Osteria Antica Bologna

Alla L

Wonderful food and very good, friendly service. They were great with my dietary requirements. The only criticism is that it was a bit cold, but given the cost of energy at the moment, it's entirely understandable.

Sophie W

Look past the basic decor because the food is outstanding! We had three courses with a bottle of red, all of which were delicious. The service was great and authentic (our waitress couldn't actually speak much english!) but this added to the Italian vibe. We arrived early at 6 so were the only people to begin with but the front restaurant soon filled up! Would highly recommend this place for delicious, authentic Italian food.

Jennifer A

This is one d those places with fantastic good and wine, but a really relaxed atmosphere. My partner had the venison special, which wa very tender and had amazig flavour. The staff is really friendly as well. We will definitely return.

BoatLady

Osteria Antica Bologna looks and feels like an authentic tavern from Northern Italy ie a bit stuck in the 70s. The chairs all match (worth a comment in today's “quirky decor” obsessed London), the wood panelled walls are now vintage-ly back in fashion, the menu still contains nonna's favourites. It doesn't particularly excite you when you walk in. Italian used to be exotic, a real end of week treat which young couples country-wide looked forward to with its promise of unusually shaped pasta and a shared bottle of chianti. Now it's the workday workhorse of local cuisine and pizza/pasta is for when we can't be bothered to do real cooking. But we shouldn't take Italian cuisine for granted: whilst the atmosphere in this restaurant is predictable, so is the quality of the food, which can only be a good thing. I admit I was a bit disappointed with my starter of fried zuchinni and prawns which were rather shriveled up and I had food envy for the more pedestrian sounding bruschetta which my friends ordered as these looked amazing with towers of fresh tomatoes spilling off the bread. But my main of homemade pasta with wild boar ragu, a dish which in the hands of so many turns into mushy spag bol affair, was beautiful. Tasty, meaty, boar-ish and more-ish. The carafe of house red complemented the flavours well even if it didn't blow me away. Service was competent and the bill reasonable. If I have given Antica Bologna a low-ish rating that isn't because it wasn't good; it's just because you've probably already been somewhere exactly like this a hundred times before and won't be coming in here unless it's your own local gem. It's a relief to have places like this which have resisted the relentless onslaught of modernisation and prove the saying “If it ain't broke, don't fix it” but thank goodness for more daring “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” gastronomic experiments.

Lauren B

I love this restaurant – by far my favourite in the local area. The food is fantastic – delicious pasta (the chicken livers and wild boar ragu are favourites, the pumpkin and sage is also lovely) and well cooked meat dishes (try the pork, it's huge). They also have appealing specials. Service is always very friendly and efficient. The only downside is that it is quite dark inside, not helped by the rather grey light from the “energy efficient” lightbulbs. So we tend to go at lunch rather than dinner. Please, Osteria, get some better lighting! Then we will love you for dinner as well as for lunch.

Kate R

This place is a gem! Finally after living in the area for 12 years we went for dinner here this weekend and were blown away! Started with Pumpkin raviolli and rabbit pasta – both of which were melt in the mouth with the most perfect flavours. The we went on to share a tagliata on radicchio which was amazing – delicious tender tasty meat and even though we were sharing they brought it on two plates – it's the small stuff. Followed with an outstanding pistachio's brule, and then coffee with yummy sticky chewy almond petit fours. Serisouly good value and the best food I have tasted outside Italy, unless you want to pay a fortune at Locanda Locatelli or somewhere like that. Would be back every weekend if I had the choice. YUM!