Opened on 3 July 2023 by restaurateur Nima Safaei, 64 Old Compton Street brings a slice of Italy to the heart of Soho, with a menu that makes choosing just one pasta dish a near-impossible task. Safaei is also behind neighbourhood favourites 40 Dean Street and 27 Old Compton Street, and his Soho address delivers the Italian comfort-food classics we keep coming back for, from fresh handmade pasta to creamy risottos. Add Italian wines and cocktails to the mix, and you have all the makings of a very good evening.

There’s a little more to its story, too. Proudly gay-owned and rooted in Soho’s LGBTQ+ community, the restaurant opened just ahead of London Pride, with Safaei describing it as the “cool lesbian sister” to 40 Dean Street. 3 years since the launch – here we are (better later than never!). Here’s everything you should try from the restaurant.

What’s the vibe like?

Vintage Italian glamour meets effervescent disco: sapphire-blue walls, plush velvet banquettes, gold-framed mirrors, vintage artwork and globe pendant lights give the compact dining room plenty of personality.

There’s a nod to Studio 54 in the styling, but it feels more like an old-school Soho restaurant with some theatrical flair. The tables are close together (we’re still in the heart of London after all), the lighting is low and the compact room is lively and buzzy. Don’t worry – you won’t be elbowing your neighbouring table or making awkward eye contact with strangers every time you look away from your pasta.

What’s on the menu?

The menu is a crowd-pleasing line-up of Italian staples, with a focus on fresh pasta, alongside pizzas, risottos and other familiar favourites.

Starters

Starters include wild mushroom and truffle arancini (£13), beef and pork meatballs in tomato and basil sauce (£12.90) and aubergine parmigiana (£11.20). We opted for the arancini (when in Rome) – a ballsy plate to use the redundancy, hefty enough that biting into one was out of the question; a knife was very much required. The flavour was intensely smoky, almost meaty in its richness (there was something about it that suggested lard, which hopefully wasn’t the case), with a beautifully crisp exterior and a soft, decadent centre.

Burrata has become ubiquitous on London’s Italian menus, and this version, served with pesto and tomatoes, was decent, if fairly unremarkable. We’ve had more creative combinations, but not every dish needs to reinvent the wheel. A good burrata doesn’t have to steal the show, particularly when the mains are where the real action is.

Mains

Mains include the spaghetti carbonara (£21), homemade beef lasagne (£18), spinach and ricotta ravioli (£21) and potato gnocchi with slow-cooked beef ragù (£21.50), as well as pizzas from £14.90. We bypassed the pizzas and beelined for the main act, quite enthusiastically, as the pastas sounded divinely comforting.

The spinach and ricotta ravioli was submerged in a rich, well-seasoned tomato and basil sauce (you can barely see the pasta, as pictured below). Oh, how we appreciate a liberal dose of sauce.

While the ravioli was utterly enjoyable, the linguine with tiger prawns was miles ahead of any pasta we’ve ever had. We mean seriously outstanding, award-winning material that we gobbled down gleefully. It’s the butter that makes it sing, we suspect, coating the pasta in a delicate, creamy sheen. The prawns were fresh and generously portioned, too. We really couldn’t fault it. This might be the best £25 we’ve spent in a long time.

We also had our eye on the table just behind us, where a magnificent pot of sizzling lasagne had just landed, its cheese topping beautifully bronzed and bubbling. In short, you’ll be eating very well here.

Desserts

The tiramisu, we were gutted to discover, had already sold out by the time we finished our mains. So we wiped away our tears and turned to the next best thing: a panna cotta and the chocolate fondant. The panna cotta was unexpectedly Christmassy, with cardamom and ginger lending it a warming spice, offset by a gorgeous, bitty raspberry compote.

The chocolate fondant and cream were decent, bordering on unremarkable, but after the frankly enthusiastic amount of pasta we’d put away, we were pushing our limits already.

Drinks

Cocktails are a dressed-up, flamboyant take on Italian classics, including a Wild Flower Negroni with Regal Rogue Wild Rose and Amaro Santoni, an Italiano Sour, and a Blood Orange Martini made with Malfy Rosa Gin and Italicus Bergamot, which sounds phenomenal. Cocktails aside, there’s a long list of Italian wines to wash down your meal.

Verdict

This isn’t your typical stuck-up London restaurant, all beige interiors and an air of exclusivity, but nor is it one of those soulless chains where the waiters barely look you in the eye and you’re made to feel every second of your allotted table time (a familiar reality in central London). Here, the atmosphere is buzzy and energetic, and everyone seems perfectly happy to indulge, blissfully unconcerned about the food baby they’ll inevitably be taking home. We’ll certainly be back for that heavenly prawn linguine, which we’re still salivating over.

Key details

Address: 64 Old Compton Street, Soho, London, W1D 4UQ

Website: www.64oldcomptonstreet.com

Socials: @64oldcomptonstreet

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