Princi

This new venture has a wonderfully stylish look. I've now tried it on 2 occasions with mixed results. I have found the breads and cakes to be wonderful, however the pizza is very average and i'd not bother buying it again. The pasta based dishes are quite tasty but as with the pizza, everything is served luke warm. I like my food piping hot and so although quite tasty it’s not really satisfying as you have to wolf it down before it turns stone cold. The salads are good, but on my most recent visit the male server had such bad body odour that it was overwhelming (even across the counter!) and did not help my appetite. Another worrying point is that there is either no water in the taps in the lavatories or the taps are so stylish that you need to go on a course to make them work. Neither my companions nor myself have been able to wash our hands which is quite alarming for a restaurant loo. Since it opened they only except cash as payment. Don't know what that's all about.
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Jamie
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Monday, December 08, 2008

Another grand Alan Yau venture therefore another must try.

First the good - 1. Amazing location; 2. Wondrous atmosphere; 3. Great crowd; 4. Incredible display of bread, cakes, pizzas, salads and pasta.

Secondly the bad - 1. The slice of Ham and Crescenza pizza tasted bland and quite possibly rendered any of the Domino's offerings positively gourmet; 2. The Raspberry Cheesecake, attractive it may be but lacked synergy between the three components it was supposedly composed of. The raspberry top felt ill at ease with the white cheesy stuff that tasted more like a vapid cottage cheese from a plastic pot than ricotta. Ah well the lemony base was hardly pastry, cookie, or digestive biscuit; erm…it was just wet and soggy. Poor.

Lastly the ugly - 1. Once you’ve ordered and paid for the food and drinks, for the latter you’ll need to hop over to the beverage and drinks section. This is when your hot and warm savouries start to cool down rapidly as you find yourself waiting for your cappuccino or tea. This delay is unnecessary and besides the coffee was so-so.

OK, it may be early days but surely it’s no excuse. The Italians define pizzas and coffee, sadly there’s very little evidence here. I can see myself coming back just for the ambience alone and it’s also perfect for hanging out with friends. But then I can also see this is slowly but surely turning into another (yawn) Le Pain Quotidien wannabe.
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bellaphon
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Saturday, November 29, 2008

I read about the opening of this bakery/cafe yesterday and thought straight away that the 45 minutes commute during rush hour would be worth it, if for nothing else at least in order to satisfy my curiousity.

Very stylish interior and pleasant for the eye, London really needed a place like this!

While I was very impressed by the great and absolutely deliciously looking selection of pastries and cakes I have been dissapointed by the selection of bread, it seemed rather small and pricey.

Being all excited about the place I got a selection of lots of things everything croissants, carnoli, milk bread, tiramisu, pizza and bread.

The croissants look and taste like they come straight out of a bar in Milan, the carnoli were good, the tiramisu not as I hoped but that's probably a question of personal taste, the pizza was really dissapointing, you could get this kind of pizza in any place in London, it's not what "real Italian pizza" should be like, especially when considering that they show off their wood fired oven on their website.

The staff, or at least the young lady who served me, was rather aloof, walked off while serving me without a reason or comment, took my money and dissapeared again without giving me my stuff.....
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Anna
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Friday, November 14, 2008

Beautiful elegant surroundings, attentive staff who are eager to please and great food. Princi's bakery products from the neverending rows of breads and pizzas were just as good at their cheese, charcuterie and hot food. Would definitely go back.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, November 03, 2008