La Famiglia

A very warm and friendly place full of Italian atmosfhere providing deliciuos food ! I was there several times in different years and each time It was Superb! Just looking forward to going back asap!

An affordable restaurant in Chelsea. No, you read that correctly. It’s not science fiction. Fine Tuscan food. I particularly enjoyed the lamb. The dessert cart is stunning. But what sets this restaurant apart is the exceptional, friendly, and fun service. There were three children of various ages in our party, and they were treated with respect and warmth. (I saw children in other parties treated similarly.) I recommend this convivial, modestly priced eatery.

So you know that feeling that you get when you’re on a euro holiday and you have to stop at the closest restaurant because the person that you are travelling with is getting hangry (angry because they are hungry) and this particular restaurant that you have stopped at just happens to be on ‘grand place’ tourist trap rip off danger zone? Well that’s how I felt going to this place.
First WARNING sign: there are no prices on the online menu.
Second WARNING sign: there are bread sticks in plastic packets.
Third WARNING sign: they offer you sparkling water only and you must INSIST on tap water.
fourth WARNING sign: The menu is soooooooooo long.
Fifth WARNING sign: oh yes we do corkage. BANG. £25.
and last and final WARNING: £1.95 per person cover charge. Weird.
Also I have a bit of a thing against white table cloths. And it’s full of the things. The staff are pretty attentive but in a weird sleazy way. We got told about the affair that our waiter is having with a married woman. Then he proceeded to undress my friend with his eyes. Seriously.
The menu offers you pretty much all of the items you can think of when you close your eyes and think of Italy. The pasta in a ‘large’ size is not really that large and will set you back around £14−16. It’s well cooked and flavoursome but lack some serious colour/​herbs/​anything green. The risotto was nice. Actually everything was nice. But nice in a café on a high street way, not in a fine dining way and you are paying borderline fine dining prices. Meal highlight: we got a whole bowl of cheap packet parmesan to sprinkle as we please over our meals.
To be fair, the wine list does offer a lot of wines between £20−25, but they a little on the pub wine style of things.
Meanwhile, they have a dessert cart.

I love this restaurant. Located on a quiet street in Chelsea. Authentic Italian cuisine, wonderful food, and warm, down home service.

I have been coming to this restaurant since I was a baby. I am now 35 and have eaten 100s of times at La Famiglia. It’s great in every way and never changes… long may it stay exactly as it is!
The food is superb, staff always friendly. A good atmosphere, lots of locals which I like. However big and trendy London gets, this part of Chelsea still retains a local atmosphere, which reminds me of my childhood. La Famiglia is especially great for this along with some other places such as PJ’s on the Fulham Road, another Chelsea institution.
La Famiglia is simple and uncomplicated. Does what one would expect and does it very well.

Pasta was cooked perfectly. I had the pasta carbonara and I think it was too rich. My partner had the seafood pasta and it was served with shrimp instead of prawns.
Desert was ok. I would skip it.

Great service, good pasta dishes. Kids welcomed.

This place looks good from the outside but I have to say our experience left much to be deserved — we were seated in the «tented garden» section at the back where the temperature varied (wasn’t a warm night even in June) and the noise level was high.
The sardines did not seem fresh to us with no aroma and no flavour although the sea bass was very good if a tad cold on the plate (always better to have cooked food placed on warm plates).
The big issue was unfortunately it took an hour to get our main courses (by then we were willing to leave without eating) apparently because they were busy, but the chef who came to apologise (as did the waiter & the manager) advised the ticket fell on the floor & got lost.
So they tried to recover the situation but we will not be returning…

La Famiglia strikes me as a place that was once a London hot spot. It has the charm of an authentic /​cheesy Italian restaurant, and the servers all have an incredible amount of character and couldn’t be nicer!
As for the food, we got two dishes, spicy tomato penne and pappardelle with wild boar sauce — both were fine, but not impressive. The black olive spread served with the bread was delicious, but the bread was a bit boring.
Another knock was the cover charge that showed up on our bill — I can never understand why I am paying a cover when we are paying for our meal.
One other plus in addition to the service was that they do offer a few gluten-​free pasta options.

I have been coming to this restaurant for years with my family for multiple reasons. It’s a family owned business, and the staff is always warm and friendly (all Italian). The ambiance in the two front rooms are stellar, very plain but nice. However, I strongly suggest to avoid the outdoor seating. It’s nothing special and doesn’t reflect how nice the restaurant is. If you can, ask to sit inside.
The food in itself is great, I have never had a bad meal there. I often get the burratta to start and then either the veal limone or a starter portion of the truffle pasta (the regular size is a bit too large for my taste). At times, their food is a bit oily.
All in all, I would highly recommend a trip here. There’s a reason why we keep coming back for more.

I like La Famiglia far more than I should. They have 2 ‘rooms’. One, a normal if slightly tired front space, and the other, a heated tent. The front is reserved for regulars and the ghosts of celebrities who used to frequent many many years ago, but whose legacy is rememberd freshly by the staff (who behave as if it is still a haunt of these long dead, long forgotten celebs).
Food is really quite excellent for a neighbourhood Italian, and if the plating and presentation were improved perhaps would be fine enough to be served somewhere ‘good’. However, the tent room is a dump and the servers are utter assholes. It’s reasonably cheap, and the food is good.
Go, but expect to be treated like shit, and if you’re anything like me, be a complete prick back to them, and enjoy the animosity (and the very good food).

