Vapiano is by far my most beloved italian restaurant in London! I've been to a few of the Vapiano restaurants - for example the ones in Dortmund and Essen. Let's start with their food. The salads are just nice. I love that you have the full choice of what you want in your salad, which dressing, which bread etc. The pasta is nice as well! I love the wholegrain pasta the most! If you haven't tried it yet - give it a shot! The selection of pasta is very nice as well.. There are some spicy, some vegetarian and of course the classics like bolognese or carbonara. The pizza is delicios as well. I don't like the fat american pizza. So I love the thin crispy pizza's of Vapianos. Their wine is nice as well.. There is one white wine called ...Cattarano (sorry dont remember the whole name). It's not only cheap but delicious as well! Remember you can buy full bottles for take-away as well! The service and waiting times are very good and therefore there is almost nothing I could complain about Only thing is that compared to Vapiano's in Germany their indoor's don't look as nice. It's still nicely decorated, but the one's in Germany are just even more beautiful :P I also miss a larger outdoor area! read more

I think maybe it's an age thing. But I am struggling with why everyone raves about the self-service school canteen type arrangement here. It's not that intuitive and I'm not convinced of the efficiency (which I assume is why they do it). Having said that it does allow for cooked-on-the-spot pasta and pizza, and my first experience of the latter was positive; a properly crispy and tangy 4 cheese affair. That and a decent mixed side salad (obtained from a different queue)made it a good lunchtime spot. Good value for money as well (maybe the efficiency thing does work for them). read more

I'm with Stephen Taylor on this joint; service styled very much on an American university canteen, with a similarly annoyingly wait while the person you need to pour the nearly-hot soup makes up a salad for the guy in front while the guys at the neighbouring pizza counter do nothing. And say "ask there (pointing two feet away) for soup. Sbarro, I think it was, kicked this idea off, though their food was pretty dreadful. I thought, mournfully, of New Covent Garden minestrone as I ate my Vapiano version, and headed elsewhere for my secondo. read more

I know it's a chain and lots of people try to avoid chains in favour of small independent places now, but it does serve a purpose. If you are wandering along Oxford Street, right by Oxford Circus, and don't want to pay a lot but want a nice, casual Italian meal, this is the place for you. I first went in Berlin, then in New York, and now London and the standard of quality matched for all the locations. When you first go in, you are handed a card that you use at each station (pasta, pizza, appetisers, bar, etc) to order. Once you order, you touch your card to the reader and bring your food back to your table. At the end of the meal (not really table service) you go up to the front and pay. This was particularly difficult for me because we got wine and I was having fun, and I couldn't keep track of how much money I was spending. Whoopsy. The casual but trendy atmosphere combined with the large communal tables with basil plants you can leaves from for your food makes it really comfortable and happy. It's not very expensive, but again, keeping track of how much money you spend isn't easy. But if you want pasta made to order that you can watch be prepared, it's pretty fun. read more

Love this place, always busy & it's great to see your food being cooked in front of you and being able to add what you want or exclude things you might be allergic to or dislike. Pastas are all delicious and filling (my personal favourite is the scampi pasta - yum!) I do like the salads but find them quite overpriced compared to the pastas (I ordered a chicken Caesar salad this weekend which ended up being more expensive than my regular pasta!) I don't love the pizza but it's good enough and a lot of my friends really like it so all in all definitely recommend it - be prepared to wait in the queues though! Especially at peak times!! read more

From the street this place looked quiet appealing with the glass wall, very considerable amount of space for a London restaurant and the stylish modern interior design, so we decided to try it for lunch. It serves a standard variety of pizza, pasta and salad dishes. Speaking of the quality, the pizza was made of fresh ingredients and baked in the proper oven, but generally tasted fairly plain. There wasn't anything particularly special about most other dishes we had either. The unique ordering system where you have to order at the counter, then you are called back to pick it up and then pay at the exit, may help to save five minutes if you're in a hurry, but personally I prefer restaurants with normal service arrangements so that I have an option to leave a tip. The impression from this restaurant I was left with was overall pretty average. This place is ok for lunch if you happen to be in that area, but I wouldn't come here often otherwise. read more

