Vine Restaurant

Food

The Foccacia was one of their homemade dish, and I was looking forward to trying it. It’s denser than some that I have had, but reminded me of the foccacia we bought in Italy, so maybe there were just authentic, and I prefer the Westernised version.

For entrees, I had the Arancini di riso (deep fried rice balls filled with mozzarella and ragu with pepper sauce (£4.95). I haven’t had too many arancinis in my lifetime, only ever at cafes and fast food places, and never in a restaurant, so maybe that was the difference, but these were the best arancinis I have ever tasted. The rice had enough gooey texture, and the sauce oozed out of the centre, coating the crunchy but thick skin. The Minestrone Soup with Foccacia (£4.95) was beautiful, a bowlful of the freshest vegetables, no pasta in site. Just pure and simple.

Mains were not as outstanding as the entrees, but they were certainly very good for the value. Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli with Tomato Sauce (£7.95) delivered beautifully made pasta skin. The filling was a bit plain, but I find that’s the case with spinach and ricotta…but the tomato sauce was not very interesting either. Grilled Lamb Chops with Peppers and Potatoes (£12.95) was generous, 3 cutlets, nicely cooked, with beautifully melted down peppers and sweet tomatoes, in a tomato based sauce that has been given complexity with the addition of capers. The potatoes were well done but I was too full to really eat that much. Needless to say, we were too full for desserts.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

We were given a very small table downstairs, when the whole downstairs space was almost empty. There were only us, and 2 very loud ladies dining. The décor consists of blond wood floor, some red banquet seating, quite nice really.

Rating - 1

Service

There was one waiter serving downstairs, and one was enough considering there were hardly anyone. I found the pace quite good, the waiter friendly but unobtrusive, and generally professional and great. It was even better that he was Italian (no, he was old, short and bold, but cute in that old person kind of way)

Rating - 4

C-factor

The prices were already cheap for the kind of food you get, add to that 50% off from toptable, and you could almost come here every day.

Rating - 2

Brownie Points - 14.5

Info

48 Grays Inn Road
London
WC1X 8LT
Phone +44 (0) 20 7404 6230
Website