Ottolenghi Islington

Great food, excellent service and comfortable ambiance for an early evening meal.

Food was absolutely excellent. On top of it the staff was extremely charming, helpful and lovely.

The value for money just isn’t there. The food is good, but not great, and not at the caliber you’d expect of a restaurant with those prices.

Perfect venue for either a quiet meal for two as we had planned or for meeting up with friends - quite unexpectedly! Service is incomparable and the menu creative and original - willing to share ingredients and preparation for home cooking
Overall very good value - we have been visiting for many years thinking it can’t get any better but always there is more to serve all the senses

It's a pity after many meals here, the service remains chaotic -- to put it polite. Although they profess to limit people's time at the table, one always has to wait. This time we ate at the counter. The problem is that there aren't enough staff or they aren't co-ordinated. One should have to wait 10 minute for a bottle of wine.

The location is good -- near the Almeida theatre. They take late bookings, but seem unable to deal with them. For the first time, dishes were 'off' which shouldn't happen. The food is so good that it's all a pity.

Pleasant enough environment, the two hit dishes were tasty, cold dishes from counter were ok but nothing special. For the prices being charged it did not feel like good value and this style of restaurant is starting to feel a bit tired and out of place with current food trends. We were served by a very charming, knowledgeable and helpful young lady.

Made to wait around by the door for booked table, food was good but service could have been quicker and the table format makes conversation tricky at times especially if somebody noisy seated next door.

the service was confused; various waitstaff came and went with very little communication among them.

Amazing tasty food. Lovely atmosphere. Already booked to go back

This was my third visit for dinner and as usual didn’t disappoint. The service was flawless, food was delicious and there was a lovely atmosphere. Thoroughly enjoyable and good value.

Good food, great service but seating no good unless you have a 2 seater by wall.

Fantastic food and service, with attentive and helpful staff. We arrived at t.30pm, so fairly quiet, but filling up by the time we finished our meal. I thought the price was a tad expensive, but coming from Scotland, I guess I am out of touch with London prices.
Would definitely recommend for the fantastic food and attentive staff.

Best restaurant I’ve been to in London hands down. Good value and amazing food

Great food, helpful to companion with some intolerances, good all round.

The service and food was outstanding. Amazing flavours and wait staff who were very good at recommending what I can eat because I'm pregnant.

Lovely food but quick turnaround on dishes means Ottolenghi is not a place if you like to have a leisurely dinner.

Exceptional service, delightful and interesting food. Can’t await to come back. Thank you.

A perfect experience.

The food at Ottolenghi is always good and interesting. I felt that the menu could have been more varied for a vegetarian diet (I found there was too much dairy when ordering solely vegetarian dishes). Some of the dishes were amazing and some were merely "good" which for Ottolenghi is a bit of a miss! The service was a little slow at times, but the atmosphere was very relaxed and intimate despite the shared tables.

I'd recommend a friend for the experience. I loved the display of cakes in the window - they are very enticing. Once I'd entered it took a while for my presence to be responded to - a lot of people busily moving around but couldn't catch anyone attention until I sat at the bar.
We like the ambience was hesitant about being part of communal table but it was fine as we were on the end and could hear each other ok. We much preferred the hot dishes from the kitchen particularly the Gurnard - didn't like cold parsnips. Also appreciated to range of breads served to us. Our pudding of plum and almond cake was delicious. Our waiter was friendly and attentive. I'm not sure we'd go back. Just wasn't special enough for us to spend the money.

The food was varied, fresh and delicious!
The eggplant was sublime.
The service was passionate, helpful,
And kind.
Wonderful, Wonderful experience for 2 Americans !

Dinner was as it always has been - consistently superb. My gurnard(?: small fish!) Was exquisitely cooked. Changes to wine list since last visit (a few months ago) but the Chardonnay I had was excellent. Desserts super as usual - overall completely up to expectations!

Fantastic as ever!

Delicious food and super friendly and professional staff.

Super
Had not been for a while and is it still.top notch

From the very first moment we dropped in we felt like being at home. Outstanding friendly people welcomed us, our waitress Karo is simply an amazing woman.
We looked very excited forward to the menu at Ottoleghi because we have at home several of his cooking books. The food was very delicious! What says in my mind is the smell of the hot chocolate - a pure smell and taste of chocolate: wouw. Please try it!
Thank you so much for making our stay at Ottolenghi Islington to such an impression!

Really creative exceptionally tasty and obviously fresh vegetable based dishes. A huge variety of cakes and desserts. So many it was hard to make a choice. I enjoyed every moment of our meal. And I think it’s expensive for the amount of food we had. Definitely a very special treat. Thank you for making it so memorable.

Excellent food, unusual wine list and great atmosphere.Its not cheap so a great choice for special occasions with special friends who like good food and wine.

The food from the counter and from the kitchen was delicious and we loved sharing it.
It'd probably more intimate if guests could be on separate tables, rather than 2 long tables.

We try something new each time we visit but whenever the Goat is on the menu, it is a must.

A bit of advice... save room for dessert!

Such a well thought out dining experience with attention to detail. Food and atmosphere perfect. Special note to our server Carolina!

My dinner at Ottolenghi was all in all super gorgeous and extraordinary. The food was extremely delicious and nice decorated. The service was like a dream: super friendly, funny, very attentive, great adviser and even good looking ;).
I am so happy and lucky for having a dinner there because here in Germany aren’t any ottolenghi restaurants. Thank you for having us! It was so great and unforgettable (Ottolenghi’s my and my mum’s absolutely favourite cook, that’s why I was even excited and nervous!)

One of the best aspects is the ability to share dishes so that in our case we were each able to taste six different specialities. Each dish is a unique experience with its exotic combination of herbs, spices and dressings. The service was outstanding and we welcomed being allowed to taste two different wines before ordering our choice. Excellent value and we will certainly be back soon.

I had booked a long time in advance, and it was lovely to have a separate table than the big communal one. It was very busy, but all staff were friendly and food arrived very quickly after ordering. The food was delicious, in typical Ottolenghi style! Roasted aubergine, roasted parsnips, goat, trout...We ordered 5 plates for two, and it was more than enough. They also bring lovely bread and olive oil. It is on the expensive side of things, but in my eyes it was worth it, as it was a special occasion and the food was delicious. I have also bought the cookbook "Simple" to recreate some recipes at home, and we already have "Jerusalem".

Delicious and out of the ordinary food, as you might expect, and lovely staff. Great lighting too

The service was excellent both prompt and really responsive. The food as ever was a delight at every mouthful.

Delicious food at an affordable price. friendly helpful staff. Non pretentious

Really lovely food and great value house wine, lighting could have been a little brighter but it sufficed.

The food is exceptional and good value. The space is a little cramped but they’ve made the best use of it.

Just amazing flavours