Ottolenghi Islington

As we live near by, we tried at least 15 different sweets from their sweet corner. This was our first visit there for a date night. Although they did not have our reservation (I guess due to technical issue), they did their best to accommodate us. Excellent high-quality food, very friendly and well informed staff, cozy atmosphere. Vibrant and busy restaurant that it's a must to be visited. Reservations are recommended as the place is very popular (now we are 100% sure why:-) Respect, Ottolenghi Team!

Fantastic all around.
We had two seafood dishes and four vegetable based. The green bean and pineapple salad was the stand out winner.
All very good.
Service was the best I’d had anywhere in a long time.

Amazing quality of the food and the unique preparations

The food was amazing and the service impeccable. Bravo.

The food was mostly good--mainly the kitchen dishes were fabulous, and the counter dishes were hit-and-miss. We sat at the communal table, which was pleasant enough, but the high noise level and great distance between myself and my dining partner made speaking difficult. I really enjoyed the pork belly and cabbage dishes, as well as the aubergine counter dish. I was in the mood for chocolate, so got the flourless chocolate fondant cake--yum! The bread was also fantastic, as was my glass of Baladi wine.

Magnificent food matched with a lovely ME wine. Never disappoints

What a fab place for great food and great wine.

This is one of my favourite restaurants in London - the staff are always super-friendly, the menu is always full of unusual flavours that never disappoint, and the wine list has the usual choices plus plenty of more unusual choices.

Great food and service. Fair prices. Highly recommended 👍

Wonderful experience. We traveled from Manchester especially to dine there. It was a treat for my birthday. It exceeded my expectations in every way . I wish I could eat there frequently.

We had a wonderful evening. Thanks for excellent food and very friendly service.

Ottolenghi is a small brightly lit restaurant, and most of the diners share the long central table. Although we were a party of six, we were shoulder to shoulder to the next group, which might have been annoying but actually it added to the general light hearted mood.
Ordering food is a somewhat complex operation as almost all the dishes are for sharing, and supposedly of starter size - though I'd say they were more generous than that. The very knowledgable waiter suggested we order two or three per person. This took the price per person before wine to around £40, which might seem high considering half the menu consists of already prepared cold vegetarian assemblies. However the cold vegetarian assemblies were all delicious, very much the equal of the carnivorous alternatives. The perfect place to go then, if your party is a mixture of carnivores, fishivores, veggies and vegans. With our food we drank the cheapest white wine, a fresh and zingy white Rioja at around £25. Ottolenghi is set known for his cookery book,s containing receipts that are harder to replicate than one would think. It was a pleasure to taste the food as the chef imagines it.

I believe this is one of the smallest of the Ottolenghi venues, with one large communal table down the middle and a few tables for two down the sides. The night we went it was very busy and service was a bit slow — my husband waited nearly 20 minutes for a beer and when it arrived it was warm. However the food and wine list meets Ottolenghi's high standards. We had an excellent sea bream and shared several vegetable dishes, all so delicious you want to linger over every bite. The desserts are not to be missed — save room.

They didn’t have our booking despite my Open Table confirmation. We waited for 15 minutes while they arranged a table. We were then under pressure to finish our meal to allow for walk in customers.

Delicious food. Tables are quite close together so not a lot of room, also means it is loud. Food makes up for it!

The food is as you’d expect outstandingly tasty. Fresh ingredients, imaginatively put together, beautiful to look at. Small portions though and it’s not cheap. Not sure about the long tables. If you’re looking for a romantic meal or private conversation book a small table at the side.

As is typical, this meal was delicious, interesting and exquisitely delivered. Of special note was the aubergine, the roast celeriac and the Bethlehem, Jerusalem originated white wine (beautifully explained to us by the female sommelier). A special evening meal.......again!