Spent 20 mins trying to find a place to sit, and then 40 mins in line waiting to order pasta. So lost an hour just waiting around. The whole system is hugely inefficient. If they let you order pizza and give you a buzzer to collect your order, why not do the same for the pasta? why make ppl wait in line for 1 chef to cook pasta for 8 ppl infront of me, which means i have to waste 40 mins just waiting to be served and then another 10 mins for my pasta to be cooked. Only go if you're going to order pizza, not worth wasting time for half-decent pasta. Sorry Vapiano - I don't like leaving bad reviews, but you leave me no choice. read more

Whenever I head to this place I'm always happy. One, because I know that no matter how many times I come, the seats in front of the in-house pasta maker are almost always empty so I get to watch pasta being made and the meals being cooked (yup, quite sad). Two, I know that I'm going to get pretty chunky sized portions of fresh, just cooked pasta/pizza/salads (not so many salads eaten admittedly). Three, it's really cheap for what it is, with great wines and staff that are a pleasure. The tacchino piccante is a really solid, spicy chicken pasta dish, the pizzas are fantastic (and the little gadget they give you to let you know when it has finished cooking actually causes you to be fixated on what is basically a buzzer for 5 minutes) and the desserts...oh the desserts. (Finally, and not really related, it's just around the corner from a really good Sam Smiths pub, The Cock Tavern). I've only eaten downstairs here (either at the big pot-tree or at the afore-mentioned anorak seat) but have been upstairs on occasion, where you'll see all of the herbs that they use on-site being grown inbetween the tables in miniature greenhouses. As things are a bit more open upstairs I'm not really that tempted to change my routine but most of my friends really enjoy the slightly different ambience. Main positives for me though are the cost versus the quality of food. I don't mind queueing for 2 or 3 minutes when you get the spectacle of seeing your food cooked in front of you, and I quite enjoy the idea of getting up and getting my own drinks (because it means you don't have to wait 5-10 minutes for your waiter to get back to you as per a standard restaurant). Great place. Slight side note- really solid second-date location as the place really is different so has more than a few talking points, and the fact that you have to get up to get your own food means you can either a) take a breather or b) look like the perfect gentleman by getting your partners food. Winner. Only minor issue you might have - if you're in a really sizeable group (8+) then you may have slightly different waiting times, akin to what can happen sometimes at Wagamamas. The atmosphere, novelty and food more than make up for this though. read more

We decided to try this place after walking pass it a few times during our visit. This is an interesting concept - make your own pasta and pizza. The ambience is quite inviting with large tables that encourage gathering and connecting. However, the food is rather disappointing - everything tastes the same is the bottom line. So we decided to give this place a 3 - 4 for the inventive concept and ambience and 2 for food, which has room for improvement. read more

Vapiano - Italian Near Me - London, XGL

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Slightly different italian restaurant concept. You go to a variety of bars to order the food and drinks, swiping a card for each dish you order which is swiped at the till to add it up on your way out. No more waiting for bills! Food priced ok, and was all very tasty the couple of times have been. It's really about basic italian food, (pizza, pasta or salad) in a more upmarket fast food environment. All food is cooked in front of you and the portions are fine, some of the pasta ones look slightly small but have found them filling enough. Fresh herbs grown on the premises a nice touch. read more

Great place for fresh, fast Italian pasta, pizza or salad. The concept means you collect a card at the door and swipe when you place an order. Saves you waiting for the bill if you're in a rush at lunchtime. Two downsides to this place are, it can be noisy, so I wouldn't recommend it for a romantic meal or special occasion. Second, if you want to add or remove ingredients on the menu (ie: add salami on a pizza that doesn't have it, whereas they have it on another) so I would be wary if you have any special dietary requirements (or fussy eater!) Other than that it's good value for money. Oh and there's free sweets on the way out! read more

Was my first visit to Vapiano today and it was a mixed experience. I wanted to have a pizza but there was an half hour wait so I chose to have pasta which interestingly took more than half n hour, so yeah the place was maddening busy. Though the manager got a plate of pizza for everybody waiting for their food and I was one of the 100's to grab a bite. That was something nice to keep your customers going. Pasta was nice. No complains. Will visit again! read more

4 stars or 5? Well... 4 because it wasn't perfect. Why? You have to queue for your food just a LITTLE bit too long. They don't let you bring a jug of water to your table (you have to get up every time you want to refill your TINY little glass. And finally it feels a little like a cafeteria (this can be good if that's what you're after). But on the plus side... It's really good food, it's cheap, it can be quick (or you can relax and have a nice long meal), staff are friendly (for the most part), you get to watch them cook your food, it has lots of seating, it has a great location, etc... etc... etc... read more