Ok, honestly, I don’t get the raving reviews. I want to, I just… why?
Yes, this is a charming spot with a real feel of an Italian family cooking their age-​old recipes. There’s a terrible American chain called Olive Garden who tries to do the same thing and their slogan is, «When you’re here, you’re family.» At least this spot does it better.
However, everything else was so underwhelming. Not bad, just… eh. This place is huge. Monstrously gigantic. We kept walking back and back and found more sears and tables everywhere. Eventually, we were sat in a very nice outdoor tent and with the rain coming down as we could hear it, that was beautiful. Otherwise, it was your normal heated blue and white tent.
What I really didn’t like was being nickled and dimed from the beginning. Right away, there is an almost £2 cover charge per person. A what? To eat? I don’t pay cover charges at a bar, much less at a restaurant. But they only let you know this on the manu once you’re sitting, so where are you supposed to go at this point? There’s also packaged breadsticks on the table (which they charge you for if you open). They asked if we wanted something to drink and we said tap water. They brought over a bottle of sparkling, the same one that everyone else in the restaurant was drinking, and cracked it before we could say anything.
Seriously, I know your family is supposed to hit you up for money, but this is taking it one step to far.
The food was fine. I got the Carbonara which was OK, a little too bland for my taste though and I kept having to put more cheese on top of it. We also tried the frid mozzarella in tomato sauce and that was delicious — warm and crispy on the outside and gooey in the inside. Mmm. Nice.
They do take your coat and umbrella at the door and hold it for you through the meal, which was a really nice touch.
Overall, I wanted something amazing and walked away with a slight disappointment. Huh, I guess it is like a family gather after all.

I have very mixed feelings.
Positive:
— The people are typical (as far as I am concerned) Italians. I quite like that. they were really nice and I think the service is good. They seemed a bit stressed but it was Valentine’s Day so I am guessing they had a lot to do.
— The restaurant itself is nice. It is not too posh and we felt really comfortable.
— Desert (Canoli) was delicious.
Negative
— Table is really small
— Portions were really small
— They charge for all the stuff they put on the table (bread, olive paste, and they include a service charge, per person)
Just FYI: For two mains a bottle of wine (middle range) one starter and one desert we paid £81.
Food was alright but not special. I am not going back there.
Too expensive for what it is.

La famiglia is a gem. I was taken here for a business lunch having no idea there was a perfectly quaint Italian restaurant tucked just off the Kings road. The menu is fresh, seasonal yet extensive. Everyone will find something that suits their taste, and walk away replete and satisfied. I highly recommend their specials, and dinning in the patio in the summer.

Visited on a Friday night right around 7 p.m. The restaurant was very quiet. Quite possibly the best meal I had on my three week trip.
Ordered a pasta starter and wine, chicken dish for entrée, cannoli for dessert, and a limoncello to top it off.
The meal wasn’t overpriced, it was just about 60 pounds for all that.
Excellent food, excellent service!

I’ve never ever in all my experiences had a server as accommodating who went above and beyond, and also the food was really very good.
I dined with my aunt who is allergic to both Garlic and Onions, which makes it close to impossible to find dishes without either so there’s always some sort of negotiating that has to happen. That being said, she’s pretty flexible. But I digress, she ordered a salad and didn’t like some of the ingredients which came up to about ¹⁄₃ of the salad. The waiter came by noticed she hadn’t eaten all her salad and offered to bring her more greens and more of what she liked.
Then our starters came out. I had the boar pasta which was divine. It tasted like a dish someones grandmother spent all day preparing. I then split the boar meat dish with my hubby. I wasn’t wild about it, but it was cooked perfectly and it the accompanying side dish was lovely. By then I was in boar overload and he ate most of it.
Also, I did have a glass of the house red and it was pretty good too.

It’s been said on the grapevine that this is the best Italian restaurant in London. Since I haven’t tried them all, I’m going to withhold judgement. Even so, it’s a pity that I don’t live in Chelsea so that I can call La Famiglia my second kitchen.
It’s delightfully Italian, warm and inviting inside. It offers simple and classic dishes but there’s not need to embellish a good thing. It definitely gets crowded in the evenings, so booking is advised. La Famiglia is tucked slightly away from the main street so you’ll need to keep your eyes open for it. The pastas are good, the red wines are perfect but the best part is the dessert cart Oh my, the sweets!
If you’re looking for a cosy, charming, and inviting Italian place for a relaxing Sunday dinner with friends full of good friend and drink, come to La Famiglia.

This is a very local and charming restaurant, complete with Italian staff.
I had a great squid-​ink risotto. Creamy, delicious, simple, lots of squid. I am making myself hungry thinking about it now. The portion was gigantic. I was too full to order any dessert. My dining companions also thoroughly enjoyed their meals. I’ll be back.
Gluten-​free notes: From time to time, this place has gluten-​free pasta. Maybe call ahead to check, if you’re interested. The staff knows all about gluten and are happy to advise you.

My bf has been coming here with his family since he was a toddler, and is a huge fan of this place. So when he finally took me I was really impressed with the quality of the food, the friendly service, and atmosphere.
On a nice sunny day, its perfect to sit outside underneath the blue/​white striped umbrellas. Most of the customers are from the Chelsea neighborhood, so you won’t find any tourists here!
The service really reminds me of my time in Italy — just very personable and friendly guys who are all related to eachother somehow.
Some highlights — lobster pasta, fried battered mozaarella, sea bass (very fresh!!), and pretty much all the dessert.
I also like the olive tapenade that they give you in the beginning with your bread and bread sticks.
Great place for a nice Sunday lunch in the sun =)

It’s nice to see that some things never change. La Famiglia is one of them. It really does feel like a family run place and everyone makes you feel very welcome.
Not too busy on a Tuesday lunchtime, so no need to book (or is this the first sign of the recession biting).
The food was a little bit too rich & salty for my liking (melanzane, followed by grilled chicken with mustard sauce), my own fault for not opting for the risotto. The dessert trolley is a killer — I would love to come back for afternoon tea and try some of their cakes.