The staff are friendly however have a certain attitude of snobbism that you find in the fashion circle. It was surprising because it is a hospitality service and not fashion show. The food was tasty and the service was tasty. I asked if they would debone my sea bream but they were strictly negative in their firm response- another strange attitude for a restaurant service. A third strange issue when I was served ‘natural wine’ when the menu didn’t alert me that the wine was ‘natural’ - one stage of the wine juice before it becomes wine.... when I brought it up with the server, she was quick to challenge me on the wine being organic, biodynamic but didn’t say ‘natural’ on the bottle label- surprisingly, she went on to bring the bottle to show me the writing to further challenge me- it ended when I asked her to remove the glass that I won’t be drinking and that I knew enough about wines to have already decided it was a natural wine- I loved the grilled fish I expected a bit more from everything else on the menu but really loved the bread. I loved he decor and their flower arrangements everywhere. This is a very fashionable place and all in all I do recommend it. I felt that the restaurant sommelier can top up his wine glass serving- I could swear it didn’t add to 3 ounces per glass.

Each year I visit Otto Lenghi Upper Street and I'm always positive suprised how pleasant it is.

Had a wonderful meal and evening at Ottolenghi Islington. Fabulous service and delicious food. I would highly recommend this restaurant for a special night out. It is communal eating, we had an early booking, we also had a 12 month old in a high chair, but felt like we had our own table. Candles make the room and table look high class. We ordered several dishes to share, which gave us a chance to sample a variety of food.

Very interesting flavours. Fresh and light. Loved the food.

Just amazing food. So fresh, so tasty, the flavours marry together so well.
The staff were friendly, attentive and seemed to have a genuine passion for the food.

Food lacked a bit of flavour. Otherwise nice experience.

It was a special evening.The service was good and the staff friendly.The food was well presented and very flavoursome.The ambience was intimate and casual.Overall it was an outstanding night.

We loved the food, the atmosphere. We have three of his recipe books and wanted to try the restaurant. A great night

Lovely food, the communal dining always invites conversation

Excellent food, really nice venue !
Will definitely come again.

From NZ and long time follower of Ottolenghi.
Didn't appreciate booking was for communal table- disappointed. Hard to talk for special occasion. Food good- relatively expensive.

Ottolenghi has changed the way I cook and look at food. Ottolenghi is my favorite restaurant in the world, bar none.

This is my favorite restaurant in Islington! Great food and atmosphere. Very created vegetarian dishes as well.

Good food and amazing service, we'll be back soon !

Excellent food from an interesting menu. Helpful and friendly service.

We loved it! 5 different tastes in food and 2 on special diets. All had a wonderful time

Ottolenghi food is excellent with good texture and food combinations and exciting innovations like pickled pineapple with green beans. Booking was clear and easy online but limited availability at short notice as it is such a famous cuisine. Service was friendly but slow and difficult to catch the waiter, and we didnt get everything we asked for. Eating space is clinical and noisy and unless you sit at the bar quite a distance between self and partner across the shared long table. I would buy recipe books or use the deli take out but not eat in again at Angel venue.

The food was amazing, the service was excellent - one of the best meals we've ever had. We had the roasted beetroot and roasted aubergine salads - both excellent and easy to share. We then had two hot dishes - pork belly with plum sauce and slow-roasted goat with lentils - the latter was the best of the four dishes. The pork belly was okay but we would probably not order again. The waiter suggested an excellent white wine that paired well with all of the dishes - Falerio DOP Oris Bianco 2018. Wish we could eat here every night!

We ordered four dishes to share. The first dish arrived, then it was five minutes until the next arrived, then another 15 before the final two. It meant we couldn’t enjoy any of it together and whilst it was delicious given the amount it cost it wasn’t quite the lovely meal we were expecting.

Excellent food and atmosphere. Service a little intrusive.

All the food was delicious. Staff was nice, however, the service was slightly disjointed.
Not cheap, but definitely not absurd.
All in all, I really enjoyed my time, and would be interested to try other Ottolenghi locations.

Food is amazing, staff is quite knowledgeable and will help you put together a tailored dining experience. Service is a bit slow sometimes — it took us a while to leave.

The service was polished and personal. The booking system had informed staff of my dietary requirements in advance so we felt welcome and known.