POLPO Italian Restaurant Chelsea

We visited POLPO on a busy Tuesday lunchtime. The restaurant is small and intimate, which is lovely but means that when it is full it’s quite a lot of noise and a little hard to hear. The restaurant offers a good variety of small plates. Some are much better value for money than others. The meat is not halal but there are so many vegetarian and seafood dishes you’re not missing out. Looking back we had a lot of fried dishes 😂 and would go back for a different variety. Highly recommend the mushroom pizza, potato & truffle croquettes and the zucchini fries! One of our party had the liver and said it was delicious. The only disappoint was the clam linguine, which was pretty bland. Service was really friendly and once the lunchtime rush was over the restaurant had a really nice atmosphere. We had two cocktails, two beers, 7 dishes and a tiramisu to finish. Total bill was £160 including service. £40 per head which is very good for Chelsea!

After spending the afternoon around King’s Road and Duke of York Square in Chelsea, I stopped at Polpo Duke of York Square, and it was exactly what I needed. The location is ideal — right in Duke of York Square, just moments from the Saatchi Gallery and surrounded by boutiques. Even though you’re in the heart of Chelsea, the terrace feels calm and intimate, especially in the evening when the lights around the square start to glow. Sitting outside under the umbrellas with a spritz in hand felt relaxed yet elegant. The food was genuinely impressive. The Venetian-style cicchetti are perfect for sharing, and everything tasted fresh and carefully prepared. The seafood was light and flavourful, the pasta rich but balanced, and even the simplest dishes — like the olives and small plates — were elevated by the quality of ingredients. The tiramisu at the end was creamy, delicate, and not overly sweet — the perfect finish. The service was equally strong. The staff were attentive, friendly, and knowledgeable without being intrusive. They made thoughtful recommendations and paced the meal beautifully, which made the whole experience feel unhurried and comfortable. After shopping around Chelsea or visiting the galleries, POLPO at Duke of York Square is the perfect place to sit back, unwind, and enjoy genuinely good Italian food with warm, professional service. I’ll definitely be returning.

Wow the service is so good. I forget the last time my food was served so quickly. Also they do amazing cocktails here

I don’t usually write reviews, but I felt like I had to this time. I went here for a date night, and everything was just perfect. The food, drinks, and dessert were all delicious, and the service and management were excellent. Amina took great care of us! She was so friendly, attentive, and made the whole experience even better. The atmosphere was warm and inviting, making it such a great place to spend the evening. I’d definitely recommend it!

Fantastic venue for a cosy birthday meal for two. The food was amazing, staff were very friendly. We never felt rushed. Unfortunately they forgot one of our dishes and our wine order but sorted it without any drama when we told them. Highly recommended. Worth booking as it's small and obviously popular. Thanks for a great evening, guys

This is my second visit to this restaurant, and it was wonderful! The cicchetti starters were absolutely delicious, especially the burrata cheese and potatoes. The seafood options were even better, with the prawns in sauce being simply unforgettable. Our waitress Amina was so kind, always smiling and incredibly sweet — she made our evening even more enjoyable. Thank you for such great service and food, highly recommended!

We’ve been to Polpo quite a few times and we always have a great evening here! We particularly love the octopus carpacaccio, oysters gratin, meatballs, and the seafood fregola. Thank you Ciro for the best night!

What a delightful lunch we had yesterday the food was amazing the ambience was buzzy but not too noisy! We sat indoors at the recommendation of our wonderful waiter, his name was Toni?? I couldn’t quite hear, but his service was exceptional and certainly added to the experience x 10 out of 10 Alyson and my two lovely daughters

Awful place! Food is not bad but service is atrocious. No one at the entrance to give u a seat, had to wander around to find someone to be seated. Once seated, I was not given cutlery or salt and pepper, I had to ask for cutlery, the man at next table also had to ask them for salt and pepper. All in all, awful experience, I would not recommend. No ambience at all, cold and unwelcoming.

