Donna Margherita

freesprite

The Best Italian Restaurant in London. 13th March 2009

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When we arrived at Donna Margherita we found straightway a great ambience, the service was fast ,and all the staff sympathetic and friendly with us .The food at Donna Margherita is
lovely and tasty at the sometime , and it's served in huge portions then the pizzas are fantastic with generous toppings and nice thin bases. It' is great value for money Would definitely go back again

paulash134

Friendly, good food and pleasant surroundings 7th January 2009

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I picked the restaurant for the good reviews, we had a pizza each, as authentic as you can get, apparently. I really felt happy to eat here, the staff don't rush you. I watched other diners in the restaurant and everyone was having a great time, food arriving at timely intervals. You almost don't notice the time going by. Definately the best Tiramisu my Italian friend tells me.

antonio

antonio carraturo 25th November 2008

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Without any doubt the best pizza and pasta in town! I was there last Saturday with my wife, and we had a great time, the food was excellent, the service very friendly (with a big smile for a change) and the ambience warm and very Neapolitan, as I like it. We had a testy selection of starters from the buffet and to follow I tried the pizza bella donna and my wife the risotto pumpkin & mussels. We hand up sharing everything because was just too good! If you want to try something special this is the place to go, we will go back very soon. Well done to the Donna Margherita team!!

Paolo2

Paolo2 25th November 2008

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Well i'm so pleased that i found this restaurant !!!!!!
i'm Italian and i'm a very fussy on food bat Donna Margherita spoil t me and from now on it will be the only Italian restaurant that i will recommend.

My schialatielli with sea food was very good,actually i did not believe till lust night that in London i could eat a plate of pasta so perfect !

This is that sort of place that when you eat you will always go back,

specially if you are a fans of the Neapolitan pizza which is the restaurant specialty!!!
do not hesitate because if you haven't been to naples yet make your way to Donna!!!!!


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antonionicolaou

DONNA MARGERITA 25th November 2008

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I BEEN LEVING IN THE LONDON FOR 23 YEARS AND I HAVE BEEN TO MANY ITALIAN RESTURANTS BAT SINCE I DISCOVERD DONNA MARGHERITA I DO NOT GO TO ANY OTHER ITALIAN RESTUTANTS I AM FROM NAPLES AND THE FOOD AND THE PIZZA THAT DONNA MAEGHERITA DO I FEEL THAT IM IN NAPLES.
THE AMBIENCE IT S GREAT AND WORM.
SERVICE EXCELLENT.

MY WIFE AND MY KIDS THEY LOVE THE PLACE.

iwona1

Iwona 20th November 2008

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have finally found the perfect and most traditional Italian/Neapolitan restaurant in London "Donna Margherita" of Clapham Junction. The pizza is pure heaven, the starters and pastas also amazing, great service and atmosphere. My self and my wife had a wonderfull experience, wich we will repeat as soon as possible!!!!

SCAMFACE12345

ARMANDO 20th November 2008

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HI IT WAS THE BEST PIZZA I HAD IN LONDON!!!!!!!!!!
DEFINITELY A GRATE EXPERIENCE THAT I RECOMMEND TO ALL THOSE PEOPLE THAT THEY LIKE TO TRY THE AUTHENTIC NEAPOLITAN PIZZA!!!
I WENT WITH A GROUP OF FRIENDS AND WE REALLY HAD A GOOD TIME
AND THE PASTA WAS ALDENTE AS SHOULD OF BEEN !SO IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A PROPER Italian RESTAURANT DONNA MARGHERITA IS THE PLACE!!!!!!! GO GO GO AND DO NOT HESITATE!!!

Lorraine1

The Best Authentic Italian Restaurant 19th November 2008

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What can I say we're not the best country for knowing what makes a true authentic Italian restaurant with cuisine that is worth waiting for.

I have lived in Italy for many years so its truly possible for me to say what makes a great venue with authentic Italian delights. Numerous other venues over the years have disappointed with their over cooked pasta and unedible bland dishes of nothingness. You have to question what you want to spend your hard earn money on nowadays and I would travel miles to somewhere that gave me what Donna Margerita has given me.

If you want your food served hastly within 5/10 mins of ordering Donna Margerita is not for you! The wait for properly fresh cooked food has to be 20/30 mins on average, in Italy your dining experience with friends is a 2hr long enjoyment of eating, talking and drinking local wines. It is traditional and no Italian would change it.

For me I want my food to be loved across the kitchen and every extraordinary bit of effort put into making it a palatable delight that makes me return again and again like an addiction for the temptation of something new to excite my taste buds.

Truly the worse faux par to date that I have seen has to be when we British order breakfast coffees like cappucinos after their meals instead of an expresso or to say the very least a Grappa of the finest quality! When will we learn and stop being so blinking British about everything.

