I went for an early lunch with three friends. We were impressed by the decor and the tables looked great. I ordered a tuna and rustic bread salad which was hugely disappointing. There were a very few tiny flakes of tuna which might as well have come from a tin and loads of very strong chunky red onion. The pasta dishes did look a lot better. The first meal arrived at least twenty minutes before the last so at no point were we all eating together. We all elected to go elsewhere for dessert and coffee so can't comment on those.

I was SO disappointed with my second visit to this place. The first time I went was to the one at Westfield shopping centre which was brilliant. I remember I really enjoyed the food and the service was fab.
However, I was left embarrassed that I'd suggested this as a place to take my friend who was visiting London. In Covent Garden you expect a high level of service no matter where you go but I found the staff at the Covent Garden to be rude, discourteous and unhelpful.
We had to send back our starter which we shared - the mozzarella balls - because they were freezing cold in the middle. The waiter I told this to did not apologise or explain that a new one would be brought over - he took the plates away in a huff and left us wondering what was happening.
We ordered a small size pizza which never appeared and when we had finished our pasta and asked to cancel it, the waiter rolled his eyes and said it would just be a minute. I don't think he understood that it was supposed to be a side dish.
Our glasses were left empty for the whole meal and no-one ever check back with us to make sure everything was ok - we had to flag a waiter down whenever we wanted anything.

Needless to say this visit has cured me of any impulse I'll ever have to eat at this restaurant again. I wont darken their door as it seems they were too busy / poorly trained/ arrogant to provide decent service.

Poor service/ favourless pasta.

I have just come back from my second visit to Kitchen Italia and remembered the reasons why didn't want to go back there after my first visit.

They advise you beforehand that food may take different times to come - fair enough. I was on a table of 4, the first meal arrived, followed by the 2nd and third 5 or so minutes after. However there was no sign of the 3rd meal...

After asking two waiters where the meal was we spoke again to the person who appeared to be a senior waiter... it was around 20minutes until the final meal made an appearance. By which the first meal had already been eaten.

When the waiter came over he asked us how our food was and we told him the truth. To which he came back advising that the ‘crab can take sometime to cook’ – if this is the case we should have been prewarned of this – which we were not.

To make matters worse, we were not allowed to use our ‘taste London card’ as we had not called up 30 minutes beforehand to book the table.

Fair enough but after the poor serve and quality of food – we could have been allowed as a gesture of good will.

We were offered free coffees however with it being our lunch break and having been in the restaurant some time due to the poor service we had to get back.

I have just dined here today with my family. I can only say really enjoyed the experience. The Italian cheesecake for dessert is a must really tasty. The dishes are nice but I guess a nice pleasant Italian place. The service was really good and place was clean.
I think the location is great for pre theatre meals. Overall I would definitely go again and I have heard there is also a branch in Westfield will be popping there very soon.

What a waste of my money! Decided to go down to London during the week-end and enjoy what the capital has to offer.....If only i knew. I should have stayed home, re-heat a frozen pasta carbonara dish from lidl and asked my grumpy mother in law to serve me..the experience would have been better!! Spend less money on decoration and a bit more on a competent manager and staff training.

It did just what it said on the tin.

We went there for the pre-theatre £10 main meal + drink offer, as it was just next to the Donmar Warehouse, and the service, atmosphere and food were great. Vegetarians are well catered for. We were surprised by how tasty the food was and the portion sizes were just right. The staff was very nice: attentive without imposing and the food came swiftly (although not quite at the same time). But as it's a relaxed place where you can share the food, who cares? I'd recommend this restaurant without reservation and look forward to going again to explore other options on the menu.

The look of Kitchen Italia is great, as are the descriptions of the dishes on their menu. Having a dairy allergy I asked our second waiter what I could eat on the menu only to be told abruptly that everything would have dairy in it. I finally managed to order and received bowl of pasta, large enough to feed 3 people, coated in a bland unseasoned broccoli paste. The waiting staff are rude, impolite and unaccommodating and the food disappointing.

Although the food here is passable to good (their olive oils are lovely), the level of service leaves much to be desired.

On the three occasions I have dined at this particular outlet, service from the staff has ranged from indifferent to borderline rude to downright appalling.

Tonight, I have just returned from a particularly galling experience.

I arrived past 10pm during their advertised 'Post Theatre' special, which trumpets: "£9.95 for any main course pasta, soft drink, fresh juice or 175ml carafe of wine (tiger prawn, chilli and garlic taglionini and Spaghetti with Meatballs £2.00 supplement)."

I placed an order for the Mafaldine with Spicy Sausage and a 175ml carafe of Cabernet delle Venezie. Upon asking for the bill, I was charged full price for both items and when questioned, I was belatedly told that I not only had to specify that I wanted my meal to be included in their advertised special, but that the wine I ordered was not eligible for the promotion, despite their own explicit wording that 'any ..175ml carafe of wine' was part of the deal.

I pointed out that the restaurant made no explicit request that diners order by mentioning the promotion, and, in fact, with their prominent adveritsing, it is foreseeable that customers could logically expect their orders to be included.

I also pointed out that they were silent on what wines were and weren't included in their deal - there is no indication on any of the advertising of the deal, nor on the menu itself, of any such restriction, and at no point was the information offered to me at the time of placing my order.

To these queries, the manager sheepishly insisted that there was nothing he could do. I decided it was not worth the hassle of arguing over a few quid, but the point is that the establishment is purposefully misleading diners with these unspoken exceptions to a heavily promoted and publicized deal - introducing conditions after the fact is dishonest. Avoid at all costs.

Superb atmosphere and food was top !