The Open Guide to London: the free London guide

Situated on Fulham Palace Road, almost directly opposite Charing Cross Hospital, Luigi's is just like any other good Italian restaurant anywhere in the world. Bruschetti, salads, pizza (�7), pasta, secondi (�11) and a good range of desserts (�4) - nobody would award Luigi's a prize for originality, but then frankly that's the last thing you want from a traditional Italian restaurant. What they do do is quality food - their pizza is the best I've found so far in London. Their risotto was good too, although not quite up to the excellent standards set by The Gate, nearby.

The house red was very drinkable, at �10 a bottle.

The ambiance of the restaurant was excellent - the walls are frescoed and the tables are indeed lit with candles in bottles - in many cases the dribbly wax has built up over the years until it doubles the size of the bottle. Luigi himself sits in the corner by the kitchen, chatting with passers-by.

A reasonable selection of vegetarian options are available. Vegans are probably out of luck, frankly. The restaurant does not have a non-smoking section (although interestingly pipes and cigars are both banned), but none of the clientele were smoking during our visit. A sign outside says "15% off for students, hospital staff and patients with 30 stitches or over".

The business card I stole says "Sorry I haven't go [sic] enough space to describe my beautiful restaurant - you will have to try, to believe me - Ciao Luigi"