When Jordan Frieda and Tim Siadatan opened their pasta bar Padella in London’s Borough Market in 2016 little would they know that they would start an explosion in the popularity of the pasta-focused restaurant that is still being felt today.
With Padella the pair, who were behind Italian restaurant Trullo, created the blueprint for pasta-focused small plates places at a time when chains such as Strada, Carluccio’s and Jamie’s Italian dominated the high street. Their focus on just serving pasta – and top quality pasta at that – was at the vanguard of the ‘better pasta movement’ that led to the likes of restaurants such as Bancone and Stevie Parle’s Pastaio being born and helped create a new category of restaurant in the UK that is now home to a number of players.
Pasta has since become big business, and the good profit margins it can offer have turned the heads of restaurateurs and investors over the past few years. The big success stories have been the growth of Lina Stores, after White Rabbit Projects realised that the 80-year-old brand was a relevant in today’s dining out sector as it was when it launched in 1944, Pasta Evangelists, which pivoted from posting pasta through people’s letterboxes to becoming a major nationwide pasta player, and Coco Di Mama, which has been one of the big success stories in Azzurri Group’s portfolio.
The move of top chef Phil Howard into the pasta sector with NOTTO is yet another sign that people see a strong future in the dish. Here’s our rundown of the key multi-site restaurant brands that have pasta as their main focus.
Photo: Coco di Mama websiteCoco Di Mama
Founded: 2011
UK sites: 147 including delivery kitchens
Coco Di Mama has been a success story for brand owner Azzurri Group and has helped the Ask Italian and Zizzi operator successfully move into the QSR space. It became a hit among the London lunchtime trade almost 15 years ago thanks to its generous pasta selection – served in paper pots – and has stayed true to its roots while also widening its menu to include sandwiches, breads and seasoned fries. In February 2023 the brand grew its reach with the launch of its first site outside of the capital in Reading and has since expanded across the UK thanks to the extensive use of delivery kitchens. Its estate is now nearing the 150 mark, although the large majority of its sites are delivery kitchens, often using Azzurri’s estate of high street Italian restaurants for kitchens. Coco Di Mama has also grown into an omnichannel brand and in September it extended its reach into retail with a nationwide launch into Tesco following a launch into Sainsbury’s the previous year.
Pasta Evangelists
Founded: 2016
UK sites: 9 restaurants and around 40 delivery kitchens
Pasta Evangelists is one of the success stories of the pasta category in terms of roll out. It was founded in 2016 by Alessandro Savelli and began as a recipe kit service available by post before gaining attention after a failed bid on TV’s Dragon’s Den. The company sold a majority stake in its business to Barilla in January 2021 and has embarked on solid expansion since, now operating more than 50 restaurants and food delivery kitchens. There are nine standalone Pasta Evangelist restaurants in Chiswick, Greenwich, Farringdon, Richmond, Manchester Airport, New Oxford Street, Harrods, York and Guildford and they will be followed by sites in Queensway and Chelsea as part of its plans to open 100 restaurants across the UK within five years, either company owned or franchisee operated. In October the company reported that its revenues had increased below the rate of inflation in 2024 and that its losses had widened. Turnover rose 3% to £33.2m for the year ending 31 December 2024 but the it reported a pre-tax loss of £16.4m, compared with loss of £14.7m the previous year
Lina Stores
Founded: 1944
UK sites: 11
Lina Stores may have been founded in 1944, but it is only in the past decade that it has grown from an Italian deli into a pasta restaurant that is now in the double-digits in terms of number of sites. The brand was part of the early wave of new pasta-focused restaurants to emerge in the capital when it opened a restaurant on Soho’s Greek Street, round the corner from its original deli, in 2018. Since then, it has grown steadily across the capital, thanks to funding and support from hospitality incubator business White Rabbit Projects. Known for its sharing plates approach, smart fit out and pale green colour palette, the brand made its national debut in Manchester last year and now also operates three sites in Japan.
Picture credit: spaghettihouse.co.ukSpaghetti House
Founded: 1955
UK sites: 6
Spaghetti House operates six restaurants in London, its estate having shrunk in recent years. When it launched 70 years ago it promised ‘spaghetti, but not on toast’, such the lack of understanding of Italian food in the UK at the time and the brand has remained London’s oldest family-run Italian restaurant. Its London estate comprises venues in Kensington High Street, Cranbourn Street, Goodge Street, Marble Arch, Carnaby Street, and Oxford Street and while it does serve a menu more akin to the Italian hight street chains these days, it appears on this list by virtue of its larger than usual selection of pasta dishes.
