Brett M.

An absolutely delicious lovely place! The first night, we came in with a reservation -- and we were glad we did. It seemed like the staff were wary to seat anybody that didn't have a reservation -- even with empty tables. A little weird, but alas. We came for lunch a few days later and had to wait a bit to make sure the 12:30pm reservations didn't show up, and then we were seated. The pasta here is SERIOUSLY amazing. Like, I am a gluten free pasta snob -- no longer will a perfunctory store brand do, now that we make it at home and seek out the best ones. This place was impressive. The staff are all Italian, and some of the signage indicates that they use a blend of over seven flours to get the texture just right. I believe it. It's excellent. There is red beet pappardelle, black ink linguine for the vongole pasta, and even Nduja ravioli (absolutely to die for, with vanilla seed essence to top off the flavor explosion). Our meal was divine and I cannot wait until they bring the brand to the US. If you are celiac, RUN, don't walk to Leggero (and make a reservation!).

Jeana B.

Cute interior, the employees were extremely nice and attentive. It's unique how you write your order down instead of them taking it. We ordered the homemade bread selection for the starter, and the pink ravioli. All of it was delicious, we would definitely eat here again. The only thing is that the seating is awfully close together if you sit along the wall on the bench, so it was hard to squeeze in. Besides that everything was wonderful! Thanks for having us :)

Andrew C.

My daughter turned to me and said, "This is the best Italian food I have ever had. Ever." I asked if it was even better than my lasagne, without hesitation she said yes. This is major as nothing has ever been better than mom's lasagne. She had the Nduja Ravioli and loved every bite. This place is perfect for those with food allgeries or diet restriction catering to vegetarian to vegan. Everything in the restaurant is 100% gluten free and save for even the most sensenstive gluten allgeries. Perfect for groups or just individuals, this trendy Italian restaurant just off theater row will become a new favorite quickly.

Incredibly delicious and completely gluten free with all allergens written under each dish! I shared the bruschetta appetizer with 2 other people and had the chestnut pappardelle with truffle oil, mushrooms, and cream sauce to myself. Since I love mushrooms, my pasta was amazing. I highly recommend the bruschetta as well - they put 3 semi-large pieces of toasted bread on a plate. One had mashed peas, one had cheese and pear, and the last was tomato and balsamic. I'm not even gluten free, but will absolutely come back to Leggero for a nice yet affordable dinner!

Stefanie K.

Have been wanting to try this place when in London. Had the duck ravioli and it was absolutely delicious however the portion was on the smaller side...would def go back though! The service was great and so was the food it was just the portions especially since i only eat once during my 24 hrs stay i need something more consistent...

Yee Gan O.

I like it when new types of businesses open - innovation drives us forward and over the last 10 years, the food scene in London has really diversified and I would now put London up against any other foodie city on the planet. Yes, really La Polenteria has just opened its doors and they're still running a 30% opening discount on their polenta main dishes. That and curiosity drew me in for lunch today Italy has elevated some of their peasant food into restaurant food and polenta continues this trend. Their menu is built around polenta - crushed cornmeal. It appears with fruit in their breakfast menu, with a choice of meat, fish and vegetarian accompaniments as a main course and in desserts such as cupcakes The staff were very friendly and we had a good natter about everything Italian from football to mama;s cooking I chose Tuscan sausages to go with my polenta. I was pleased to see that polenta still had pride of place on the plate - it was creamy and well seasoned, Very satisfying on a cold day like today. The Tuscan sausages came in a tomato based sauce with beans, I felt the sausages could have done with a little more pumch but still a most satisfying plate The cupcakes looked inviting but I had other plans for dessert today. An interesting addition to London's dining scene

Sharjil K.

Wow the food here was abysmal - I can't believe a restaurant called la polenteria does such bad polenta - I mean it felt like I was chewing on plastic - not one person in the group of four that came in today enjoyed it. We all felt that this restaurant should be paying its customers for the god awful polenta served. On top of the terrible food and pretty tame environment - it's gluten free ?! Make what you will of that. Finally when it came to settling the bill which we split amongst four - we had to separate service charge - so dividing it up five ways - so weird. Food is really gross - do yourself a favour and AVOID.

Rachel O.