Me and a friend decided to go here because has we had heard lots of positive experiences from friends and family. Having heard the meat is halal we were eager to try out dishes we wouldn't usually be able to have in most popular restaurants. At first when we arrived we were just handed cards and not given much of an explanation about how the buffet system works. It seemed straightforward but the cards weren't explained to us. We asked a staff member and that was when we realised that everything we order will be added to the card and then we pay at the end of our time there. Once we queued up we saw there were several queues for pasta, pizza and antipasti. We decided to go for pasta and was delighted to find we could choose from a selection of freshly made pasta. You then decide the dish you want and it is prepared right in front of you! I ordered the Chicken Alfreda with tagliatelle and my friend ordered a seafood dish with tagliatelle (can't remember the name!) and both were tasty! Only downside is even though it is a buffet it seems each dish is added to the card and you are charged for separate meals, which resembles a normal restaurant system and wouldn't suit a customer on a budget! Overall a pleasant visit and will definitely consider going again if I am anywhere near Oxford street this summer! read more

I'm a real fan of this place. The novel charging mechanism makes it really easy to bring a mate - since everything they order goes on their card, not yours. The beef carpaccio is to die for - absolutely excellent stuff - and while others here say that the pizza is a bit bland, I find it just fine - very tasty. Those of us who sometimes don't have space for a starter (have you -seen- me? No, have you seen me, really?) won't get that embarrassing pause while everyone else is eating, since you order when you want to. I really do like the plan behind this restaurant, even if it occupies the former home of a microbrewery (and only sells fizzy lager). Recommended. read more

I ate here the other day with a friend. We had some pasta. It was pretty good, you pick your own ingredients and then they make it for you. To my pleasant surprise it was excellent. The price was very good. The service was outstanding !! It was very clean there as well. The bathrooms in particular were spotless. Wow really impressed me. I will eat there again soon. I highly recommend it, if you are close to oxford street. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. read more

Well this is more of a 3.5 but I thought is skew the gradin higher rather than lower... Ok Vaps is great, it's reliable, it's cool, it's a lot if things but over time the standard of food has slightly declined. I'm a regular & have been for a few years and so I've seen it's growth in popularity but I do hope they don't drop their standards any further. This is a great place to grab affordable food in central London, that will fill you up. Its a great first date or catch up with friends location because its busy but yet you can find your own space in the place. Even takeaways are great here, if only for the bowls they give :)! read more

One of my favourite restaurant. It's normally busy on the weekends but worth the wait. The pasta is out of the world and I can't get tired of having it. Definitely recommend! read more

I just Love it . As a large group you wouldn't have to deal with splitting the check, cause every individual has its own chip card... The food is amazing aswell, my favourite is SCAMPI E SPINACI Pasta : ) read more

Great fresh and yummy food prepared how you like it. I like the buzz as it is always busy with the benefit of having loads of seating. I have visited many times, for many occasions and have usually had a great experience, apart from 1 time when it was almost closing and all the chefs were oogling over a group of girls which meant I waited longer than usual for my food and when I had finally received it it was bland tasting and too spicy. But overall I have enjoyed my experiences with Vapianos read more

I went to Vapiano three times, and I have enjoyed all visits. Food is really good. It's sort of self service (which can upset some). Price is really good, and portion size is fine. I thought it was very weird when one of the chefs said I shouldn't have the dish I chose because it was "no good". This happened in two of the visits. I think they should change the recipes if they think they aren't good. Drinks are good, but pretty small. The dessert is nice, I ordered a chocolate gelato and it didn't disappoint. Please, do have the salad with the raspberry dressing (I forgot its name!). It's the best salad I've had in my entire life. read more

Nothing was explained upon arrival- we were a group of 3 paying together, so when we were given our cards, we left them on our table, so when we tried to leave they demanded the cards back; we weren't told we would have to return them when we left. We had to wait 40 minutes for a margherita and because you have to queue separately (if you want to order a pasta/salad), after ordering the pizza you then have to queue for pasta, which was another 30 minutes. Good concept if you are paying separately, want to try various things on the menu and as a couple/group (and at peak time) not a great place to go, or concept. Loads of staff not doing much. Some staff very rude. For example, when leaving we were asked if we had a good visit, when we relayedthe above, she gave us dirty looks, and didn't apologise or try and change our perception. read more

