Strada

This is not a good Italian restaurant. We had to ask the server to check on our food, turns out she forgot about it (place was not busy) and by the time she brought it out the food was cold. The pasta sauce was from a can, there was barely any shrimp on my shrimp pasta, the pesto sauce also seemed to be from a can. I probably could’ve made a better seafood pasta. My friends Meatball Focaccia was a meatball sandwich that looked like it had been microwaved. Plus, it was well over priced for canned marinara sauce.

The lunch menu has pizzas for £8.95 but they’re half the size of their normal menu pizzas, one of which is cheaper (margarita). We were seated quickly and then forgotten. The plates we were given were dirty and two were taken away to be replaced (slowly). A friend’s order of olives was completely forgotten. Lunch took almost two hours due to the poor service.
The pizza was okay but I won’t be returning.

I’ve been to Strarda in Holborn before and been pleasantly surprised. The Leicester Square branch is a horrible shock. Don’t go! Why?
Poor, chaotic service:
— half of our party’s food arrived late for all three courses — completely randomly each time
— they forgot drinks each time we ordered
— we had to hunt-​down waiters/​waitresses to ask were people’s missing food was
— main courses arrived lukewarm
…and we’d ordered in advance 2 weeks before hand! No excuses!
Fraud?
They got the bill wrong, adding an extra five people and were suspiciously quick to change it — we didn’t have to explain what the issue was, just start to talked to the manageress and she knew — immediately. Is she psychic?
Were they hoping we’d not notice as a large group? Yes was our conclusion — that’s fraud, Strada.
If I worked in the Strada HQ, I’d been sending in mystery shoppers and looking for a new manager
Don’t bother visitng — it’ll ruin your evening; in our case, it was a poor start to a Hen and Stag do.

I’ve been visiting Strada for years and it’s always reliable homely Italian fayre. They do a fab selection of pizzas and pastas, which are 1000 times better than the likes of other Italian chains, such as Bella Pasta or CafeUno. It’s not even that more expensive. The waiters are always friendly, and there are nice touches, like the free bottle of tap water that they put on your table. It’s definitely worth keeping an eye out for the 2for1 vouchers that they’ve been doing in places like the Telegraph. This branch is especially handy for nearby theatres; it’s right opposite the Comedy Theatre if you wanted apre-​show meal.

Food was delicious, lovely staff good atmosphere