Restaurant Review: Isolabella, Holborn, London

Holborn is an area that I don't know very well - I used to go to a choir rehearsal in a church not far away, and occasionally got something to eat at Subway on the way, but it's not somewhere I ever really go out - or an area you ever really see in restaurant guides. It's sort of half way between the City and the West End (though don't quote me on exact distances), is the nearest tube to the British Museum (though for me the British Museum is in Bloomsbury, not Holborn) - and is apparently part of the Borough of Camden but couldn't be further from the image I have of Camden, which is basicall the market.

I'm sure that like many places once you scratch below the surface you will find all sorts of things to do. One thing that Holborn does seem to have is a large number of Italian restaurants all in one space and with a few exceptions I don't mean chain restaurants. Just before Christmas I went to one of these with a friend - Isolabella.

She chose the restaurant, from looking through places on Opentable with special offers, and I have to admit I was a bit dubious initially when she suggested Holborn. But I trust my friend's taste in restaurants - we have had some great meals out together including the only tasting menu I've ever tried. And once again, she came up trumps.

The restaurant wasn't particularly busy but service wasn't very fast, which isn't usually a problem as we do like to have a good natter! The menu is extensive with pizza, pasta, meat and fish. I do like to have a lot of choice but sometimes wonder about restaurants that have huge menus if they are able to cook everything to the same high standard  - they have 16 desserts for instance which is a lot to be made fresh every day so I wondered whether they get them from a catering supplier or if they do actually make them on site.

The food that I had though was very good - beef ravioli in a tomato sauce (a good-sized portion) and for dessert, apple tart with vanilla ice cream. I think it would have been a little pricey for what it was at £14.50 for the main (especially given it's pasta in tomato sauce, albeit with minced beef) and £6.50 for the dessert (I've had better apple pies for less) - but with the 50% off discount it was definitely worth doing!