Our food
Our menu focuses on Italian-American classics, and also covers various family favourites from our childhood.
The dish, ‘Mom’s spaghetti’ is made using the very same recipe handed down from my grandmother, and something we’d eat on special occasions when growing up. Keep your eyes peeled around the restaurant for photos us eating them as children.
Our pasta sauces are made by hand, daily, and my mother prepares the desserts every morning — so make sure you give them a go too.
We work closely with our suppliers, receiving daily deliveries of fresh and imported ingredients. Our pizzas are prepared with our own 48-hour fermented dough, ensuring crispy yet fluffy goodness.
Gluten-free pasta and pizza bases are available, just let us know when ordering if you have any specific dietary requirements so we can cater for you as best we can.
Here’s our vegetarian and vegan menu.
Allergen information can be found here.
Aperitivi
Smoked almonds 6
Nocellara olives 6
Rosemary garlic bread 7 (add mozzarella 2)
Starters
House salumi 14
• selection of italian cured meats
Cheese antipasto 13
• selection of Italian cheeses, grilled vegetables
Seafood cocktail 16
• shrimp, Devon crab, Marie Rose
Mozzarella sticks 10
• with ‘nduja and wild honey (vegetarian available)
Italian burrata 11
• with cherry tomatoes and basil oil (vegan available)
Pasta
Mom’s Spaghetti 22
• pork and beef meatballs, red sauce, Parmesan
Penne alla vodka 16
• Our vodka red sauce, chilli, Parmesan
(vegan available)
Lamb ragù rigatoni 19
• braised lamb, rosemary, anchovy
Grasso’s lobster linguine 39
• Lobster, vodka red sauce, chilli
More on each pasta dish over here.
Mains
Chicken parm 24
• herb-crusted chicken, marinara sauce, mozzarella
• add spaghetti pomodoro 7
• add fries 6
The Big Caesar
• baby gem & romaine, anchovy dressing, parmesan crumb, grated parmesan, croutons
• with herb-crusted artichoke 18
• with herb-crusted chicken 20
Sides
Kale & parmesan salad, lemon dressing 9
Fried zucchini 9
Rosemary salt and pepper fries 6
Head here for more info on our main course dishes, head here.
Pizzas
Our pizzas are made to order, by our team of experienced pizzaiolos. We prepare our own 48 hour cold-fermented dough, resulting in a crisp yet fluffy pizza.
And we use both fresh, seasonal ingredients, and those imported from Italy. If you’d like to read up more about our pizzas at Grasso, you do so here.
Cheese Pie 16
• tomato, mozzarella, basil, Parmesan
Meatball Melt 19
• house meatballs, fennel sausage, tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan
Eggplant Parm 17
• garlic roasted eggplant, parmesan crumb, pesto, tomato, mozzarella
Pepperoni Passione 18
• pepperoni, chilli, hot honey, tomato, mozzarella, Parmesan
New New Yorker 17
• woodland mushrooms, marinated artichoke, confit garlic, tomato, mozzarella, Parmesan
The VBR 19
• vodka sauce, burrata, rocket, parmesan
• add Parma ham 4
Desserts
Our dessert menu is short and sweet, with just two items — both of which are made by our mother every morning.
Tiramisu 9.50
Made with amaretto for a nice kick
New York Cheesecake 9.50
NY style, baked in the oven with a blueberry compote
Dietary information
-
While we are able to cook our gluten free pasta in separate water, our gluten free pizza bases are cooked in the same oven as other pizzas. In addition, high amounts of gluten-containing ingredients in our kitchen make it difficult to rule out the spread across the kitchens and dishes.
-
Our chicken is halal and is cooked separately to other meats, but other items in the kitchen and the restaurant are not halal.
-
We have gluten free pizza bases and pasta available. Just mention when placing your order.
-
We are able to cater for those who follow a vegan diet, and can use vegan cheese on our pizzas.
-
We have various vegetarian starters, pizza and pasta dishes available.
Pasta, pizza, and more in Soho
Grasso is an Italian restaurant in Soho with a New York vibe, with a menu serving pizza, pasta, and dishes like mozzarella sticks, chicken parms, salads, and more.
You can find our restaurant in the heart of Soho, on Dean Street, in the heart of Soho.
Nearby Tube stations, include Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus, with Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square just ten minutes away.
We’re a stones a few minutes walk from Oxford Street, Regent Street, Marylebone, Fitzrovia and Covent Garden.
