Grasso

Grasso opened on Dean Street just before Christmas 2023, and despite what some directories still list, this is a Soho restaurant, not an Islington one. It’s a family operation: Sean ‘Seanie’ Grasso runs the room, drawing on his Sicilian family’s version of Italian American cooking, the kind shaped as much by New York delis as by Sicily itself, with James and Maud handling much of the front of house and marketing side.

The menu reads like a greatest hits of red sauce comfort food: spaghetti with meatballs, chicken parm, penne alla vodka, a Caesar salad substantial enough to share, and a vodka sauce pizza that’s become one of the more talked about items on the list. None of it is trying to be clever, and that’s rather the point. At around 180 seats it’s a big, loud room that has become a regular choice for birthday parties and group bookings rather than a quiet date spot.

Early reviews called it one of the hotter openings of the moment, buzzy and easygoing, though The Infatuation flagged the tomato sauces as running too sweet for their taste, and made clear this isn’t the address for anyone chasing exacting, exceptional Italian cooking. It’s hearty rather than refined, and knows it, closer to a New York red sauce joint transplanted whole than a considered take on regional Italian cuisine.

Noise is the main practical issue. Conversation across a table of more than four gets difficult once the room fills, and weekend evenings need booking well ahead, particularly if a group wants a specific time slot for a celebration. Portions are generous enough that starters can be skipped without regret, and sharing plates works better here than ordering individually.

If the aim is a fun, unfussy Italian American dinner with a group rather than a serious culinary outing, Grasso does that well. Just don’t cross town expecting a Highbury address. It’s Dean Street, Soho, a short walk from Tottenham Court Road station.