Buona Sera - London

Firstly, real difficulty communicating with staff as the English was extremely poor.My pork arrived with an absolutely scalding hot sauce but cold meat.I showed this to the waiter, who offered no apology and simply took it away.The food then came back with burnt sauce and pork ribs.I explained again to a waitress this time, who got the manager I believe this may have actually been the owner but I may be wrong on that).As this was a group lunch, I walked over to a place to discuss with the manager. I explained everything and pointed out this was pork and expected a discount on the bill. The response was amazing: no one tells me what to do in my restaurant The most he was prepared to do was simply not charge me for it!(So as you can see, he takes his customers and a high risk of food poisoning quite seriously).Let me be clear on this; I manage a company and if there was even a hint of me or any other manager operating in this way, we\'d soon be out of business.Some end of meal drinks took over minutes to arrive with reminders.The bill was not itemised had nothing but marks on it, plus the was worked into the final amount.Buona Sera clearly make their money through location and foot-traffic. So in my opinion, avoid like the plague.

This is not some sort of Italian mecca. It doesn\'t pretend to be. It is more or less like Pizza Express BUT with great, fresh food and plenty of menu choice and excellent service and a really good (if a bit noisy) atmosphere. It is nearly always full of people like us who walk there from where they live. Supper for two including plenty of booze Can\'t be bad.

Yesterday night, 15 of us went to Buona Sera for a 50th birthday party. We chose the $20 before party menu, which included mixed plates of 'cook's starter', garlic pizza bread, a large selection of antipasti, dessert, and coffee. We were really impressed with the food. The mixed starters were plentiful and included antipasti, creative salads, and a huge portion of mushroom and mussels. We were too full to finish everything and still had dessert to come. The service was excellent and the staff did everything they could to accommodate us. My family, who had traveled from Hampshire, were very impressed, with some saying it was one of the best meals they had ever had. I have always liked this place, but last night they really outdid themselves. Brilliant!

We happened to stroll by this restaurant and decided to try it out on a Saturday. It was bustling with customers, but the service was quick and efficient. They seated us promptly and we ordered the stuffed mushrooms. While the presentation was lovely, it seemed that the mushrooms themselves may have been frozen. The pizza, on the other hand, had a perfect thin crust, just how I like it.

Dining at this restaurant is very affordable, and in my opinion, the pizzas here are some of the best I have ever had. One particular starter dish is a favorite of ours and we always make sure to order it whenever we visit. It consists of baked eggplant with mozzarella and tomato sauce. The atmosphere is very relaxed and ideal for a casual and laid-back meal. It is a family-owned restaurant, so it can get noisy at times, but that adds to the friendly atmosphere.