And we’ve been recognised by Cosmopolitan as the best Italian restaurant in London.
“Purveyors of the silkiest pasta sauces, delicious homemade desserts, and portions big enough to feed three, where do we even start when it comes to Soho’s family-run Italian-American?
”The decor combines the charm of a traditional trattoria with the laid-back vibes of a diner, transporting you into a cosy haven where comfort food reigns supreme.
”Start with the viral mozzarella dippers on a bed of nduja (they’re as deliciously molten as they look) and dive in with the chicken parm with spaghetti, or the new lobster linguine — ideal if you love the tang of vodka pasta with a decadent seafood twist. Prefer to play it safe? Pizzas adorn the menu, too, and we’d suggest going classic with the ‘Cheese pie’ (margherita) topping.
”Trying both the New York baked cheesecake and tiramisu — both handmade in the kitchen by the Grasso’s matriarch, might we add — is non-negotiable. Both are creamy, indulgent and ridiculously moreish. If you can’t bag a pre-booked table, the queue is 100% worth the wait.”
About Italian American cuisine
What is Italian American food?
Italian-American food is came about when Italian immigrants (mostly from Southern Italy and Sicily) moved to America, and had to adapted their cooking to their new surroundings.
They had access to different ingredients and cooking methods, and over time, what was traditional Italian cooking evolved into something that became its own.
Italian American is not the same as traditional Italian cuisine - it’s its own thing. Bolder flavors, and more generous with ingredients including cheese and sauce.
How is Italian American food different to Italian?
While Italian food will often depend on what is available regionally, Italian-American dishes celebrate heartiness and comfort — with rich, slow cooked tomato sauces, more generous portions, and bolder flavors.
Italian American cooking gives a not to its heritage, while adapting to more modern times, giving birth to dishes like like spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parms, and Caesar salads, with warmth, comfort, and family-style dining.
Our connection to Italian American food
Our family has Sicilian heritage, originating from Syracuse, on the east of the island. While our side settled in London, great uncles and aunts settled elsewhere, including New York. Each taking the recipes they had been taught by those who had come before them.
Growing up, we would eat various pasta dishes weekly, from simple penne pomodoro after school, to spaghetti and meatballs when we were celebrating a birthday, or other event such as Easter. Pizza was a Saturday night treat, whether that meant popping out to a local Itlaian, or having an American style delivery.
Today, our mother makes the pasta sauces each morning, using techniques that came from that tradition. The red sauce and meatballs in our ‘Mom's Spaghetti’ dish is the same one we grew up eating. She also makes every New York-style cheesecake and tiramisu.
What you’ll find at Grasso
Our menu reflects our heritage and the journeys made by other Italian immigrants to the East Coast of America.
You’ll find childhood dishes like spaghetti and meatballs, pomodoro, and cheesecake, alongside chicken parm, penne alla vodka with its creamy, slightly spicy sauce, and mozzarella sticks served with 'nduja and honey.
Our pizzas use 48-hour fermented dough, baked in a stone-based oven, topped with fresh and imported Italian ingredients.
To finish, we have a tiramisu, and a New York-style baked cheesecake. Both made by our mamma, Anna every morning.
Alongside the food, you’ll find a full selection of cocktails, an extensive wine list, and low and no alcohol drinks.
This is all backed by a soundtrack of disco and soul, giving the Studio 54 vibes.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Grasso is a restaurant that specialises in Italian-American cooking in Soho, London.
Our menu includes pizzas made with 48-hour fermented dough, pasta with daily-made sauces, and classics like chicken parm, meatballs, and mozzarella sticks. -
We're Italian-American rather than traditional Italian, focusing on the bold flavours and generous portions.
Some of our recipes come from our grandmother, and our mother makes sauces and desserts fresh daily.
Unlike other places, we're genuinely family-run.
-
Grasso is located at 81 Dean Street in Soho, London, just a few minutes from Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus stations, Oxford Street, and many of London’s most popular theatres and sights.
-
Yes, we recommend booking a table at our Soho restaurant, especially for evenings and weekends.
Make a reservation. -
Yest we do! Although we can’t guarantee we’ll have space in advance as this depends on reservations and other walk ins.
So we would always recommend making a reservation.
-
That would be our mozzarella sticks. Other popular items include the chicken parm, Mom's Spaghetti and Pepperoni Passione pizza.
-
Absolutely. With 180 seats, we can accommodate groups of various sizes.
We also offer semi-private and private dining spaces for special occasions and parties.
Get in touch for more info.