Emilia’s Crafted Pasta
Founded: 2015
UK sites: 5
Andrew Macleod left behind a successful career in the poker business to launch Emilia’s Crafted Pasta and now presides over a business with restaurants in the capital in Victoria, Canary Wharf, St Katharine Docks, Baker Street, and Aldgate. Unlike rivals such as Padella, Lina Stores, and Bancone, Emilia’s serves main
course-size plates of pasta rather than small plates with menu options that include yellowfin tuna puttanesca with tomatoes, olives and capers; ravioli with grass-fed lamb, parsley and parmesan in a butter and sage sauce; and four-hour slow cooked béchamel bolognese with grated parmesan. Its latest restaurant, in Victoria, is the company’s largest to date and seats 100 diners in total across two floors and an outside terrace. Emilia’s also sells a range of branded dried pasta that is available through its website.
Remoli
Founded: 2011
UK sites: 5
Simone Remoli founded his eponymous pasta business in 2011 having moved from Rome to London in 2007. The brand has a customisable offer with customers given the option of first choosing a sauce (red or white) – options include vongole, basil pesto, cacio e pepe, carbonara, pork sausage ragu, lobster and red prawns – and then from a selection of nine different pasta shapes and five different cheeses. The London-based brand has sites in Brent Cross, Bromley South, Ealing Broadway, Wembley Park, and Westfield Stratford and serves a pizza menu at its Ealing and Bromley venues.
Noci
Founded: 2022
UK sites: 4
Part of Various Eateries group, which also operates the Coppa Club brand of all-day venues, Noci was founded in Islington by former Bancone (see below) head chef Louis Korovilas as neighbourhood-style pasta restaurant. There are now four Noci restaurants in the capital, in Battersea, Shoreditch, and Richmond. Noci’s menu is predominantly pasta but it does serve a short range of larger Italian dishes such as fritto misto and chicken Milanese. In the past, Various Eateries has pinpointed Noci as a growth brand, with executive director Andy Bassadone saying in late 2023: “While Noci is still a relatively small part of the group, we expect it to become an increasingly core part of our growth strategy going forwards.”
Bancone
Founded: 2018
UK sites: 4
Meaning ‘counter’ in Italian, Bancone was founded by former Giorgio Locatelli chef Louis Korovilas alongside restaurateurs David Ramsey and Will Ellner. The debut site opened in Covent Garden with a tight pasta menu with its hero dish of silk handkerchiefs with walnut butter and confit egg yolk becoming a firm favourite. This was followed in 2020 by a second restaurant in Soho’s Golden Sqaure, when it took on the former Foxlow restaurant site. In 2022, the company raised more than £900,000 through an equity-based crowdfund, to kickstart its ‘ambitious’ growth plans and has since opened in London’s Borough Yards as well as Kensington, its most recent launch that opened in the spring.
Guido’s
Founded: 2016
UK sites: 3
Guido’s operates three London sites, two that only do take away – New Fetter Lane, Chancery Lane – and a Kingsway that is open for dine-in and take away. As with Remoli (see above), customers can choose the type of pasta they want from penne, spaghetti, farfalle, rigatoni, wholemeal radiatori and gluten free fusilli and then add one of nine toppings, with the meal served in takeaway-style paper boxes. Beyond that offer is one salad and a choice of two styles of tiramisu. Last year Guido’s acquired two sites in Camden – a 2m by 2m square booth in West Yard and a 4m by 4m site in Camden’s newer Hawley Wharf development – but both locations are no longer listed on its website.Padella
Out of the frying pan: Padella’s flagship Borough Market restaurantPadella
Founded: 2016
UK sites: 2
Padella may only have two sites, in Borough Market and Shoreditch, but Jordan Frieda and Tim Siadatan lit the touchpaper for the ongoing popularity of pasta restaurants in the capital and beyond when they opened in Borough Market in 2016. Long queues at the original site have been a feature ever since, with the pair finally opening a second site in Shoreditch in 2020 to meet with the demand (and also to grow their bakery space, which prepares the pasta dough and the bread for both Padella and their Highbury restaurant Trullo). Such has been the popularity of Padella that Siadatan’s newly-published cookbook of the same name has been shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year 2025.
NOTTO
Founded: 2022
UK sites: 2
Originally called OTTO before a legal challenge forced a name change, NOTTO is a departure for Michelin-starred chef Phil Howard, previously of two-starred The Square in Mayfair and current chef-patron at the one-starred Elystan Street in Chelsea. The concept was established in spring 2021 as a London-based pasta delivery service but now operates two restaurants – in Piccadilly and Covent Garden – and more are set to follow. A site in South Kensington was mooted last year but is yet to materialise and now NOTTO’s next site looks to be a fast-casual spin off opening in the City. The new concept in Broadgate will deliver the team’s ingredient-led ethos and pasta expertise in a quick-service format designed and will offer six pasta dishes as well as a number of salads and sides.
Pasta Cosa
Founded: 2016
UK sites: 2
Sisters Kayleigh and Talia Baccino opened Pasta Cosa on Liverpool’s Castle Street in 2016 serving a range of fresh pasta and toasted ciabatta. In October they doubled up with a second site in the city at Liverpool’s Royal Albert Dock. The pair also own Francie’s Focaccia & Coffee Italian cafe at the development.
Dining and Cooking