Latium - Fitzrovia, London

My birthday present from my Father in Law, FIL, was a dinner out in London during his recent visit. It took me some time to decide on a place to go but I eventually settled on Latium, an Italian restaurant just north of Oxford Circus. The menu online was very appealing to me and it had a number of vegetarian options - plus the restaurant offered a reasonably priced three course menu (₤29.50). I had no knowledge of the restaurant before I set out on all my research but everything I found online praised the food so I figured it was worth a try. It was a great choice and all around everyone enjoyed the experience.

Our choices for the evening:

Me:
crab tortelli with rocket sauce - The tortelli were nicely stuffed with a healthy amount of crab (as opposed to some crab and lots of filler) and I really liked this dish. The rocket in the dish really just consisted of rocket leaves scattered around the plate but I was still really happy with my choice.

artichoke ravioli with prawn - this dish was good but I always walk away from artichoke dishes thinking that they don't live up to a good old plain steamed artichoke with a bowl of melted butter (my favorite)! I just didn't get the flavor of artichokes in the ravioli and unfortunately the prawns were a little overdone.

tiramisu - this dessert was absolutely delicious - nice and creamy and cool! I wasn't too crazy about the coffee sauce it came with but it didn't diminish my joy for it.

Eddie:
pumpkin ravioli with butter and sage - this was Eddie's favorite of his choices. The pumpkin had a nice creamy flavor.

ricotta lemon ravioli - Eddie liked this dish but did call it "ordinary." I, however, thought it was very nicely done and liked how you could really taste the lemon in it.

neopolitan cheesecake - having just bought neopolitan ice cream from the grocery store we foolishly thought the cheesecake would be something in the same vein - tricolored vanilla, chocolate, strawberry. The thought that it would be Naples style cheesecake didn't even cross our minds until it was placed in front of Eddie. He still liked the dessert but was slightly disappointed that it wasn't tricolored...

FIL:
mussel risotto, roast monkfish, tiramisu - this starter and main were my second choices and I have to admit I was jealous of his main! It looked absolutely delicious and my FIL confirmed that it was. I tried a bite of his mussel risotto and that was very good as well. Eddie and I were surprised that he ordered the risotto because my FIL made a strong statement once that risotto was one of the few things he didn't care for. This was after he had eaten a very overcooked, gummy risotto at one of our neighborhood restaurants in NYC . He declared after the risotto at Latium that he had changed his mind about risotto and it was simply that particular restaurants version of it that he didn't care for. We are glad he had a positive experience!

Total for food and drinks: ~₤140

Our experience at Latium was very positive. I agree with everything I read online: the food was very good but the decor is a little uninspiring. The restaurant has a somewhat corporate feel to it and is slightly bland. However, the service and food makes up for all of that. We had excellent service throughout the evening and enjoyed all the little extras they brought to the table: olives, little nibbles (rice balls, ham parcels, etc.) and a bread basket that we couldn't get enough of! We greedily ate through one basket quite quickly and they were more than happy to bring us a second! With three courses each and coffee we walked out of Latium very stuffed!

Eddie and I would not hesitate to return to Latium. The seasonal menus offer quite a variety and the prices are reasonable. The restaurant is also on the quiet side, which is always appealing to us. Another positive is that the restaurant is within easy walking distance of the Oxford Circus tube station.