Its changed, but still decent food and good value
Its not so long ago- under 3 years in fact -when this place served up a single course lunch of pretty much whatever pizza or pasta you wanted plus a small glass of house red for £5.95. It wasn't innovative by any means but it was reliable, quick and what's more my wife reckoned it her favourite lasagne ever. Then it closed and after a long and much overdue refit reopened initially with few changes apart from the fact that the place looked much better.
We ate there today, first time in maybe 18 months and it's plain from the menu and the staff that it is under new ownership. The £5.95 lunch has unsurprisingly gone, though they still have a remarkably reasonable lunch menu, albeit that wine is now extra. What you do get today is a more interesting take on Italian and particularly Tuscan staples. For example my spaghetti carbonara was made with smoked pork cheeks rather than bacon or similar, and was better for it. My wife enjoyed her tortino di pasta- a kind of baked aubergine and tomato dish with papardelle-type pasta- which was all of £5 from the lunch menu.
Our two starters and two mains racked up all of £20 – though as usual with restaurants serving low cost food the extras mount up quickly. Three 175ml glass of house red, two coffees and 12.5% service meant we paid £44 though frankly given we got bread and olive oil, and two unexpected small glasses of limoncello as well we're a long way from highway robbery here. Surprisingly the place was almost empty and it deserves better than that.
The proposition is simple. If you want a quick, tasty and very reasonable meal around the Charing Cross Road/Old Compton Street/Shaftesbury Avenue areas of Soho,that you don't have to book, then this place is worth your consideration. Its not gourmet, but it is both decent and interesting.