At Donna Margerita the staff are really friendly and helpful and most importantly they are Italian, even more importantly the chef is from Naples which inspires me greatly to see that it is still possible to bring a little of Naples to England.

The whole ambience of this place is home cooking the traditional way, looking at their pictures now I am leaving a review, I can see why this place is a gem in Clapham that you just dont get very often in the UK.

A place to dine at with friends and experience the true flavour of Napoli, the home of pizzas. I had one of my favourite pizzas here with proper porchini mushrooms done just the way I like it and can truly say it was spot on. If I had closed my eyes the smells and sounds of the restuarant would of brought me back to when I dined regularly in Italy only back in Aug this year on holiday but without the cost of the flight!

Visually appealing Donna Margerita had a typical Italian restaurant decor with a array of great wines from across the regions. I would eat out here on a weekly basis if I could afford it. I will return shortly at Christmas time with friends to dine on their Special Christmas Set menu of delights and I have to say after reading some of the reviews clearly some people are just a little too British to understand what makes a true Italian gem like Donna Margerita!

herb

traditional italian 9th October 2008

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were can you find a good traditional italian restaurant?
well...it's hard after a good search i came across that donar margherita is one if not the best around, theres allways the one next door, but donna margherita will give a taste of the best pizza in london.

Niamheen at 09/10/08

Ah! Has been on my list for a while. I must go. Soon!

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chrisp

Approach with caution 13th August 2008

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Just in case I wasn't getting smug enough with the two excellent restaurants either end of my road (The Fox and Hounds and The Food Room), word on the street (well OK, on the internet) had it that some of the best pizzas to be had in London came out of an unassuming local Italian restaurant on busy Lavender Hill. I don't know if it's even possible to have a truly great pizza, a foodstuff which is after all only tomato and cheese on bread, and I suppose the best I usually hope for is that it isn't too oily and isn't too expensive. So once I found out that there was a chance I may have been missing out on a good thing, I eagerly made my way to Donna Margherita.

Unfortunately, I needn't have worried. Though not exactly bad, my pizza - a Diavola - was just very dull, the kind of thing you could get in more or less any bog standard Italian restaurant in the capital. The dough was slightly tough, but with the odd crispy burned bubble to give a pleasant bit of texture. The fresh basil was a nice touch, and the chilli oil wasn't too overpowering and overall the mixture had just the right balance of sweet tomato and salty cheese. More than once I've been served a pizza so groaning with cheese it was like eating a huge flat fondue, so in this respect I suppose they're doing something right. Overall though, the effect was desperately underwhelming. We had been told to order the garlic bread, so we did, and this was nice enough with little crispy bits of fried rosemary and basil on top, albeit with the same tough dough. I wasn't exactly in raptures.

I only wish I could have said the same about my companion's meal, but his seafood pizza was not just disappointing in flavour but an actual health and safety hazard. You see, the chefs in their wisdom thought it would be a nice presentational flourish to keep the mussels in their shells as a topping on the pizza. And indeed at first glance it did look quite impressive, arranged as they were amongst squid tentacles and a scattering of shredded basil. But under the fierce heat of the pizza oven the mussel shells had burned and splintered alarmingly, so much so that every mouthful of pizza required a careful dissection in case any of the razor sharp fragments made their way into your mouth and shredded your gums. Less a meal and more a culinary minefield, I'm afraid the question of whether he could recommend Donna Margherita pizzas was answered with a definite "Dear God, no".

However, all is not lost. Just a couple of doors down from Donna Margherita on Lavender Hill is a little takeaway place called Basilico. There's no eat-in option but they do deliver, and having sampled a few items on their menu there is only one I keep coming back to - the Pizza Funghi au Truffle, topped with generous amounts of lovely big salami and drizzled with truffle oil. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say it was great, but it is certainly very good, and with very little danger of physical injury. Basilico has 5 branches scattered around London, and the Pizza Funghi au Truffle in particular comes highly recommended.

Niamheen at 14/08/08

Ah! Good to know. This has been on my list for a while having monitored the "word on the internet" as it were. People seem to either adore it or remain non-plussed.

Incidentally, I also like Basilico. I used to order from them alot in Finchley Rd. I stopped though as they were becoming inconsistent and I'd had one too many cold pizzas delivered by confused drivers. Perhaps the Lavender Hill one is better.

chrisp at 14/08/08

I'm sure it is - the Lavender Hill branch has never delivered a cold pizza, and they are always really good. Not cheap though of course.

Niamheen at 14/08/08

Ah, but worth it. Cheers for the tip. I've recently moved to Battersea so am exploring :-)

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