Antonio’s Ristorante

Islington is a challenging place to own a restaurant. It is oversaturated with them. This is a good thing for food lovers, for there are many great culinary haunts along the promenade of Upper Street, but what to choose and where to go?

Amidst the glittering shop fronts and the enticing restaurants you will find a dark alleyway with battered metal signage pointing towards an old Citroen garage. This is not an obvious choice of dining venue, unless you are content sharing the mechanic’s bacon sandwich. But take a leap of faith and traverse this unlikely pathway to gastronomic discovery and you will find a hidden treasure; Antonio’s Ristorante.

Once inside, you are wrapped up in the warmth of Mediterranean hospitality and the dark, amorous candle-lit atmosphere of exposed brickwork and closely packed tables of happy eaters. You feel as if you have chanced upon a secret local restaurant only accessible to people-in-the-know, and most of them are probably regulars.

Izabela, our delightful smiling waitress, handed us the set menu – presently, a remarkably good value £15 for two courses plus a glass of bubbly – and told us that we could also order from the well stocked specials board or any of the pizzas from their a la carte menu. Much like one’s predicament on Upper Street, we were inundated with choice. And it all looked great.

I opted for a chicken liver terrine while my dining compagno went for the mussels in a white wine sauce. The terrine was rich and pleasingly-textured with pistachio nuts, the mussels plump and tender. A glass of wine was accidentally spilt (by us) and before we knew what had happened, a passing waiter had whipped the tablecloth away with the skill of a magician and replaced it with fresh linen in a matter of seconds, smiling all the while. His charm was so exuberant that we considered knocking the glass over again just to witness this front-of-house professionalism one more time.

The theatrical service, full of joy and warmth, continued with the main courses, in my case a large plate of spaghetti allo scoglio; perfectly cooked pasta with wild clams, mussels and king prawns in a white wine, chilli and garlic sauce. It was as light and tasty as it should be. My compagno chose the fegato alla veneziana; pan-fried slices of calves’ liver with mustard mash. While appetizing, it was a gigantic portion and she struggled to make any significant impact.

We were both too stuffed for desserts so instead we ordered a tea and a coffee, not wanting to cut short this cheerful experience. If I could’ve taken Izabela’s smile home in a pizza box, I would’ve mounted it on my office wall to bring me radiant happiness all day long.

Antonio’s is a perfect example of how great service – genuinely friendly as opposed to forced conviviality – can really make the difference, and when you mix that with good food too, you have a winning combination that will attract repeat customers time and again, even if your restaurant is in a dark alleyway. While some venues on Upper Street fold within a year or two, Antonio’s proves with Italian flair that they don’t even need a high street frontage to beat the competition.

Antonio’s Ristorante, Rear of 134-137 Upper Street, London N1 1QP. Tel: 020 7226 8994. Website: www.antoniosristorante.co.uk

Summary: a popular local restaurant with genuinely friendly service and robust Italian cuisine.