Coeliacs and vegetarians/vegans alike, rejoice! La Polentaria has it all. Extensive wine list, accommodating and helpful staff, a creative menu, and a really authentic Italian vibe. Never in my life have I seen the humble polenta dressed up so well. Try the gnocchi - you won't regret it! I was overwhelmed with the presentation of the dishes, so much so that I ordered a starter and two mains. The bruschetta was lovely and flavourful, the gnocchi was divine, and the mushroom polenta pie was almost too beautiful to eat. Attentive staff checked that we were happy with our meals and explained how they prepare polenta, and how their process, the traditional one, differed from the instant polenta on offer in supermarkets. The combination of tradition and culinary creativity and skill was wonderful, as was the meal and the feeling of being full to the bursting, yet without teetering on the edge of a carbohydrate coma, left me itching to visit again. Give polenta a chance - what this place does with it is magnificent.

Damian H.

Tried polenta for the first time here and to be honest it's not my cup of tea. Bought a voucher on Amazon local for a set menu for two people for only £21. This includes a glass of wine each so reasonably good value. The problem was the choice of dishes on the menu were quite limited, and what read well was actually quite tasteless and bland. I only ate half of both starter and main course, but the glass of white wine was really nice. The staff were lovely and the waiter didn't charge us for a bottle of sparkling water even though it wasn't included in the voucher. If you know that you like polenta, this is a lovely friendly restaurant but I've simply discovered that I really, really don't like it!

Jhenn S.

I grew up with polenta, I love polenta, I want to eat polenta all the time. I wandered past the place within a few days of opening in December. I always look at new restaurant's menus and was lured in by the VEGAN section! It looked great, but I had just eaten. So for a dessert, we went in for an espresso and a (Ms Cupcake) lemon cornmeal cookie. It was cute, good ambiance and we had a nice chat with the owner. I tried for weeks to get someone to go with me to try it out. Fast forward to March. I had the mixed mushroom polenta. It was probably 1 1/2 cups of polenta, topped with herby mushrooms. It was nice. Nice. Just nice. And I know it's Soho, but £8 for a not-huge portion of polenta (the cheapest thing in the world) that I genuinely ate in 5 minutes (while talking), was a bit offensive. However, the sweet breakfast polenta sounds pretty tasty and if I'm ever in the area and needing breakfast, I would definitely go. And If I need a vegan treat and coffee, I will definitely go. But for dinner, I may skip.

Izzy K.

Together with my friend I was the lucky winner of the Sagitter One competition during the Yelp Mad Scientist Soiree, which brought us for a dinner to La Polenteria. Being a huge fan of Italian cuisine but having tried only supermarket polenta before and not being convinced I really had liked it, I was really looking forward to having 'a proper one' to see if it'd change my mind. And I wasn't let down. We were welcomed with the typical laud & hearty Italian 'Buona Sera,' by Francesco, who to our surprise has a Polish girlfriend from a city next to ours and speaks beautiful Polish, which doesn't often happen among foreigners in London. The place isn't big, quite buzzy but at the same time very homey. It seems that people who work there enjoy themselves and share the Italian hospitality at its best (Francesco hasn't stopped entertaining us for the whole evening, evening playing 80s disco-Italiano songs at our request). I was really looking forward to trying their truffle special I'd spotted on Facebook before, but unfortunately, they didn't have it that night. We've started off with egg, black pepper, scamorza cheese, smoked salmon, lumpfish eggs and orange which was very good. To my surprise the polenta was creamy and very tasty. The other starter was a board of cheeses (cimbro salvia e rosmarino, monteveronese malga 24 months, gorgonzola and caprino cheese with truffle) which came with little pieces of grilled polenta, quince jelly and oils. I'm a cheese monster, so I've tried many interesting cheeses befor, but I must say the truffle cheese was one of the best I've ever tried! However, considering most of the mains cost on average 10 pounds, I found this starter a little bit pricey. For mains we both took creamy polenta and grilled tomino cheese with onion's marmalade (my friend went for the non-vegetarian option with pancetta). I've never tried that cheese before and I really enjoyed it especially with the onion marmalade. I couldn't finish it, though, as the starters were already quite generous. The menu changes regularly, and from me personally a big bonus for gluten free options. If you still not convinced about polenta, you can choose from regular pasta dishes like pappardelle, lasagna or gnocchi in numerous variations. You can also compose your own salad. The dessert list looked very tempting, but we were too full to try anything. After one glass of wine, I left La Polenteria in such high spirits that I felt as if I had had a few. We had great fun, we will definitely be back!

Michelle S.

Had an amazing dinner here! I came in around 6:30pm on a Sunday. I was seated and promptly given a menu. The service was amazing! Very attentive and friendly. It's a small dining room, very quaint and intimate. I ordered the salad and the bolognese pasta. Both were to die for. Those who are GF know how hard (okay, basically impossible) it is to normally eat an Italian restaurant. Was so happy I stumbled upon this gem in Soho!