocket and courgette, cold meats with mozzarella and watercress, a selection of the tasting plates and a pizzette we had more than enough to eat. The staff are fantastic and the decor is perfection. I'll definitely be stopping here again. Do make sure you make a reservation as they are extremely busy, we waited half an hour, but chose to have a wander around Liberty while we waited. read more

We read quite a bit about this place and it frequently popped up in a lot of the lists of restaurants to go to while visiting London, so we had high expectations of this tapas style eatery. This was our first meal in London and seeing that they did not accept reservations, we arrived promptly at 12pm when it opened and were seated right away. We stuck with the Bianca pizzette, Duck ragu w/ black olives & gnocchi, the Zucchini w/ parmesan & basil, and per our waitress's suggestion, the meatballs "alla vedova". The best plate was the fried meatballs which was crispy on the outside and so savory on the inside. All others were only just okay and not quite that memorable. We really wanted to like the place and wanted to order more, but we left feeling semi-full and slightly disappointed. read more

Polpo - Soho - Bianca Pizzette - Italian Near Me - London, XGL

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Food was decent, some items more memorable than others. 1. Grilled fennel and white anchovy CICHETI - 2 stars 2. Baccala mantecato crostini - 4 stars! 3. Lamb & mint meatballs - 3 stars 4. Braised scallops, pancetta & peas - 3 stars 5. Chilli & garlic prawns - 3 stars 6. Rabbit & chicory tonnata salad - 2 stars 7. Zucchini, rocket, Parmesan - 4 stars! Wine selection was decent as well but I didn't feel it was memorable. Would I return if friends wanted? Yes Would I return by my own choice? No but that's cause there are so many places I haven't tried yet in London. read more

I visited Polpo with my lady last Saturday night and had a great time. Being a peak time, we expected there to be a wait and there was - like 1.5 hours. When faced with that you situation can give up and find somewhere else to eat, or you do the sensible thing and head to the basement bar and put away some excellent cocktails. There's a very serious negroni being made down there and it's amazing how a few of them can make the time fly by. When we made it upstairs we had the polpette, cod cheeks, spinach and egg pizzette, some grilled polenta and the brussel tops. All were great although it was probably a bit much for two people but you can put that down to a bit of reckless post-cocktail ordering. Can't wait to go back. read more

Finally ate at the first Polpo (I went to Polpetto when it was open, have been to the Covent Garden locale, drop in to Mishkins from time to time and am in love with Spuntino.) This location always seems to be the busiest. Well, only a 2 hour wait on a Friday at 7:30 (although we did get seated at 9). And we had to wait at the bar downstairs--and it was hot down there. Limited munchies menu for the downstairs and I must say not very exciting. As always though, the pizzettas were great, the meatballs delicious, and the combinations and flavors interesting and exciting. But most of all I like the atmosphere--the place has a good vibe. I am a fan of this group of restaurants--always have been and always will be. Nothing to blow you away, but good food and good atmosphere is worth the wait. read more

It was not BAD, but the hype around it is not legitimate I had the probably most expensive meatballs in tomato sauce that exist, but to be fair, it was excellent meatballs. I cannot argue the quality. I read in some reviews that people complain about food being bland. I cannot completely agree to that. I myself greatly enjoy spicy food and a good mix of seasoning. But Polpo just does minimal seasoning. That is a style and it is made with lots of thought. The meat had a great taste and needed only a minimal amount of salt and herbs. It played out very well. The orange almond cake made a great impression on me. I loved it very much. If the food was so good, why not at least one more star? I am surprised that this is supposed to be a rare food experience in London? Are there not a good dozen more Italian restaurants, who can deliver that quality? There is a hype that creates a crowd of waiting people. And the place probably does not deserve that much hype. read more

A fun midweek place to go for a trendy bite to eat. You can't make reservations, so we got there before 18:30 and even at that time they could only seat us at the bar. This suited us fine, and so we took our pews and scanned through the medium sized menu. I think there were probably more options on the cocktail menu than the food menu! I opted for a refreshing, and strong elderflower martini. It packed a punch and was delightful. Just what I needed on a Thursday evening. The idea of this Venetian style of dining is to pick 2-3 small plates each and share. We opted for veal and porchini meatballs, a lamb dish, goats cheese and salami calzone, a courgette and rocket dish (the waiter recommended we have some veg!), and clam linguine. The calzone was amazing. I don't ever have pizza, but the combination of the goats cheese and salami was great! The clam linguine was as good as any I've had in Italy, the lamb very tender and the meat balls were tasty too. All in all a very good dining experience. The staff were friendly, the bar tender very helpful when we were asking about the number of dishes we should have. The large bottle of tap water served as soon as we sat down was most welcomed. The buzz in the restaurant was nice, busy but not so noisy that you couldn't hear your date. Low level lighting creating a cool evening atmosphere. As we left we noticed a few people queuing outside, so if you're planning on eating there, try and get there early. We paid about £45 for 5 dishes and 2 cocktails. It was more than enough food and the cocktails were strong and delicious. A very nice place to eat! read more

This is undoubtedly one of my favourite restaurants in London. It too is so economically agreeable it tenders ample ground to revisit again and again. The food is absolutely delectable, especially the unforgettable Arancini (so good I purchased the Polpo cookbook solely just to have this recipe). The atmosphere is effortlessly fun and the place never fails to excite. However, on more than one occasion after work it has failed us to get a table. The restaurant (like many now in London adhering to this trend) works on a first-come-first served basis hence during the dinner rush this could mean an hour plus wait for a table. However when you do nab one the service, food and ambience are first class. read more

Incredible dining experience. It felt like I stepped into the 16th century as soon as I opened the door. Loved the exposed stone walls. The food was phenomenal and the wait staff was great. read more