Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion Restaurant

The service was ok, but the manager or owner wasn’t friendly at all.
The food was also just ok. I had the pear carpaccio starter, but the pears were very over-​ripe and were basically mush on the plate.
If you want Italian, I’d try for somewhere else.

I searched London in my first year here for a truly exceptional Italian meal. One would think with the proximity to Italy, this might be easy: it is not. There options, but one has to search.
Thankfully, I found Vasco and Piero’s. The fare here is old-​world comfort food set in romantic, but relatively subtle interior. The sauces are rich, the spaghetti is cooked to al dente perfection, and the desserts… now I’m salivating. There’s a quality wine menu. Not the best, but plenty of options. Some of the waiters are a bit terse, but most engender that boisterous spirit many of us have some to equate with Italians. For example: when — on arriving — I once asked how fast we could finish our lunch, the waiter handed me a piece of paper. «Your check,» he said. That kept us laughing through the entire meal.
Anyway, Vasco & Piero’s is a gem. I will keep coming back here for my carbofix as much as possible.

Service was awkward when I first walked in. There were a few staff standing there, but all ignored me after turning to face me. What the heck. The interaction between staff and the table was continued its awkwardness throughout the meal, which itself wasn’t too bad. I’d perhaps return for the food, but not necessarily for the service that other reviewers seemed to have gotten.

Great attentive service. We ordered burrata and carpaccio pear w/​pecorino. Both were very tasty. Great wine list of wonderful italian wines. The staff speaks italian which always says to me that this place is legit. We ordered the orchiette w/​sausage and broccoli and the spaghettini w/​shrimp. I wish we weren’t so stuffed and would have loved to have dessert.

My wife and I read the reviews and decided to give it a try. Like most Americans, we didn’t even think of reservations on a Saturday night– our bad. The staff went above and beyond the call of duty and got us a table. The menu is more than adequate without being too much. The food was the best, most authentic Italian that I have had outside of Italy. All that with exceptional service. Stay for dessert too, it is worth it. The only problem I found, is that it is a nine hour plane ride to come back again.

Came here last Thursday night for dinner. I arrived early to an unsurprisingly empty restaurant but the place what’s heaving when I
left.
I did not think it very prepossessing, tucked away on a corner and easy to miss, particularly with scaffolding outside currently. It’s small and quite unremarkable inside with simple white tablecloths and décor. Despite this there is a great ambiance and the staff who are friendly and attentive do their best to put you at your ease immediately.
I had a very mediocre G&T before embarking on the wine. Don’t bother coming here for cocktails. If that’s your thing you need to go elsewhere. The wine however was quite good. We were recommended a £40-​odd from the menu whose name I do not recall but the server said it was from the vineyard of a friend of his who made his fortune in shampoo. It was very drinkable but not the best.
You come here for the food. I started with the pink beef carpaccio which was absolutely delicious. My companion had the burrata and that was a bit disappointing. I’ve had better from Waitrose. Then I had the grilled calamari salad which was gorgeous. The spaghettini was fine.
To finish we had a cheese selection which was perfect.
Good atmosphere and great service.
I would come back again and try lunchtime as the menu is changed twice daily.

Really nicely decorated good service had a few rounds of cocktails really tasty would recommend my favourite was the expresso cocktail

The best Italian around. I keep coming back over and over again whenever I’m back in London. Kind and lively staff, and extraordinary dishes.

I had my birthday dinner here, and everything worked great.
We were a large group of fourteen people, so were allocated the private space downstairs. Ambience was just appropriately intimate and Italian, and the service was great. I particularly liked our waiter. He really went the extra mile to help split our bills and ensure everything ran smoothly.
Food was also excellent. I ordered the ham and melon for starter, then prawn pasta for main. Both dishes were solid — in particular, the ham and prawns were very fresh. I wish they had a nicer presentation, but I guess their aim was perhaps to make the dishes feel homemade-​like. A few of my friends with Italian roots said they liked the food too.
Definitely would recommend the place — solid food and service for very reasonable prices!

This place was a wonderful find in London. Found it using Unilocal reviews and we all loved it and considered eating there twice on our visit. We plan to go back again next trip to London!

All the other reviews are correct. Walked 1+ miles and it was worth it. Finish with the tiramisu!

Very good salad!

Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion is a gem in the heart of Soho. Great atmosphere and very tasty food, definitely one of my favourite Italian restaurants in London.
In early 2014, I stumbled into Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion in Soho. I found an absolutely lovely place that can be easily overlooked. I really liked the friendly staff and also the classy atmosphere of this restaurant with a lot of light and beautiful paintings on the wall that do not distract you from the stunning food. It simply was a joy to eat there.
I started with a rosé wine, something I do not drink too often, but this one was delicious and very crisp and fresh.
For dinner, I ordered the very tasty home-​made tagliatelle with beef ragout. Rich in flavour and an all-​around enjoyable dish.
The panna cotta with strawberries and, I think, caramel sauce was light and refreshing after the hearty main.
I rounded off my visit with an espresso. Typical for an Italian restaurant, they serve a strong, bitter coffee. Not really the kind of coffee I prefer, but as I knew what to expect and because it all worked for me after the sweet dessert, I did not mind it.
Without any doubt, Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion in Soho is worth a visit. It is such a lovely restaurant — for sure I will be back for another meal soon.

very good food, wine selection was excellent. Authentic Italian, reminded us of last year’s trip to Italy. Only problem was it is in Soho, and right next to several loud drunken pubs/​bars, so the location and atmosphere suffer a little bit late at night, when we went. Otherwise a superb meal.

