Editor Pick
The View is Great
- July 20, 2009
- Rated 5 of 5 by
Sonia3 from London, United Kingdom
I have eaten in a number of Strada restaurants over the years and you could be forgiven for believing that they're all the same, but I have recently discovered that location is everything. I have always enjoyed the food in Strada but never considered it to be a great restaurant, just an average restaurant where you know exactly what you're going to get. My experience at Strada's Riverside restaurant in London has completely changed my mind.
Sitting on the bank of the River Thames this Strada looks out over Tower Bridge and the views are simply breath taking. We visited this restaurant at night and the bridge was lit up along with everything else along the river. Getting into the restaurant we fought for seats that faced the window and those of us who were lucky enough to get them spent more time looking out at the view (with less fortunate companions getting a crick in their neck trying to do the same) than we did talking to each other! I don't mean to go on about it but you know how sometimes there's a view so lovely that you don't feel like you could possibly take it all in? It was like that.
It was a busy Saturday and we were lucky to get a table having only booked the day before. We were seated immediately and left with menu's.
The restaurant was quite cramped, with tables close together and very little space to sit. I like to have a lot of space when I'm eating so this did bug me slightly, especially because I was sat between two people who are over six foot tall with long limbs to match their height. That doesn't leave much space for me. Apart from the lack of space the restaurant was very comfortable.
The service was pretty slow and it did take quite a long time for anyone to take our order. We gave our food order and drink order at the same time because by the time they came to take our drink order we had all decided what we were going to eat. The staff were very polite but it was quite clear that they were completely rushed off their feet. There was little time for pleasantries. I understand this completely and I'm not holding this against the restaurant. It was a Saturday night in Central London and I think it's a credit to the restaurant that the staff remained so polite when they were so busy.
My meal was very good. I had bruschetta for a starter and I was very impressed by the portion size. For my main meal I had a pizza and again was impressed by the size. There's not really much that you can do wrong with either of these dishes and both were made to my satisfaction. I thought that the pizza had a good amount of topping, I can't stand it when there's so much topping that you can't see or taste the cheese and tomato but also don't like it when there's too little. I did think that it could do with more cheese but that's just a personal preference, very few places put enough cheese on pizza for my taste! My desert was wonderful. I had a chocolate cake and it was a really good sized portion. The chocolate was really rich and I did have to take my time eating it because otherwise it would be too sickly. The only complaint that I do have regarding the food is that my friends ordered a peach for desert and we were quite surprised when they were served with a tiny peach in the middle of a huge plate. It almost made me feel guilty for having such a big, yummy piece of cake. Almost.
Overall our experience was really good. It was the location that made it such a great experience and takes this restaurant from a good four stars to an outstanding five stars. The food was overall very good and the portion sizes were good. By the time we had split our bill eight ways it cost us £25 each for three courses and drinks and I thought that was pretty good, especially considering some people had wine.
From journal Eating in Central London