Bunga Bunga

Fun, lively and unique!
I went here for a friends birthday meal at 12pm, this meant we got unlimited Prosecco at the table for the next 2 hours, we had a meat course, a pizza course, and a very small dessert course…
The meat was taken away before we’d finished it, (as we were waiting for more people we didn’t want to eat it all), the same happened with the pizza course, the pizzas were very nice. They were long and have 4 different flavours on them.
What made this place stand out was how fun the place was, the main guy in charge of the place was laughing and joking with everyone and made the place more fun.
The place turned into more of a bar with a karaōke, dancing, cabaret act… at 2pm, so definitely a fun experience!
For the cost my friend had paid for deposit of £100 and we had to pay around £40 on the day, can’t remember the number of people but it felt like it was a tad more than we should have.

Maybe it’s just me but when I get charged £23 for a glass of wine part of me dies inside. Bunga Bunga was an interesting experience undertaken for a friends birthday a few weeks back! We ate from a set meal (£30 a head) which was fairly tasty and there was a lot of it, however, the drinks were just astronomically expensive. I’ve lived in London for 6 years and never encountered such expensive drinks.
The décor is tacky to say the least (but of course that’s the point!), the music was great and the atmosphere was reminiscent of my student days AKA drunken karaōke and mass sing-​a-​longs!
My favourite part of the evening had to be when Maria Carey, All I want for Christmas, came blasting out of the speakers (it was June 30^th) and everyone sang along as though it were December 24^th. Overall it was a fun night but I felt I couldn’t fully appreciate it with my credit card glaring at me from the depths of my purse. Needless to say the bank were less happy than I was the following day.

I haven’t been here to eat so can’t comment on that aspect. However I’ve been twice to party and it’s been some of the best nights out.
It starts with the bouncer being super friendly which is unheard of. Downstairs restaurant is free to go in and turns into a bar/​club after around 10pm. The bartenders are super funny and friendly, all dressed up Italian style!
The decoration is absolutely priceless and if ever you get bored (which is unlikely) you can spend the evening checking it all out. The berlusconi cocktail which comes served in his actually head is hilarious and delicious. There’s karaōke but they don’t let the singer’s voice get too loud so you mostly hear the original version rather than a drunk rendition if it… Which no one wants to hear really.
Anyway, go if you like to laugh at yourself and definitely take Italians so that you can see their shame hahaha.

DISCLAIMER: I have only been here for dinner on a tuesday night
DISCLAIMER 2: I am Italian
Came here for a birthday dinner during the week a couple of months ago with a group of friends 90% italians. That was my first trip to Battersea. The birthday boy had arranged a pre-​set menu that included a lot of really nice stuff.
we had milanese, various salads, a lot of salami, prosciutto etc with a hot and soft focaccia, mozzarela in carrotta, shallowfried whitebait, bruschettas, etc. and then we had 4 different varieties of pizza al metro.
I liked the décor of the place, a constant remind to my homecountry (there is a vespa, a lot of newspapers covers and other italian stuff) and the sense of humor that accompains it.
the service is nice and at some point the staff did a nice dance around the tables, a sort of animation.
At the end of the dinner there was music and we had a little dance, in the same room as the restaurant, where there is also a bar in the middle. I haven’t been to the other floors, but apparently there is a cinema and private rooms /​a club open during the weekend.
the place is also a karaōke bar, the only disappointing thing about it is that they don’t have a lot of italian songs!

This pizzeria has an off-​handed aura about it I find amusing. The food– pizza and Italian fare– are tasty enough. The service has always been friendly and prompt. They serve decent drinks. I think the thing you have to come to expect, that a lot of people have a hard time getting over, is the unique atmosphere. It is very odd and off the wall. If you come expecting a serene, serious Italian environment you will simply be baffled. If you come in with a sense of humor– you will likely enjoy yourself. I am fond of the Karaōke as well — not so much singing myself as enjoying the jovial antics of other.
It is a jolly place to de-​stress, unwind and simply laugh.

So this place is supposed to be this… fun, cool, hipster type of place… but it’s in Chelsea… Do they not know what the definition of hipster is? You would find a joint like that in say AUSTIN, TX??? or like an eclectic part of town… it’s just kind of out of place… I say this only because… i had no idea what type of place it was before i showed up… my friend picked it out… (we were having a girls night out) and i showed up in a sexy black dress and heels… Yea…i was over dressed. but not really… it was ok to be over dressed because HELLO it’s in the Chelsea area… anyways… It’s a bunch of non-​hipsters partying like hipsters… Don’t get me wrong… aren’t all hipsters like that anyways? =) the food is great… ambiance is very chill and fun and they have karaōke and really make it an experience~ We left after dinner. Only because it’s just not the type of places we like… NOT hating at all~~ i have love for everybody~ This place is pretty cool, and food was great~ just not my style~~
What i liked:
1. The food: Pizza & polenta chips (DO IT)
2. The free pictures from their site
3. The energy and party atmosphere (if that’s what your into)

I liked Bunga Bunga, really I did! The food was tasty, the atmosphere is really unusual, and the servers are good. At the same time, it’s so far from Central London that for a dinner occasion (like the birthday dinner we had) that it’s a bit too much for me, and not easily accessed by public transit.
The food itself was amazing — we had a multi-​dish set menu that was really amazing, plus we ordered a pizza to ensure we were properly gorged. The birthday cake and singing were great, as was the live music.
I’ve heard good things about the Bunga Bunga parties, which I would definitely be interested in checking out!

