Had an excellent night at Lena starting with the welcome from the good-looking host and followed through with the authentic Italian food. Having recently returned from a weekend in Sicily I can easily say this food is on par if not better with that which I haev eaten in Italy. Will definitely return.

I was looking for a restaurant near Angel and came across Lena on the web. As I had never been before and was booking for a special occasion I was nervous about what to expect. I didn't need to be - the food was simply delicious and the staff friendly and welcoming. It was bustling the night we went and there was a great atmosphere, even without the live music they usually have on Saturday. Thoroughly recommended!

I don't normally write reviews of restaurants but our dinner at Lena's was really, really bad.

The staff left us waiting for a long time after taking our order before serving our food. The food was ok in my opinion but all 3 other guests in my group disagreed and were not happy at all.

What really annoys me the most was the male waiter wearing pink nail-polish. Very rude and he had no manners whatsoever. Other staff in the restaurant were exactly the same.
We had a deal through Groupon and nowhere was it mentioned that on top of the ridiculously expensive prices we still had to pay a service charge which was ridiculous. When we asked them to take it off the bill the waiter got even more rude. In the end we gave him the money (not me since I would not have given anything but would have instead walked out!) He still had the cheek to say he didn't care if you come back or not since he didn't care.

I could go on and on but to put it simply absolutely awful place avoid at all costs. They will be bankrupt soon with this kind of behaviour for sure!

My friend and I went there last evening on a 'Groupon' offer and I don't think will shall ever return!
First glance it looked very pretty with its white and green seating but the green seating is in a diabolical state it has so many stains it was almost impossible to spot a clean bit,this could be so easily solved by getting it steam cleaned or even re-covered,staff should not expect customers to be happy to be seated on stains.
The ham hock I had was lovely as was my friends squid salad,pork belly was also nice,but the desserts were tasteless even though mine cost £7.50 !
They tried to make us pay a 'groupon' service charge of almost £10 and another for the drinks and desserts which was almost a fiver,so We asked for service charges to be removed but the head guy told us we had to pay it so I put him straight by telling him that it was optional and we would be leaving a cash tip and he asked us if we would be leaving more than £10 !! I said we will leave what we like lol
There is no way I am going to leave almost £15 in service for just over an hour in a restaurant when I have been given a stained seat to sit on.
So we left £1.00 and the service wasn't even worth that !!
We then found the 'hoxton bar&grill' over the road which was different class, absolutely buzzing with all ages.

Visited Lena recently and will not ever be going back. Nearly an hour for starters - mussels in dishwater and an absolute age for mains - uncooked chicken. Give this place a wide berth - trying to punch miles above its weight

It took around five minutes for us to be seated which was a while considering they clearly had tables free, but acceptable as we did not have a reservation.

The restaurant was rather noisy, and the large size of the tables made it difficult to talk without raising our voices to hear each other over the loud music and other diners also struggling to make themselves heard. The maitre d' also insisted on keeping the outside door open which made our seating position drafty.

Bread and oil was brought to our table while we made our menu selections - the bread was stale. I assumed it to be an oversight and didn't think too much of it.

It took quite a long time after we had clearly made our choices for our order to be taken. I ordered Beef carpaccio with asparagus, lambs lettuce and dijon mustard sauce. My fiance ordered scallops with Pancetta. My starter was very good, although rather heavy on the dijon but my fiance's scallops were overcooked - not really what you expect from a £14.50 starter.

After finishing our starter it took around 40 minutes for our main course to arrive. I ordered Lena's Seafood Padelle with Garlic bread and my fiance ordered a truffle pasta dish.

My dish was extremely poor. All the seafood was well overcooked and the derisory drizzle of liquid in the bottom was virtually flavourless. The 'Garlic' bread was in fact simply stale bread which had griddle lines burned into it - so the flavour was simply soot and stale bread.

The truffle pasta was even worse. It smelled like sewage and tasted truly offensive. Even if feculence was the flavour the chef was going for, the pasta itself was very overcooked, stodgy and incredibly greasy. It literally left a coating of grease in our mouths. £18!

After sending the food back, we noted that the people on the table next to us also agreed but had not had the nerve to complain then did so, only to be met with resistance by the manager.

Truly terrible. Contracting leprosy would have been mo

Poor food served with a side of abuse

Female diners beware! I came here for a friend's birthday and was so disappointed by the whole experience that I would not come back to Lena's even if you paid me.

Before we get onto the food, the service, restaurant's manager, Alex in particular, treated us in such an appalling manner which left us reeling from the experience. Upon leaving the restaurant, having spent more than 2.5 hours waiting for our mediocre and overpriced food, I was told by the snobby maître d to get our coats ourselves from the cloak room. When I complained to the manager about the poor customer care, he hurled so much abuse at me that I became both shaken and outraged at the same time. Shouting 'get the **** out or I will push you down the stairs myself', paralyzed me as I had never been threatened in this sort of manner. Having called the police unfortunately they are not able to take any steps against this man at this point, but if you have had this sort of experience I would urge you to call and report him as they will be able to act with more evidence.

If you can avoid this restaurant, do at all costs. There are too many other, better restaurants in London that serve good food and know a thing or two about customer care.

Visited Lena last Friday for a works Summer party with 14 people. Food was top quality and well presented, particularly for the price!

The staff paid close attention to each of the party, and made good solid recommendations on main courses and wine.

Didn't feel rushed like you do at other restaurants in the area... and felt that you could stay there as long as you liked.

£14 lunch menu is a bargain for the quality of food that you get, and the a la carte menu still represents great value.

Will definitely come back again.