La Forchetta
73 Upper Street,
N1 0NY

Actual price per head: £38

Nearest tube: Angel (Northern Line).

Remarks

Overall disappointing. Some sections of our seating area only had room for a very thin person to sit down; I don’t know why because they had so few other customers they could easily have made more room for us by moving the long table out from the wall by a couple of feet which would have made things better for all of those jammed up against the wall. We were all seated by twenty to eight but the starters did not arrive on table until almost half past.

Luckily we were not in the downstairs section which is a bit airless.

Portions sizes were good. The Antipasto Misto was very good value, the mozzarella was creamy and surprisingly tasty. The presentation of the prawn cocktail thing was so dated that you might call it retro. After the starters was another huge wait before the main courses arrived. Again portion sizes were remarked upon. Sadly a lot was not eaten because the quality did not match the quantity.

The music was too loud but they turned it down when asked.

The wine, at £13.95 a bottle, was drinkable; the white a little on the sweet side. The bill as presented to me was just under £670 so we paid £38 each. It was as I was checking how many bottles of wine we’d drunk that I remembered that we should not have been paying for a fully itemised bill but instead for a TopTable arranged package with a fixed price for three courses including half a bottle of wine each. At that point I queried the bill and was told that as only about half of us had pudding they thought itemised billing would give us a cheaper overall total than all paying for three courses. We then went through a painful process of counting and re-counting and re-counting, juggling how much wine was drunk as part of the package (9 bottles – doh!) and the rest and the coffees and the service charge though not all of the items in every count which is why the numbers kept changing. Eventually we settled on a figure, by which time almost all eighteen diners had gone, and that means I owe them all some money. To keep things complicated the restaurant staff had also lost one of the credit card receipts from one of our diners which meant they thought I was trying to leave underpaying by £38. Although this eventually got sorted I didn’t need the hassle at the end of the evening and I can’t see myself returning to La Forchetta.

Sad to note that the Edward IV pub has closed down. Less sad to note The Green has closed down too. Are there any gay bars left in Islington?

Attendees

Ali H., Colin B., Colin I., David Y., Fred D., Gary T., Gilles C., Guy W., Ian S., James C., John H., Lobo C., Mark T., Martin T., Paul R., Ricardo B., Roger T., Steven V.

Wednesday 1^st June, 2011

15 Great Newport Street,
WC2H 7JE

Actual price per head: £43

Nearest tube: Leicester Square (Northern Line and Piccadilly Line).

Remarks

Large portions! We drunk 13 bottles of wine (6 white & 7 red) at £13.95 each. The food was good but the room was a little too loud. Staff were friendly and some quite cute; they did a good job.
Although pricier than I’d usually recommend I would happily go back because it was such a nice overall experience.

Attendees

Andy Y., Brian M., Colin B., Ian S., Jeremy P., John B., John R., Mark B., Martin T., Matt S., Ricardo ?., Royston G., Stephen B., Steven V.

Wednesday 1^st December, 2010

70 Liverpool Road,
N1 0QD

Actual price per head: £42

Nearest tube: Angel (Northern Line).

Remarks

The bill came to £42 per head which I think is expensive for what it was. The food was quite good. The service was dreadfully slow. We, nineteen in the group, had pre-selected from their Christmas menu, priced at £25 per head, so there was really no excuse for the long delay between courses.

Also they blotted their copy book by unscrupulous behaviour even before we arrived at the restaurant. The booking was made through TopTable, a restaurant reservation service. Restaurants registered through TopTable should pay TopTable a small fee for bookings made via the TopTable web site. Hours before we were due to arrive at the restaurant I received an email from Di Monforte demanding that I cancel the booking through TopTable or pay an exaggerated price at the restaurant. As a result of this I do not recommend this restaurant and would go so far as to suggest it should be avoided.

I suppose I must take the blame for the overpriced wine as their wine menu says that the house wine should only have been £13.95 per bottle. I should have checked that we were not receiving the more expensive stuff. We drunk thirteen bottles of wine.

The crowd was in good form and most seemed to have a good time.

Attendees

Alan Y., Ali H., Amar B., Andreas B., Andy Y., Benjamin C., Bill R., Colin I., E.J. T., Ian S., James C., Jeremy P., John H., Mark B., Martin H., Martin T., Matt S., Paul R., Steven V.

Wednesday 7^th July, 2010

3 Berners Street,
W1T 3LD

Actual price per head: £41

Nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road (Central Line and Northern Line).

Remarks

Excellent Antipasto Misto. Nice group, some with an excellent sense of humour. That means I like them.

Attendees

Andreas B., Andy Y., Ian S., Jeremy P., John H., Matt S., Narjit G., Paul R, Peter J., Phil B., Roy C., Steven V.

Wednesday 5^th August, 2009

134 Upper Street,
N1 1QP

Actual price per head: £32

Nearest tube: Angel (Northern Line) or Highbury & Islington (Victoria Line).

Remarks

Meal cost £32 per head with all having reasonable amount of wine. Tasty three course with wider selection given to us but they lost out the opportunity to sell us coffee to finish. Good dialogues on table so would count evening successful. The only drawback is they lacked an efficient cooling system so many took odd moments to get fresh air.

Attendees

Ali H., Brian M., Colin I., Gilles C., Harrie B., Iain C., James M., Jeff C., John H., Kevin., Peter J., Phil W., Royston G.

Wednesday 2^nd July, 2008

10 Dorset Street,
W1U 6QR

Actual price per head: £35

Nearest tube: Baker Street (Bakerloo Line, Circle Line, Hammersmith & City Line, Jubilee Line, Metropolitan Line).

Remarks

Good meal, friendly staff.

Attendees

Ali H., Arthur O., Brian M., Chris S., Colin I., Damien D., George G., Gerald B., Ian S., Jeff C., John H., Peter J., Phil W., Richard G., Richard W., Rodney W., Steven V.

Wednesday 3^rd October, 2007

40 Charlotte Street,
W1T 2NW

Actual price per head: £33

Nearest tube: Goodge Street (Northern Line).

Attendees

Andy B., Bill R., David B. Damian R., Gareth H., Harrie B., Iain P., Ian S., Jeremy P., John H., John L., Mark C., Mark T., Neil O. + 1, Nicholas, Nigel, Pete C., Peter J., Ranj M., Richard G., Richard W., Robin T., Rodney W., Steven V.

Wednesday 7^th May, 2003

34 Parkfield Street,
N1 0PS

Actual price per head: £22

Nearest tube: Angel (Northern Line) or Highbury & Islington (Victoria Line).

Attendees

David E., Doug R., Ian S., John L., Richard G., Richard W., Roger T.

Wednesday 6^th March, 2002

326 St. John Street,
EC1V 4NT

Actual price per head: £30

Nearest tube: Angel (Northern Line).

Remarks

Not the best meal we’ve ever had but the company was good.

Attendees

Alexander S., Arturo F., David E., Doug R., Gilles C., Henry L., Ian S., Julian C., Marc B., Michael W., Paul N., Phill W., Richard G., Richard W., Robert J., Roger T., Simon T.