Lardo

One of the things I have been criticised for the most by my harshest critic (my mother) is that fact that I’m too nice when writing reviews... bearing in mind this is the only situation in which she has ever accused me of being ‘too nice’, I realised she might be right... I should probably learn to give a bit more criticism along with the gushing praise.

Earlier in the week I popped along to an old favourite standby – Lardo on Richmond Road. This was probably my 5^th visit to Lardo over the past few years since they opened and to be honest they’ve never disappointed. Their mix of Italian small plates and big old pizzas has always been a winner. I blood love Lardo, however unfortunately on this visit I had a couple of grumbles.

I had booked for a table of 3 about well in advance for my Tuesday dinner and was slightly annoyed that we were put on a small table obviously meant for two right by the door. This meant that when ordering a few starters to share along with the drinks it was a real struggle to fit things on the table.  

Initial grumble aside, the starters themselves were as usual complete hits. When burrata is on the menu I never refuse, and this one was lovely in a pool of good quality extra virgin olive oil. We also had clams with white polenta which was a combination I’ve never had– one of my dinner companions is a self declared polenta hater – but I think she was converted to a polenta lover... or at least liker. Lastly we had the pigs ears. Now I’m open to trying most things and was very glad I did! These were like bits of delicious crunchy crackling in a perfectly dressed salad. All in all the starters impressed as always. 

The mains we went for were 2 pizzas and a pasta. The two pizzas were one with lardy loin, spinach and egg, and the second with smoked ricotto, roasted garlic and chicory. The pasta choice was a wild boar ragu on homemade tagliatelle. 

Once all the plates were squished onto our little table, they looked absolutely great and we dove straight in. Mine was the smoked ricotta and chicory pizza. After the first bite I was pretty overpowered by the bitter flavour but knowing this is what chicory is like I kept going.. by slice number 2 I decided to let the others try it to see if it was just my taste buds which were screaming ‘burnt!’ to me. The feeling that the flavour on the pizza wasn’t right and quite frankly unpleasant was unanimous and it was mentioned to the waitress.

Now this was just an absolute prime example of bloody great customer service. She was completely apologetic, said she would ask the chefs to try it and straight away offered to get me something else. Having had the starters and some of the other mains I declined. The chef came over to apologise and said it was a new pizza on the menu that day and once again offered to get me something else. The other pizza was an absolute delight so I do think this was just an unlucky choice!

When the bill arrived I noticed that the pizza had been removed from the bill without them even saying anything to us. Perhaps the slightly disappointing pizza was a good thing as it allowed them to demonstrate what can only be described as the best way to possibly handle a customer who isn’t completely happy with a dish. 

The meal was rounded off with a tiramisu split between the three of us who were soon spoon fighting over the last bit and more red wine. Perfect ending. 

Lardo remains one of my favourite restaurants in the Dalston/ Hackney area. I’ve never had a bad meal there, excluding this one pizza, and even then the rest of the meal and the service more than made up for it. As usual I will be back soon...

Lardo
205 Richmond Road
Hackney
London 
E8 3NJ
0208 985 2683