'I went to one of London's 'worst Italian restaurants' and the manager wouldn't stop yelling at the

Among the list of options for restaurants in Soho, one place advertises it's 'fine dining' as one of the 'most popular' Italian restaurants.

But a long thread of TripAdvisor reviews suggests that Little Italy is actually one of London's 'worst' Italian restaurants.

Within recent weeks, reviewers have labelled the Frith Street eatery 'an absolute rip off' and 'disgusting', with one diner even asking 'kitchen nightmares- where is Gordon Ramsey?'

READ MORE: 'I ate at London's "rudest restaurant" and I was more entertained than insulted'

So I decided to take one for the team and head to Little Italy to try it for myself.

Reading through people's experiences while I made the journey into central, I was quite scared.

One diner reported that on their visit, a security guard 'threatened' them and forced them to leave the restaurant claiming he was 'Italian mafia'. Was I going to be safe going for a quick lunch?

Arriving at the Soho spot in the middle of lunch time, there were thankfully no gangsters in sight but the outdoor tables from their next door Bar Italia were completely blocking the entrance instead.

Standing rather awkwardly, I saw a man I presumed to be the manager sat at the door who just smiled blankly at me. I then wedged my way through the tables and into the fancy interior.

Again, I stood ignored for a couple of moments until the waitress noticed me, inside the completely empty restaurant.

Led to my table, the waitress spoke to me in monotone - it later became very clear why.

Little Italy quickly began to fill up with a lunch rush and I started to look through the menu.

I could not even comprehend what I was reading. My eyes became wider and wider, to the point where it was like they were being pushed open with cocktail sticks. The prices were absolutely ridiculous.

Of course, I can't brush over that it was smack bang in Central London, in tourist trap town, where prices are infamously high.

But reading that menu, knowing what I could find elsewhere just around the corner, I can confidently say that Little Italy's menu is extortionate.

When I was brought over my glass of lemonade - a mind-boggling £4.50 for some watery tasting lemonade on tap - I could overhear a rather uncomfortable conversation at another table.

"You know you shouldn't be pouring wine when the bottle has foil on it still like that," I heard a diner telling the waitress, who very quickly apologised and began to correct herself, before another diner jumped in: "It's not your fault though, I bet your manager has never told you how to do it, has he?"

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This is when I got the first glimpse of Little Italy's biggest problem: "No, he hasn't." The waitress bluntly replied.

I ordered my margherita pizza, expecting the best pizza of my life at the unbelievable price of £14, along with a salad, and finally took in my surroundings.

The interior nods an attempt to looking pretty swanky, with big white table cloths, silver cutlery and suave glassware.

Everything you'd expect from a spot that shows off visits from 'celebs' like ex-Love Islanders on Instagram. Their account which they have suspiciously turned off all comments on.

With jazzy and classic instrumentals playing throughout the fancy room, they also had a TV on the back wall playing episodes of European soap operas, which was rather odd.

Plodding around, I could see the staff embodying the stereotypes of young Londoners stuck in a hospitality job they hate.

Suddenly, I began to hear the manager I'd seen at the door barking orders at his staff, telling them he was unhappy with service or items that had been brought out.

It was awkward, as the whole restaurant of diners could hear him, but he didn't seem to care.

He was zooming about the place like it was a busy diner full of customers and staff, while everything around him was supposed to demonstrate that the restaurant offers 'fine dining'.

At one point, when my pizza was brought over, he completely ignored me, but leaned over and started giving the waitress angry instructions to not forget to take away my spare napkin.

It was unnecessary and unsettling and I gave her a sympathetic look but her expression suggested she was more than used to this.

I had to wait a little longer for my side salad, which I'd already been able to hear the manager was not at all happy about.

Looking down at my pizza, it was ok, but just from appearance alone I knew already it did not justify a price of £14.

I was expecting a steamy, golden pizza with nice doses of mozzarella and maybe some herbs in the mix. Instead it was coated with a thick layer of almost half melted, bubbly, congealed cheese.

It was what you'd expect a good pizza from your local little takeaway to be if you'd paid half the price for it - not what I was expecting from this high-brow establishment.

The margherita almost felt disrespectful to cheese.

The basil wasn't fresh either, with some of it visibly going off. The base was also unevenly cooked - some slices were soggy and some very nearly burnt.

When my salad finally showed up, I instantly wished I'd never ordered it. The lettuce was absolutely swimming in sauce, which didn't taste very fresh or homemade. It had what I can only describe as a chemically taste.

The excessive amount of dressing masked that some of the lettuce was pretty limp and not very green. Somehow, the bread was very crunchy but also chewily stale.

Eating more of the pizza, I still couldn't get my head around how overpriced it was. There was no real flavour at all - you can get much cheaper and better places from so many places.

I'd much rather a cheap eat from Pizza Pilgrims, Rossopomodoro or Franco Manca - pretty much any other London pizza spot.

Obviously, I still ate it, it tasted just fine. But I will never, ever pay that much for a plain margherita again.

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The manager at Little Italy doesn't seem to trust his staff. Throughout my lunch, I could hear him going to nearly every table after a waitress had to double-check their request or query as if his staff were incapable.

I almost feel bad for the waitresses there, they were perfectly fine at their job, but are trapped with an awful manager. 

I'm unsure how a restaurant can be labelled as 'fine dining' if your experience is underscored by a man yelling across the room.

Honestly, I think Little Italy is just a classic example of somewhere that has capitalised on being in tourist-central, making themselves look and appear fancy and classic, but not serving the food to match.

It was an average, disappointing meal, with uncomfortable moments and definitely a rip-off menu.

You can certainly find worse food elsewhere, but this whole experience was not at all enjoyable.

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