La Porchetta dinner 4 Nov 2012. A local gem, introduced by a friend. The layout is very open and hence a bit noisy and impersonal, but excellent food and service. Gluten free options are very welcome. Pure, simple food, large portions and thoroughly enjoyed!
Four covers;
Starters: Antipasto and garlic bread.
Mains: Fusilli al pesto, linguine mare monte (both gluten free), Milanese pomodoro, linguine polpette & chilli.
Desserts: Profiteroles, affogato, latte
Drink: 2 x bottles Cab Sav, 3 x Moretti pints
I really enjoyed this place last night which was busy and bustling. The food was great, I had a pasta with langoustine and my partner had a huge margarita pizza which was lovely! The staff were friendly And I had a great experience. I will be back for sure! Well done guys and girls
Lovely food, a desrvedly popular place.
The restaurants participating in the Exmouth Market event were Moro, La Porchetta, Medcalf, Bincho, and Caravan - a great combination of places I've been and loved (Moro, Caravan and Bincho are already firm favourites) and places I haven't yet got around to visiting.
Gluten-free Since'93
+4.5
Great Italian restaurant that has both gluten free pizzas and pastas (as well as your normal ones). It's your typical Italian restaurant where you can see the chef making your pizzas, the portions are big, the prices fair, and the food is yummy. What else would you want on a lousy Monday night?
I've been in La Porchetta a few times with a friend that lives in the area. You know a restaurant is authentic when you have lots of locals, in this case Italians, inside. There was once an italian celebration and the only table we managed to find was outside.
The service is friendly and there's lots of good food options. I had pasta before and pizza and both times I've really enjoy it. Then price wise, it's really quite cheaper, but I guess it's because it's not on the restaurant's main street. So if you're in the area and looking for some pizza visit this place. The portions are quite well-sized!
After starting life in Finsbury Park 23 years ago, there are now five La Porchetta restaurants in London - all of them pretty good. In fact they are probably my favourite London pizza restaurants with a mix of hearty servings and a wide-range of tasty, mostly not too unhealthy ingredients, and also the great atmosphere created by the staff.
That said La Porchetta in Clerkenwell is the chain's most upmarket incarnation.
Set in the former London & South Western bank, an 1894 granite and red brick corner building with an impressive cupola over the door, it makes the most of the high-ceilinged heritage listed banker's hall with its large arched windows.
The interior is fairly minimalist, light and modern, and quite unlike the cosy family-oriented restaurant in Stroud Green Road.
I dined there with a few people on a Sunday recently, finding the place mostly empty but for two small groups.
We ordered an insalata tricolour, tagliatelle carbonara and a bunch of pizzas: Frutti di Mare, Porchetta, Primavera & Fiorentina.
The salad was a thing of vivid beauty, with the Italian colours in rubbery mozzarella balls, tomato and avocado, drizzled in basil and olive oil.
We got a decanter of Thames Water's best with a fruity bottle of Montepulciano D'Abruzzo to have with it and settled in for a comfortable afternoon.
The lovely Fiorentina (egg, spinach, mozzarella, garlic and tomato sauce) is probably the best thing on the menu, but my Frutti di Mare decorated with calamari, mussels, prawns, garlic and tomato sauce was also very good (I do feel they could throw in some meatier prawns though - a few tigers would be enough).
Great comfort food eating, the restaurant's namesake pizza the Porchetta is a mixture of mozzarella, Italian sausage, minced pork, ham and tomato sauce.
The Primavera is part salad/part pizza with an abundance of rocket and halved cherry toms over mozzarella, goats cheese, sweetcorn, parmesan and tomato sauce. Delicious.
Meanwhile, the husky warm bacon flavour of the tagliatelle carbonara wafted over the table. Unlike the pizzas it was nothing special to look at, but was tasty and well-balanced in flavour.
The service at the restaurant was impeccable, with everything delivered over the left shoulder as it should, and the staff smiling, polite and conversational.
We finished our lunch with some very good coffee and a round of ultra-creamy tiramisu - served also in coffee cups! All in all, very good food.
Great place to go for a group lunch during the week, or to pop in and grab a take out if you're local.
The menu has a good variety of choices, including one of the best gluten free pizzas I've ever had, and the prices are affordable.
The waiting staff - whilst not the most attentive or present - are friendly and polite, the food is promptly served and they're accommodating to most requests.
The only shame about the place is the lack of atmosphere and stark interior. If the place had a bit of a revamp and they got some decent speakers in to have music playing, I feel the whole experience would be a lot more enjoyable and they'd get more custom.
(Cannot comment on delivery, only experienced dine-in and collection.)
No idea how they stay in business. Don't get me wrong, it's good, the pizzas are very tasty. It doesn't have much character however, and they seem to have more than double the space that they can ever fill.
Even at times you'd expect it to busy, it's normally at most 10-20% full. It's been like this since I first started frequenting the area nearly 10 years ago. They have a back room with space for maybe 20 people which I have never once seen anyone eating in. Seems like a prime location, too.
I dined here with some lovely gentlemen friends. We were a big group but the service was excellent. My starter of calamari was very generous and not chewy. The pizza edu was delicious. The chocolate cake was a bit too sweet.
I've been to here this afternoon, it's not as bad as others described.
To be honest, the Porchetta Pizza, which is including Italian sausage & minced pork and other stuff, is fantastic. The knife is like a steak knife, so it is easier for me to cut up the pizza. I would like to try more food in here.
This is a hidden gem for celiac patients looking for really good pizza. Best gluten free crust on the planet, best fresh mozzarella I’ve had in a long time, genuine authentic service, Great “table wine”.
The place is clean and tidy, the staff make you feel welcome. I am not overly struck on the food here, The lasagna was edible however the bottom was burnt suggesting it was either reheated in the microwave or it was overcooked. I'm no Gordon Ramsay but I can cook a lasagna without burning the bottom.
You can buy tasty gluten free pasta there. In the end of the week I usually go to restaurants and La Porchetta is in my list.
The interior is nice and the atmosphere is pleasant.
Great authentic thin pizza, almost like Naples. Friendly staff and Well priced for what you get.
Great food! Superb calzone and pizzas in general. Thoroughly enjoyed my linguine mare.
Really good quality pizza and unbelievably quick to product - only took them about 20 mins for 12 pizzas!
Was a Monday evening so it was just us and the random deliveroo guys. Food was exceptional. Service even better.
Delicious amatricia pasta and generous
Children very happy with quality pizza.
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