My wife and I like this place for the English breakfast. It’s no frills, but the price is reasonable, the staff is friendly and the establishment is clean(albeit a bit dated).
Lynsey S.
Place rating: 2 London, United Kingdom
In all honesty the only reason my mum and I came in here was for a wee… as we were visiting Buck Palace and there is very little close by. But you have to buy something to be able to use their facilities and it was coffee o’clock. It’s very dated in there. Could do with a spruce and a deep clean. There were quite a lot of little flies floating about. The coffee was good though! Queue for the toilets wasn’t fun(women! seriously! what do you do in there?! you let the team down!). But, to be fair, the men had to queue at one point too. This is mainly a toilet based review. I apologise!
Rashid M.
Place rating: 2 New York, NY
The only reason why people come here is because it’s the first restaurant that you see when you’re by Buckingham Palace. I was starving so this is the first spot that caught my eye, but had I known better, I would have walked two blocks where there’s plenty of other restaurants. If you’re only here for snacks or coffee then you have to sit outside(I saw them moving someone outside for this reason) I had the marguerite pizza here, which was just decent. I also ordered an order of French fries, which they had forgotten.
Mike N.
Place rating: 3 Cleveland Heights, OH
This is truly British Fast Food. It’s location near Buckingham Palace makes it a stop for tourists, and they really work hard to get you fed quickly. Decent selection of pastas, OK fish and chips. A bit pricey. Very congested. They have takeaway which could be a nice option. If you think this will be a place to have a nice leisurely meal, you will be disappointed.
Alex S.
Place rating: 3 Washington, DC
Hmmm I’ve definitely experienced better, but what the heck, three stars! My friend and I were hungry and tired after watching the guards change in the drizzling rain, and so we passed by this place on our way to Victoria Station. First impression: Is this some sort of ripoff off of Pret a Manger? I mean… the name’s exactly the same… and the star on their window looks very pret-esque. We decided to keep looking around, but after window-shopping the block, it seemed that Pronto a Mangia had the most people(the restaurant next door was awkwardly silent…), so we chose to come here! Once you walk inside, it ends up just being one of those order-your-own-sandwich kinda joints. Connected to the sandwich counter is a sit-down area to order more substantial food. I ordered the chicken escalope with ham and cheese on foccacia bread, with chips on the side. Sadly, chips cost extra. I was satisfied with the food. The chicken escalope sandwich was yummy but not overly greasy, and the chips were crisp on the outside, soft and meaty on the inside. The service was good as well… we had a fun conversation with one of the cooks/owners(?) who was taking his lunch break at a table next to us. The waitress was also very pleasant. The menu said that tax/tip is’t included in the prices, but when we paid, they didn’t charge or even ask for these… The food was mildly overpriced, but whatever, it’s London, and this is near Buckingham Palace. We wanted milkshakes, but those were four pounds each… so no.
Barbara L.
Place rating: 2 Fremont, CA
This was the first café my brother and I had tried on our tour of london. We had a long morning so far and was figuring out how everything worked in london. On our exploration we ended up at the buckingham palace and realized that we hadn’t eaten yet. While walking we stumbled up this small café, which has togo area and a seated area. It was packed, but I’m not quite sure it is due to the quality of the food. They offer sandwiches, fresh pasta, pizza, and pies. My brother and I both got a sandwich. I had the BLT(5 pounds), which was interesting. It was not the crispy bacon that I was used to in the States, but a piece of pork with fat that was grilled on ciabatta bread. It was a bit on the salty side though. As for my brother he got the salami, tomato and swiss sandwich on facciola(5pounds and 50 pences). I had a bite and felt it was nothing special, almost unmemorable. Overall it was a «meh» experience, but we were hungry and the place is fast. I think that the fresh pasta looked like it tasted good, so try that.
J M.
Place rating: 2 Austin, TX
I’m surprised I am the first to write a review on this place as it was PACKED when my brother and I went in. Unfortunately I cannot give this place a high rating based on the rudeness I experienced here. The man who sat us at our table(I’m guessing was the owner or manager, he seemed to be in some authority position) asked if we are going to eat. Why in the world would we walk into a restaurant and not eat? Sits us at our table and gives us one menu when there were more than one sitting. Okay, so maybe they are busy. The waitress comes over to take our orders and upon me asking the soup of the day responds with an attitude like I should already know what the soup is, it’s on the board… soooo… my review is not of the food because in my opinion if you have a business such as this you should have some sort of hospitality… so I didn’t eat. The two stars are only because the plate my brother ordered looked pretty decent sized for the price and he said it was enjoyable. We were ducking in here for a bite to eat before our Buckingham Palace tickets could be used. I decided to eat at the café down the street instead… I got their goat’s cheese pannini and was pleased! Huge sandwich for 5 pounds I could save half of it for after all the site-seeing.