Good fresh food, made in front of you. This location was fairly quick and had enough seating. Really tasty plus so many choices of different pastas. read more

Vapiano - So tasty - Italian Near Me - London, XGL

Classy pasta, pizza and a bar if you're the person who needs to kill too much time, you'll find Vapianos for you. The fact that you'll get a swipe card, queue for your food, tell the chef how you like your food from various options of pasta, sauce and other spices and the massive wait til it's all ready is graciously too much. As it was claimed by its management that its the fastest casual restaurant well then its not. The food are nice. In obvious reason that you're the one who asked how you like it prepared. read more

Food is amazing but, they seriously need to care about the customers experience. I don't think the queuing system is working especially when it's meal time. It's unfair to queue up for an hour if you get a slow cook, than for those who arrived 30 mins later than you, but get served before you. This queuing system benefits the restaurant as they don't need to hire too many waitresses, but I, as a customer, have to queue for at least 60+ mins for food. Please, just hire waitress to serve food. read more

Really good pizza, really bad service. The woman serving dessert was so rude that I left with a bad taste in my mouth (no pun intended)! It's also difficult for a first-timer who doesn't know how their system works. Staff members shouldn't assume and get irritated when customers don't get it straight away. read more

Vapiano's is directly behind Topshop Ox Circus and used to be a good place to fill my boots when on a late shift...they do take away, as well as eat in, in swanky plastic boxes, that you can recycle as lunch boxes. This always makes my homemade salads look posher when brought to work. Result. Food. Now, menu is slightly limited but you can add/mix toppings anyways as it's all cooked up fresh. Upon entering, you get given a 'credit card' and everything you purchase (food and drink) you swipe the card and then pay for it all upon exit. Sweeet. Think its quite easy not to I've heard as well. A-hem....Pasta, pizza's and salads come listed on menu in price ranges so there's something for all tastes and budgets which I love. Pasta line is always looooong tho which is a bit of a snore to be honest but food is lovely and so worth wait I guess. They make it all in front of you so you add whatever you like. Same with salads. For pizza's they give you a buzzer once you've ordered and you have to return to collect it once buzzed. Painful when upstairs though, sucks ass. Ambiance. Quite a loud, hectic sorta place really. Great for groups, not for couples or a quiet evening bite I would say. Location wise is great for an after work/shopping bite though. Never had a dessert here as always full to brim on carbs and beer. Classy. I do however always take a handful of sweetie (at till) for journey home. read more

Vapiano serves freshly prepared pastas and pizzas. You get a number of choices and create your own dish which is cooked in front of you. Its quick and delicious. It can take a while if there are long line ups but the freshly made pasta in house can make it worthwhile. Though satisfying, I'd have to agree with others who've said the food is nothing to write home about. read more

Eh...not for the feint hearted. Admittedly, I'm easily overwhelmed, but when you have to enter into full-on, survival-of-the-fittest mode just to get a dinner tray and a menu, let alone a seat, it's a bit extreme for a dining situation. My memory of the place is a bit of a flurry, but I recall being somehow carried through the doors by the crowd rushing in behind me and instantly wanting to leave. Having a little plastic card shoved into my hand, I only vaguely knew what to do because a friend of mine had been there previously and explained the concept to me. Although many Yelpers complain about the card system, I think it's necessary to preserve any form of efficiency in a place as chaotic as Vapiano. (Imagine having to split the bill there. I shudder to think...) Apart from that, the concept seemed a contradiction in terms. You have to be polite and patient enough to stand around in a queue for half an hour, yet ruthless enough to fight to the death for you and your party to get a table together. And that's just before the starters arrive. One thing I would suggest to survive the experience is, (especially if you're with someone and you don't like being left on your own for too long) to try and order something similar. My friend stood in the queue for pasta whilst I sat holding a buzzer, waiting for my (albeit delicious) pizza. I would have stayed for dessert, but an evening at Vapiano presented itself to me as an eating, rather than dining experience. By all means, go there for the food. Go there for the friendly staff. Go there for the free gummy bears at the end. But if you want to eat your dinner with a friend and have great conversations you can actually hear without being elbowed in the ribs, I would suggest ordering to go. read more

yeh this is a novel dinning experience. im not even gonna try and explain how the 'order on your card then pay after' thing works im way too tired and i completely FAILED at that. But im gonna stick my neck out and say that I had the best tasting pizza ive ever had in this place. i got the bruschetta pizza - like a big massive bruschetta bread! read more