Good points:
(1) They have a Eurovision Room (we were in fact there on Eurovison night)
(2) One of the pizzas, which I believe to be «Italy’s Fun Guy» — truffle oil, pecorino, wild mushrooms — is sensationally delicious and despite all the below I would return just to eat this again
(3) The giant disco ball cocktail which managed not to be sickly sweet but was actually both fruity and refreshing and, obviously, awesome for being in a giant disco ball (although I was terrified it would tip over).
Bad points:
(1) Shockingly rude staff (one waitress was very nice, but there was a short bald guy wearing a suit and I think an ear piece, although maybe my memory is just imposing that to ilustrate my general sense of obnoxiousness)
(2) The food was about an hour late, if not more.
(3) Although I’m normally against music being too loud pre dancing time, Eurovision was actually not on loud enough to hear the songs properly!
(4) As the night wore on, they let so many people into the Eurovision Room that it was literally impossible to move, which isn’t much fun if you want to dance/​go to the bar/​got to the toilet. I was also genuinely concerned that this was a major safety hazard — I don’t generally worry about fire evacuation procedures but no doubt people would have been trampled to death had anything gone wrong.
(5) Not enough toilets to support the vast numbers of people they let in

I did not try the food, we went to the Eurovision room on the Eurovision night. Although we didn’t have a booking (I know, I know, not really smart) they put us on the waiting list and when we came back, they let us in.
The door staff was lovely and the security guy even told us there was a pub nearby where they were doing the tv contest.
The club itself is quite tiny which is a same, because the music is good.

If it wasn’t for the rudest staff in town, I would give this place more stars. Security slammed the door on my wife’s face for having used what in their mind was the wrong door, which had no indications. Won’t be coming back

This place was so much fun! If you plan on going, plan to be there the entire night… and book reservations weeks ahead of time. The food was surprisingly good. The pizzas were a bit too thin but were tasty. The aubergine parmigiana! Now that’s the winner. The Sanviogese went down a little too smoothly that night.
If you were planning on singing, you can relax ‘cuz its not open to the audience (which in many ways probably better for your ears!) Really fun music and all around festive atmosphere.
Bunga Bunga!

W-​wow. Charming, cheeky and gregariously Italian, ‘Bunga Bunga’ is a hugely welcome recent addition to Battersea Bridge Road.
Currently aimed exclusively to the Thurs-​Sun evening crowd, the Bunga Bunga experience evolves as the evening advances. For the first few hours it’s a pizzeria, serving pretty decent thin, sourdough-​based pizzas that come by the metre when more than one pizza is ordered. Then, the tables are cleared away and karaōke takes centre stage for an hour or so. Finally, Bunga Bunga becomes a club, with the bar doling out an impressive range of cocktails, as well as Peroni, Nastra Azzurro and wine.
An unashamed sense of cheek and fun runs throughout the joint. ‘Bunga Bunga’ is of course the name given by an aspiring model to describe the ‘social gatherings of choice’ for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Five of the pizzas are named after women subsequently associated with Berlusconi, the waiters have aprons with prints of Michelangelo’s statute of David and the menus have basic Italian phrases for diners to learn, from setting out the Italian for «Please…», «Thank you…», «You look very beautiful» to «Would you like to see the private rooms upstairs…» (given as «Bunga Bunga?»).
The décor is zany Italian. Two rusty scooters hang from the ceiling, with a somewhat swankier Martini-​badged one by the door. The Italian bar staff are dressed in Gondolier outfits, complete with straw hats. The walls are filled with Italian-​themed pictures, postcards and slightly bizarre stuffed boar heads, some with Gendarme hats.
The staff are young, really friendly, helpful and above all enthusiastic about the place. The crowd seem to be primarily Chelsea-​types, hopping across Battersea Bridge for some excitement south of the river.
Overall, great to see this kind of venture in otherwise rather uninspiring Battersea Bridge Road (Draft House excluded). The knowledge that a karaōke joint in a loudly-​themed Italian restaurant lies on my commute route is dangerous knowledge too. I feel that my rendition of Matt Monro’s «On Days Like These» could be making its public debut rather sooner than intended.