Wildwood

Wildwood is a great locations so has to be really good to get the opera crowd interested. (It’s over the road from the Royal Opera House. Unfortunately it won’t be getting my custom again. The chicken milanese was dry and burnt and the ribs from the grill didn’t have much meat on them. They tasted nice but a small portion.
The mini ice cream cones looked like it had just come out of a children’s party. They used very cheap ice cream and then covered it with whole walnuts (stale) very sweet sauce and cone. The decoration was awful and a real mess. It looked like it had been thrown into the coup.

We went there because it was near Royal Opera House, but the food was well below average.
Chicken Milanese was almost burnt, dry and bland. Spaghetti accompanied it was also bland. Ribs were OK but were not worth the £16.65 price tag, because the potion was very small. Their pizza menu was peculiar, and we didn’t order any. When someone’s order was delivered, it looked too thin and too pale. No wonder only one diner ordered it during our visit.
Just forget about dessert. They only had cheap low-​quality ice cream-​based dessert and a waffle brought in from a factory.
There are so many better quality restaurants nearby, so just avoid this joint.

Nice location, specially for a lunch after shopping. Light airy restaurant originally decorated with newspaper stacks from yester-​years. Great BBQ baby back ribs and sweet potato fries.

The food here is only fair. I had the piri piri grilled chicken. The portion was small (too small, frankly) and the chips (fries) were in a metal cup with a crumpled up piece of paper at the bottom to make it look like there were more chips than there were. Are potatoes really so expensive that you can’t turn a profit on a £13 dish without deceiving your customers? Companion had superfood salad that was small and overpriced and in need of dressing. Hostess was cold (frosty doesn’t cover it) and blasé and systematically shunted all families downstairs. You got the feeling she’d be happier if nobody were in the restaurant. Needless to say, I wouldn’t recommend this place, especially not with kids.

Schneller Italiener. Nett zubereitet und auch gute Qualität.

Nested in the marvelous neighborhood of Covent Garden in downtown London, this Wildwood location is one of the newest ones of the chain, which now tallies almost fifteen locations. With an affordable menu, a vibrant décor and a pretty good execution, dinner there was a success for us.
We arrived with no reservation but a large appetite and we promptly seated near the front of the restaurant at a cozy table which accommodated all four of us with enough elbow room to spare. We were brought some waters and some menus. The menu at Wildwood is unlike anything I’ve ever seen — it is broken down into five distinct sections making deciding much easier: starters, pizza, pasta, salads and grill. Each section has anywhere from four to seventeen options ranging in price from £2.85 to £16.75. There’s also a variety of sides that one can order or choose from, seven in total. All in all, the menu is simple, affordable and there’s a good balance between heavier and lighter dishes. There’s nothing overly complicated in their menu but that’s just fine by me — there’s no need for anything complex, sometimes the best dishes are the less intricate ones.
I personally decided to order the baked chicken pasta (£9.50) which featured tomato sauce, crème fraîche and spring onions, topped with mozzarella and Italian ham. The whole thing was baked and came out pipping hot and was quite tasty. My dining companions had pizza, salads and everyone was very happy. We had a bit of room left for dessert and split two Wildwood sundaes (£5.50 each) which were decent but far from great — I probably wouldn’t order them again. Sure they were good, but how terrible can average ice-​cream and a brownie be?
All in all the place was good — it was much cheaper than a lot of restaurants in Covent Garden but didn’t sacrifice taste for profit. The service was great, the beer selection decent and we all left pretty full and happy. It was a good value and served its purpose well, which was to feed all four of us.