Pasta and pizza pleasure (O Sole Mio (Pimlico, London))

Member Name: sunmeilan

Product:	O Sole Mio (Pimlico, London)
Date:	11/07/06 (969 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good food and service

Disadvantages: None

Introduction
I suddenly realised the other day that I haven’t been to an Italian restaurant recently, despite the fact that there’s one practically opposite where my boyfriend lives. A couple of gentle hints later and he suggested that we went across to try it out. The specialities are pasta, pizza and fish dishes, perfect for a blow-out with a nice bottle of wine.

Location
This restaurant can be found on Belgrave Road, which is parallel to Vauxhall Bridge Road and about five minutes walk from Pimlico underground station and Victoria. It is easier to reach from Pimlico, because you come out of the tube station directly on to Belgrave Road. The contact details are as follows:

35 Belgrave Road
London
SW1V 2BB
Tel: 020 7828 3613

Restaurant lay-out and décor
I was surprised as we went into the restaurant, because it is actually much larger than it looked. As many London restaurants in old houses are, it is a weird shape, with a small sitting area just inside the door, but as you go in, off to the right and back is a much larger room. The chairs and tables are functional, rather than beautiful, but everything is extremely clean. Because of the larger room at the back, I estimate that there are at least 25 tables of differing sizes. There was certainly a constant stream of guests, some in quite large parties.

The food and drink
There is a wide selection of starters and salads, including the usual parma ham and melon, sliced tomatoes and mozzarella, bruschetta and garlic bread. I had the sliced tomatoes and mozzarella, which cost £3.50 and BF had the garlic bread, that lovely crispy pizza base type, which was £2.70. However, I half wished that I had tried the Bresaola E Mozzarella, which is sliced cured beef, mozzarella, olive oil and onion, which was the most expensive starter at £7.50. Someone at the next table had it and it looked delicious. I like mozzarella, but it isn’t something I can ever get excited about.

There was a wide range of pizzas, most of the usual suspects, ranging between £6.90 and £7.50. They looked good, although I didn’t try one, the thin crust type and quite big.

The pasta varied from £7.10 for Spaghetti and meatballs, Rigatoni with tomato sauce and ricotta and Tagliatelle with pesto to £9.50 for Linguine and seafood. I had Rigatoni Amatriciana (tomato and bacon sauce) and BF had Spaghetti Alla Carbonara (bacon, cream and cheese). Both were absolutely delicious. Again, most of the usual pasta suspects were on the menu. The only real criticism I have is that it doesn’t quite compare to my all-time favourite Italian restaurant, where you were able to choose the type of pasta and the type of sauce to make your own combination. I loved this, there was pasta with cheese filling, Gnocchi, and all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, the restaurant was in Beijing and I’ve never seen it anywhere else.

For those that aren’t keen on pasta and pizza, there are a number of meat dishes, including lamb cutlets and beef medallion, as well as a lot of specials of the day, most of which were fish dishes.

Something that slightly annoyed me was that we were offered bread, which I presumed was free, but cost £1. Not much of a problem, but I do prefer not to have any hidden charges.

The choice of drinks were OK, although spirits seemed to be few and far between. We had the house red, which was actually very nice and cost just £10.90.

The service
This was outstanding. We were met at the front door by the manager (of which there appeared to be two), escorted to our table in the non-smoking section and were quickly approached by one of the many waitresses – there appeared to be at least six – to take our drink order. All the staff were Italian and one of them asked me if I wanted aqua, rather than water, but it all added to the atmosphere!! Nothing was too much trouble and we were approached two or three times by the managers to ensure that everything was to our satisfaction.

Price
For two starters, two main courses and a bottle of wine, it cost us £33. The service charge is not included. For those who take away, the bill is 10% cheaper.

Conclusion
We’ll certainly be going back. The food was excellent and presumably authentic, because the people at the next table were Italian. Next time, I’ll have a more exciting starter though!

Price-wise, I think it was reasonable for London, particularly considering the quality of the service, which I would usually only expect to find in far more upmarket restaurants.

I didn’t use the toilets, so can’t comment on them personally (I usually always check out the toilets if I know I want to write a review, but was too busy stuffing my face), but BF did and said they were very clean.

We went on a Thursday night and it was very full. I imagine it will be even fuller at weekends, so would recommend booking a table in advance. If you live in the area, give it a try, it was fabulous!

Summary: Great Italian food