Harden's says
The legendary Soho deli (which marked 75 years in London in 2019) has opened a new pasta restaurant and deli in King's Cross.
Harden's survey result
Summary
“Beautiful fresh pasta, served from the heart by knowledgeable Italians” is the attractive offer at this small group, spun out of a famous veteran Soho deli (est. 1944) in the past five years under private equity outfit White Rabbit. The “food is good and good value, though limited and very focused on the pasta”. There are now branches in King’s Cross, the City’s Bloomberg Arcade and most recently Marylebone; the farthest-flung is in Tokyo, while Clapham Old Town has been long promised.
Summary
“Small plates but big flavours” from “a lovely short menu of top-quality antipasti and pasta dishes” win numerous “cheap ’n’ cheerful” nominations for this small chain, which consists of the “busy, lovely but very crammed” Soho original (for 75 years a deli, but since 2018 and its relaunch by Private Equity firm White Rabbit, in this new guise) and a newer, bigger but less commented-on King’s Cross spin-off. “We need more branches of this great restaurant” plead fans… whose prayers are soon to be answered with a 90-seater outlet in Marylebone (in Wigmore Street, on the former Sourced Market site) plus in Bloomberg Arcade and Clapham, as well as one in Tokyo!
Summary
“A tiny restaurant with a big heart… and wonderful pasta” – the “transition from great Italian deli to restaurant is a big success” at this landmark, 75-year-old Soho store, which morphed last year from pure retail to providing an “excellent, counter-dining experience at moderate prices” nearby. “If you love pasta, this is the place to go” – “delicately silky, with the most fantastic sauces” – and it’s “a brilliant stop-off before film, theatre etc”. It’s not going to take 75 years to turn this rip-roaring success into a chain, though: branch no. 2 opened in the second half of 2019 in one of King’s Cross’s ‘heritage buildings’: ‘an 100-cover outfit decorated in the same pale green-and white-stripes that diners in Soho have come to know’.
Summary
“A tiny restaurant with a big heart… and wonderful pasta” – the “transition from great Italian deli to restaurant is a big success” at this landmark, 75-year-old Soho store, which morphed last year from pure retail to providing an “excellent, counter-dining experience at moderate prices” nearby. “If you love pasta, this is the place to go” – “delicately silky, with the most fantastic sauces” – and it’s “a brilliant stop-off before film, theatre etc”. It’s not going to take 75 years to turn this rip-roaring success into a chain, though: branch no. 2 opens in the second half of 2019 in one of King’s Cross’s ‘heritage buildings’ and will be ‘an 100-cover outfit decorated in the same pale green-and white-stripes that diners in Soho have come to know’.
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Have you eaten at Lina Stores?
Restaurant details
Lina Stores Restaurant Diner Reviews
"Great pasta and Sicilian Wine. Excellent service too: even though we were sitting at the bar downstairs. Had a very enjoyable evening with food and entertainment."
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