Il Convivio

First visit here on a very quiet Saturday lunch, which on the one hand meant there wasn't a lot of atmosphere but on the other meant we got a nice window table and were able to watch the queue of young tourists waiting for one of the few tables at Peggy Porschen, opposite. Apparently Saturday lunch is usually pretty quiet at Il Convivio. We got a smiley welcome, and the choice of a la carte and set menus. My wife chose the latter, I opted for a very nice octopus salad, followed by a macaroni pasta with italian sausage. Both of these dishes were served fairly smartly, were tasty, and seemed authentic enough to me. Same can be said for my wife's Saltimbocca Romana, though she was less impressed by a rhubarb & lavender dessert that didn't seem to incorporate enough of the main ingredients and so was bland. Decent coffee and bread. A nice bottle of aglianico red which its unusual to see as the cheapest wine on the list. All told a bill for £76 which given the location struck us as providing pretty good value. A word on location ; the restaurant is on Ebury Street right around the corner from Victoria Coach Station. This isn't an area that's brought us a lot of luck in the past and several of the places we've tried over the years have given a pretty firm impression that customer satisfaction wasn't terribly important to them- not an unusual scenario for city centre, nearby to transport hubs , I'd venture. But this isn't the aroma we picked up from Il Convivio at all, and we got pleasant, timely service and decent food. I'd expect that we'll go back.

I have been eating just down the street at an excellent Italian for some 30 years. Decided to give Convivio a try and loved the space between the tables. One can have a truly private conversation at every table! Also, the excellent but reasonably priced wine list along with the food that was very good made for a great evening.. I had t octopus and rucula starter followed by an excellent rib eye. My partner had the veal and said it was as good as she gets in Venice. We will return, often I hope.

I needed a resturant close to Victoria Station for a business lunch and found Il Convivio. It was a short walk and on arrival was made very welcome. My guest and I had excellent service, a delicious meal and were not rushed nor ignored throughout our meal. It was a great experience and one I am happy to repeat.

Not a particularly great experience, particularly given price and location. Starters were very simple, and not particularly well-executed. For example, “Asparagus with quail eggs” featured soggy over-cooked asparagus, and hard-boiled quails eggs. Seemed to show a lack of effort, or focus on pre-preparation. Mains were along similar lines. “Spagetti alla vongole” was very salty, seemingly featuring tinned/bottled clams (many tiny and dry clams, no whole shells in sight), but somehow still managed to include several pieces of gritty shell mixed into the pasta. “Macaroni with braised beef” looked fine, but upon further investigation used tough dried pasta and minimal meat. White wine was served almost warm, and glasses rarely re-filled when required. Puddings were good. We only really had the faith to order ice cream, which was (at this stage) surprisingly good. Overall, not a great time, despite friendly service. We won't be rushing back.

Have visited twice now at lunch times and found polite, efficient service, delicious modern but unfussy Italian food and a good value wine list in a bright, modern environment with plenty of room between tables. Highly recommended – one of my favourite restaurants, and in my view and experience, the nicest, best quality lunch destination near Victoria station.

Belgravia is spoilt for choice when it comes to Italian restaurants, but il Convivio is the one I find myself returning to most often. The room is a well designed space, with the rear half of the restaurant sitting under skylights and the front being a clean, modern front half that is refreshingly well lit. The menu doesn’t change too often, but there is plenty on there worth trying. Starters are mostly safe choices like mozzarella and tomato or carpaccio of beef or tuna. The home made pasta is better, the black spaghetti and lobster being excellent and the tagliatelle with hare ragu is also enjoyable. I agree with a previous reviewer though who said the food isn’t hot enough. It isn’t. Main course of beef fillet with cep mushrooms and red wine sauce was well cooked although the fat cut chips it came with weren’t great. Osso buco was well seasoned and a hearty dish. I’m not really a dessert fan, but the white espresso ice cream is very good. The wine list is a strong point and, shockingly, there is even some value for money to be found in there (along with a few high priced shockers). I have been a few times recently and some visits have been distinctly better than others, but on a good day it is well worth a visit.

I must admit that I have a bit of a negative bias to Italian restaurants after a few too many of them trying so hard and charging even harder. After all, the Italian cuisine is rarely overly complicated, right?! Anyway, I had a pleasant experience at Il Convivio. I would have preferred to sit further in the restaurant, under the skylights, but it wasn't bad in the section before. The food was well presented and definitely delivered. I had a carpaccio for starter and a crab linguine as main. Apart from the pasta being a bit less warm than I would expect, it was very tasteful. I do react to paying almost 20 pounds for a dish that I probably could do quite well myself (wouldn't bet on it, but still). Finally, the service left nothing to complain about, very discreet and the sommelier was very quick to react to the unfortunate corked bottle of wine we nearly were served. All in all, nice place, but I think I prefer other Italians to this one.