Lina Stores South Kensington - Italian Restaurant - (Near Kensington and Chelsea, South East)

5 /5 Julian Balling: Lovely dinner experience. The atmosphere is spot on—very stylish but relaxed. Friendly service and top-tier appetizers (the Fried Ricotta was a highlight). Portions for the pasta might seem small initially but are actually quite satisfying. Great selection of traditional Italian desserts to finish. Highly recommend for a date or a cozy dinner.

5 /5 James Newbery: A relaxed lunch with a friend for a good old Friday catch-up. My first visit and I was not disappointed. From the focaccia to the prawns and on to the crab were all delicious. The fresh ingredients leave you feeling healthier as you eat. A peasant way to enjoy good food in a fresh and comfortable dining room run by friendly and efficient staff.

4 /5 Alice Gee: I have a colleague who is crazy about Lina Stores and I finally managed to get to a branch this weekend. I think it is a good choice if you are visiting the museums and want a bite to eat on Exhibition Road between South Ken tube and the museums. On a Sunday night we managed to walk in without a reservation. Service is good but a little haphazard as we got a different server every time we requested something. That said, there was only one error getting a glass of white house wine instead of red, and no errors on the bill. We ordered the artichokes and carpaccio to share as starters. The fried arichokes were pleasant, but not the best version of carciofa alla giudia Ive had in London, never mind Rome. Deep fried artichokes cooked in the style of Romes Jewish Ghetto should contain a lot of leaves that are are fried to the texture of potato crisps. Removing the chokes while keeping leaves intact makes preparing this dish too much work to attempt at home. The version at Lina Stores were okay, but only contained the hearts, so no crispy leaves. Our other starter of carpaccio was a small portion of beef. It was nice that there was plenty of rucola. The beef was a bit overseasoned for my taste. For main I had the crab linguine. A generous enough amount of picked crab meat gave a pronounced crab flavour. I found it a little too salty. My companions truffle pasta was excellent. A generous quantity of flavourful truffle shavings. We shared a dessert of sorbets. The blood orange scoop was lovely and fresh with a strong citrussy flavour. The pistachio scoop was too sweet. Decor is warm and welcoming and the acoustics are good in the dining room.

3 /5 Ammar Ali: I took my kids to Lina Stores to shelter from an unexpected rain shower before heading to the Natural History Museum. It was about 11:45 a.m., and naturally my two little ones (4 and 6) were getting hungry. As we entered, it was absolutely pouring down outside. I asked the chef if we could sit down, since I saw others already seated. He looked at me coldly and simply said, “We don’t start serving food until 12:00.” No suggestion to wait inside or reassurance that someone would help us shortly, just a rather unwelcoming stare. Thankfully, when the waitress came over, the experience turned around. She was warm, friendly, and accommodating, seating us right away and taking our drinks order. It lifted the mood immediately. The food itself was very good. The kids’ pasta bowls were generous, tasty, and came out quickly. By around 1 p.m., the restaurant was completely full, which shows how popular it is. Prices were reasonable too, and overall, it turned into a pleasant experience. I’d definitely consider coming back, the food and service (once seated) were great, but I’d like to see all staff being equally welcoming from the start.

3 /5 Swati K: Food was good & service was really good. However they really need more consistency in their portion sizes. We ordered foccacia and got 3 small pieces and the table next to us got 4 big pieces. We also ordered the fried artichokes and we got 3 aneamic looking artichokes and the table next to us got 4 sizeable pieces, which we found quite odd. Crab linguine was an ok price for the portion and the aubgerine parm was good, but was a bit burnt / dry.