Convenient to the Saatchi Gallery, Kings Road, Sloane Square and Sloane Street in the Duke of York Square. The food and service are both very good. Outdoor seating is available for the warmer weather. Good option if you are in the area.

The meal at Polpo was the best we had in London. The food and drinks were top notch, better than expected. The ambiance was fun and light. The service was impeccable. And the price was unmatched. We definitely received fine dining service and food for an everyday price. Hope that makes sense! Definitely recommend 10 out of 10 times.

Very much a tapas style dining experience. You order around 4 dishes between 2 people and you will feel stuffed. The quality of food here is high. The price is decent too it's around £7-£10 mark for the dishes. We ordered the steak, cod and lentil,potato crochette, arancini and deep fried stuffed olives. All dishes were quick to come and flavoursome. The olives have got to be my favourite ... really juicy and crispy when it's piping hot!! Definitely a nice ambient place to go for drinks or light dining. Would go to the other branches and check them out too!

Solid place with reasonable prices in a good location. We went in by chance, as the Sloan Square Market wasn't open. We each ordered pasta, which were all good and roughly £10. The portions were on the small side though, so I suggest you order a starter or something on the side. Service was reasonably prompt and good. The ambience was nice, as we had good weather and sat outside. Overall decent place for a quick Italian fix if you're in the area!

Food was fine, wine was very good, but: I found some of the staff somewhat offputting. The first guy I encountered seemed to hem and haw when I asked him for a table for dinner for one: "Mmm. Not sure. If you don't have a booking." Then another lady swiftly guided me to a table. This already made me feel like the man tried to see if he could maybe get rid of me. I don't know if it's racial bias or what--but either a restaurant requires or doesn't require reservations, so the discrepancy between the man's and woman's actions raised questions. Then, after I seated myself, the waiter comes up and skeptically asked me: "But have you talked to the host first?" (Are all guests welcomed like that? Note: this is a rhetorical question). All this made me feel...shall we say...not very welcome.

Terrace with great food and drinks and very attentive staff, in a posh little neighborhood square but with a very relaxed vibe still. The wine is wonderfully paired and the octopus was a definite fave! The spinach asparagus risotto and pork and sage skewers also to die for and the meatballs!!!!! Yum! Also I do not like olives and or anchovies but the FRIED olives... we ordered two because they were so damn good!!! Loved this place!

Average pasta, but INCREDIBLE lamb meatballs, for meat eaters, and chickpea meatballs, for veggie lovers. The pizza was honestly as good as the best I've had in Italy. The mushroom and truffle arancini was delicious. The wild herb risotto was pretty solid. Overall, so happy we stopped in!

Disappointing quality given the choices around. We had Venetian meatballs, crab crostini, garlic and chili prawns, octopus carpaccio and aranchini. They were all equally ordinary, with nothing to write home about. The prosecco is served in water glasses (which is fine for most but I prefer mine in a grown up glass), and even that was quite ordinary. Overall, quite disappointed with the quality of food. The service was quite decent though, but not enough to recommend Polpo or return to it.

Solid D minus for the food. I have had better spaghetti and meatballs from a can. Swordfish was over cooked and rubbery. Pizza was undercooked and tasted like pizza in my 5th grade cafeteria. All around pretty terrible.

The food was decent and it had a classic Italian menu but the service was poor and slow, they became more and more stubborn as the dining went on.

Nice setting in upscale Duke of York shopping area. Pretty rustic decor. OK service if a little rushed. Good drinks. Mediocre "Venetian" tapas dishes. We had the classic meatballs and potato croquettes - nothing special. Undercooked pizza (!). Minuscule dessert. Excellent coffee. Any cafe across the adjacent Kings Road offers better value.

Nice setting for this Polpo, has a large amount of outdoor seating in Duke of York so away from the main road and the traffic, also has outdoor heaters and coverage from rain. As far as food goes, all dishes we had were tasty, slightly small portions but i that allows you to try many different plates. Slight negative was the lack of new clean plates. That said, they dont rush you to finish so you really can enjoy the meal.