I used to really like Vapiano... but now, it's just WAY too crowded. And some of the people that go there are starting to get a bit annoying - they seem to come in a big group, most of them going straight to a table, while only a few of them actually order food. The rest seem to think they're gangster because they "have a table and a bottle at this popular place off Oxford Street on a Friday night". It just gets a bit tiring when I want to eat dinner and be on my way, yet have to wait for ages in line (like in a canteen) and then have to wait for a space at a shared table. The food is decent and the prices pretty good, but I'm starting to think it's really not worth it. read more

Vapiano is a very casual restaurant, not at all a special occasion destination. However, if you want a casual place, especially for a larger group, this is a great restaurant to try. The card system makes the bill paying super easy...everyone pays for themselves. The set up of ordering at a counter is what, to me, makes this location informal, and honestly I was not expecting much. I ordered a pizza which took about ten minutes and it was actually very delicious. I had pesto pizza with tomatoes. The wine list was pretty good as well. read more

Decent fresh food made right in front of you - nothing special besides the "experience", good prices, come early to avoid queues :)

Went there for the thousandth time again with a friend. I've been there on several different occasions and it is always a pleasant space if you know how it works. After you get your card and order your food, you must get a table. The space upstairs can be equally good for small meetings (Last time I was there was with a friend that was going through a rough phase) or big parties (had a blast having dinner with a group of friends and a lot of nice cocktails). The alcohol is good and the food is definitely worth the price. Absolutely nothing bad to say about it apart from the fact that the staff should consider a better room management. Big thumbs up for the costumer service of the chefs (in spite of the cashier who was tearing people a bit like cattle). read more

Vapiano is my another favourite restaurant for quick meal during office hours. Lunches always busy there . Self service. Love their pasta . Food comes quickly as well. Lovely Arabiata pasta. Great place to sit and lovely atmosphere. read more

When we went, early on a Sunday evening, this place was really busy. As a group of 4 we elected to send 2 to tables and 2 to get food. The food mission took around 20 minutes, not the ideal way to socialise with friends. Great food once it arrived, and reasonably priced for central London, but it was too busy to be a smooth process. read more

I fell in love with the concept. I enjoy pretty much the fact that I can see the cooker preparing the food I'll be eating. I enjoyed the system of cards and bippers. The general atmosphere was awesome ! I loved how the big room was designed ! Talking about food, my pizza was delicious ! read more

The food is great I'm a regular customer I normally order carbonara it's nicely flavoured plus it's quick and simple. Never going to order a chicken Alfredo again since the chef might get annoyed again as I do not like mushrooms and he didn't know what to replace it with and kept moaning saying that the mushrooms will suck up the oil.... imagine if the person was allergic? but yeah I'd suggest to always arrive there early before your planned eating time since the queues are very long & their slow to refill the stock so you have to make do with the pasta or drinks they have at that moment in time. On a casual day e.g I arrived there at 19:30 chef took my order at 20:18. Arrive early especially when it's around 11 pm close to closing hours since they start to close down most kitchens even if there's an hour left till closing time. So there will only be 2 chefs serving around 50 customers which means a lot of waiting because the entrance staff don't close the doors until the very last minute which means customers will have to spend over 50 minutes or more to get served & stock might be finished. Takes around 10 minutes for a chef to cook per customer or even longer if the customer are picky. read more

Vapiano - Italian Near Me - London, XGL

Vapiano is situated in the heart of Oxford Street, so it can get pretty chaotic and finding a table can be quiet difficult. So, if you are looking for a quiet meal - you're out of luck my friend. Their only saving grace is the food - pasta, pizza or salad - made to perfection right before your very eyes. read more

This is a neat concept. You come in, you stand in a queue, pasta is cooked fresh, and immediately handed to you. You pick your toppings and your form of pasta. I enjoyed it, quite frankly. The food was quite good, even though I really don't see the point of standing in queue. If anything, it just saves them money on waitstaff. Brilliant. The pizza and the mascarpone with strawberry desert were yummy too. The only problem: one of the queues closed down unexpectedly, while people were still waiting there. They all had to redistribute to other queues. That was quite a dick move. read more