The Pasta and salmon were great. The filet was okay, not much flavor. All of the salads were fresh and tasty.
The waitstaff were very accommodating and friendly.

Went to this place last night on a rainy day in London with two of my best pals, after finding it on Unilocal yesterday. It had good reviews and it lived up to the purpose. The starters were absolutely delicious– my friends had bruschetta and the other had a pâté. I had an endive and blue cheese salad.
Mains– we went for pasta– both the other girls had prawn spaghetti, I had the aubergine ravioli. The prawn option was really tasty, the ravioli was a little bland but in all fairness I think I could have (and should have) chosen something else on the menu– there was so much good stuff on there like salt cod, lemon sole etc… which looked lovely when they came out to other tables.
4 stars for location– tick, great starters– tick, a really tasty pudding shared– tick and one extra for good luck. I liked this place and would go back.

Excellent fish and pasta in this unassuming white tablecloth spot.
Food: 4, Service: 3, Atmosphere: 3
Cost to worth it rating: 4 (expected it to be higher so was pleasantly surprised)
Return worthiness: sure
Highlights:
— Fish: I had the sea bass and my co-​diner had the cod and both were cooked well and tasted great. Mine came with a bit of tomato sauce and his arribiatta loved the freshness of the tomato.
— Minestrone soup: huge bowl of broth filled to the brim with vegetables. I needed to eat something relatively healthy and it was cold outside, so it hit the spot
— Pasta: after eying another table’s meal we got a small portion to share and it was quite good: linguine pasta seemed fresh and sauce was light and delicious.
— Wine: they had 2 sizes of glasses and a pretty good selection. We got 2 Italian reds and both were good
Lowlights:
— Empty when other spots had long waits, so we were a bit worried but it was fine.
Had a nice meal and could see myself ducking in here again for a meal.

Like many people (I guess) I came here after a few cocktails hoping to finish the evening with a nice meal. Was my destination so wandered around soho a little til I found it.
Simple white table cloth restaurant. Food was good. Simple pastas were perfectly cooked a very tatsty. Would definitely go again.

Normally when the wines are not so good– i can not give 5 stars– BUT– the food here is so GREAT! I was really impressed on how simple yet tasty the food was. What a great find! The service was fantastic as well. Thank you UnilocalERS for leading me to this italian gem! I will be back!

Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion has been there for 40 odd years, anonymously squatting on the unlovely Poland Street. Synonymous with London’s media scene, it’s one of those places that advertising execs used to take folk for a roister-​doister, «it’s alright, we’re not needed back at the office anytime soon, now how about that contract» lunch into afternoon into evening event to celebrate. And in all the times I’ve been in there, in that state, I’ve never remembered to ask about the name though…
The menu downstairs is set, something I’d be less bothered about if there were more than eight of us. Especially having drooled over the menu upstairs, with its extensive list of pastas and wonderful sounding dishes; lombetto, a cured loin of Umbrian pork, tortellioni of duck or seabass, fennel flavoured salamis, the list goes on…
Not having been there for a few years, I was looking forward to this. God knows why, but I went for a standard but unadventurous asparagus and mozzarella starter. Nothing special. It came drizzled with a beautifully fresh, zingy and fragrant basil oil but the trimmed asparagus felt like it hadn’t been out of the fridge for long enough. I suppose it’s partly my fault for ordering it way out of season.
If the starter was a bit of a let down, then the pasta course reminded me why I love good Italian food. Little pockets of silky smooth aubergine ravioli came with tooth sticking aubergine skin fried into tiny tasty splinters scattered atop the sun yellow pasta parcels. The room silenced until the pasta had vanished. The main of duck breast was served simply with green beans, great quality ingredients and lovely with a lipsmacking jus. A simple desert of baked ricotta was slightly spoilt by too sharp raspberries, but was in itself lovely.
Like Andrew Edmunds, The Ivy and a number of other little Soho gems, it hasn’t changed much in years, and keeps going in such a cutthroat location because it gets the fundamentals right time after time. The chefs inspiration, and many of the ingredients, come from Umbria in central Italy. They cater to a local crowd who know the staff and each other and take the odd party, like us, and shoehorn them away in a downstairs room where they won’t disturb the regulars. Not that I minded, it was perfectly pleasant, if a little like dining in a provincial hotel with it’s light and forgettable décor. On thing to note about the upstairs is that the noise levels frequently get high. It’s not somewhere for a quiet tete a tete (but ideal to tell someone some bad news.)