Barrrffff Italia (Bar Italia)

Member Name: Spicoli

Product:	Bar Italia
Date:	08/02/01 (163 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Food (In Particular The Paninos) / Open All Hours / Hip and Chic Factor / Mingle with Celebrities

Disadvantages: Rude Bar Staff and Pricey Food & Drinks / Forced Out

Bar Italia is supposed to be the hippest Coffee Bars in London. If you don't find the media types there it is usually the odd springling of celebrity or otherwise.

Bar Italia has obviously won a place in many people's hearts being mentioned enough in popular culture and music, including by artists such as Pulp to name only one. Moreover, it is probably the only thing other than Theatres and Prostitutes that is synonymous with Soho.

The bar itself runs 24hours (unlike any other in London) and, from my understanding, was started some 5 decades or so ago by the same family that runs it now, using the same coffee machine they had the day the bar opened - making it the oldest coffee machine in operation in London.

The atmosphere can only best be described as very Italian, with waiters being as brash and as commonly Italian as you would expect. I would warn you to be careful, because i get the strong impression from my own experience, and that of others, that the waiters make the prices up on the fly and what they happen to be will depend on how well they know you or what warped Italian impression they have of you.

The Bar itself seats patrons inside around a bar at the front or wall side bar style table with bar stools to the back, where you will also find a massive television screen on which major Italian football clashes are shown, amongst other things, but on which usually MTV or VH-1 channels are previewing. Otherwise the bar tables sprawl out into the street covering most of the sidewalk in the immediate vicinity.

If you take a table outside, then you will find that anyone in your party, irrespective of the size, not drinking or eating will be obliged by the waiters to leave. And inside they will ask you to leave as soon as you have finished eating and drinking.

There is a good selection of food avaiiable from toasted ciabatta sandwiches to custard tarts and panettone, although, prices by comparison to
other local stores are high. The range of drinks, including aranciata and crodo (very italian drinks), is good, but i tend to find that the coffee is not always up to scratch. This means that it is either watery or is tepid. For a place that prides itself on the Italian traditions of coffee making i am often dissapointed by the results they produce. Especially when prices can be excessive.

My overall conclusion is to stay away, not only because of the kind of people you tend to find there at peak hours but because depsite the food being good, even if it is pricey, the coffee isnt a 10/10 rating. If you want to drink coffee you are best off going somewhere else like Caffe Nero across the road, where the coffee they serve is more consistent and the service is friendlier, moreover, you know what you will end up paying.

Summary: