246 Pentonville Road,
London,
N1 9JY
0872 148 3234
The ViewLondon Review
"Aww, you never luvved me, Sharon; I'm orf to Spain!"
Dirty Den's fizzog looms over diners at The Other Side like a lascivious wheel of mouldy cheese. For some reason, the TV, in its vantage point atop a rather industrial-looking filing cupboard, is on.
Still, nobody's pretending that The Other Side is posh, as its rather slapdash approach to décor attests. Across the road from King's Cross Thameslink, it caters mainly to a work crowd who take advantage of its inexpensive scran at lunchtimes and on weekday nights.
It's nominally Italian, with good basic pasta dishes, generous salads and some specials like lamb shank and swordfish, though stalwarts like sausage and mash also make an appearance. Don't expect to be blown away either by imaginative cooking or by presentation, though if you're after a well-priced and fairly straightforward meal in unpretentious surroundings, you'll get what you came in for.
Service is abrupt and somewhat disorganised, especially when it comes to drinks orders. Cocktails are available from the slightly incongruously lit bar lurid, for the most part, due to their high squash content (rather than pure juice).
The Other Side is rather like a conglomeration of several different restaurants, with no coherent conceit holding it all together. "An evenings endulgance" [sic] proclaims the etched-glass frontage, rather belying the plastic plants and telly on inside. The small but flamboyant bar is at odds with the basic tables and seating, and there's a sense that it's reached this place by a process of agglomeration rather than by any kind of ordered route.
But then we don't always need high concept when it comes to food, and whilst The Other Side may not be cool, you can be damn sure you won't be run into (literally) by any minor royals either – which can only be a good thing.
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