First time here? Take the 30-second tour of how Restaurantica works!
Al Paninos starts from a small, stubborn idea: a hot sandwich, pressed to order, with nothing about it overcomplicated. Richmond Row has never wanted for places to eat, but downtown London's lunch hour was missing a counter built around sandwiches coming hot off a panini press, and that absence is the opening Al Paninos was built to fill. Owner Zack Agathos opened it to do exactly that — he wanted, by his own account to local reporting, hot sandwiches "without making it complicated." The menu keeps faith with the premise: focaccia, pressed; fillings stacked with intent; an order that lands fast without ever feeling like fast food.
The personality is Greek-Italian, and the Spicy Spyro is where it announces itself — grilled chicken, goat cheese, roasted red pepper, bacon, hot sauce, pistachio pesto, roasted garlic aioli, and arugula on pressed focaccia, heat and richness and a little funk in a single build. The Big AL runs the red-sauce lane: classic mama's meatballs with marinara, provolone, pistachio pesto, and shaved parmesan reggiano on a hoagie, hot peppers on request. The Fat Tony goes brighter, a chicken cutlet lifted with marinara, balsamic glaze, basil, and mozzarella. Pistachio pesto and a set of house-made sauces turn up across the board, and the bread comes from London Portuguese Bakery — the kind of detail that keeps these from reading like assembly-line subs.
Read the rest of the board and a sensibility emerges. The sandwiches are named like a rogues' gallery — Big AL, Fat Tony, Diamond Jim's, the Capone, a Cubano filed under the Castro — and the joke runs alongside the cooking rather than standing in for it. Rib eye anchors the Diamond Jim's and the Balboa, veal carries the Cousin Nicky, pulled pork the Capone, and the Philly Fries pile rib eye, cheese sauce, and sauteed onion onto the same base. For lighter footing there's a chicken-cutlet Caesar called the Julius Caesar and a straight Caesar Salad. And the Greek side is no afterthought: Greek Fries arrive loaded with tomato, onion, cucumber, tzatziki, burnt lemon, feta, and oregano, closer to a second headline than a side. It is a tight menu that still gives a table enough range to disagree and land somewhere everyone is happy.
The confidence is earned. Agathos comes from a London restaurant family — his relatives have run several of the city's restaurants over the years, among them Huron House and Icarus — and that background, by his own account to local reporting, is what let him carry a hot-sandwich concept downtown without second-guessing it. He opened Al Paninos on Richmond Street in April of 2024, betting that a lunch crowd wanted this and not much fuss around it. The early read suggests the bet was a sound one.
Day to day, the shop is built for the way downtown actually eats. There are no reservations to make; you order at the counter or ahead online, and the kitchen leans toward pickup and delivery as much as the handful of tables in front of it. An order form on the website also takes catering, which makes Al Paninos a fit for an office lunch as easily as a single sandwich. The hours stretch later toward the weekend — Friday and Saturday run to ten — while the start of the week keeps to a tighter lunch rhythm. Most of the menu travels well, which makes the shop an easy answer for a desk lunch, a couch dinner, or a group order that has to keep several appetites happy at once.
The dessert case settles the meal on home ground — Al's Tiramisu for an Italian finish, Strawberry Shortcake when something lighter is the move. Neither strains to be more than it is. The gangster names are the wink; the pressed focaccia, the house sauces, and the bakery bread are why it sticks.
Al Paninos is not just a generic sub counter: Spicy Spyro, Big AL, Fat Tony, Greek Fries, and the focaccia panini give the menu a specific Greek-Italian identity.
Local coverage points to bread from a London bakery plus in-house sauces and glazes, which gives the sandwiches more identity than a simple assembly-line build.
The shop works as a quick downtown London comfort-food stop for loaded sandwiches, fries, salads, dessert, and order-ahead meals.
This is Restaurantica’s own read — synthesized from publicly available sources across diner signal and editorial research, last updated June 2026. It’s our interpretation of the evidence, not a crowd average — and placement is never for sale.
Built around hearty panini, meatballs, fries, and tiramisu, Al Paninos is a comfort-food stop with a tight sandwich focus.
Greek-Italian fillings, chili heat, pesto, tzatziki, and bold sandwich builds give the menu more personality than a standard sub counter.
Stacked sandwiches, loaded fries, salads, and desserts make the menu practical for pickup and delivery without a full-service dining format.
A small group can split Greek Fries and order across meatball, chicken, steak, salad, dessert, and veggie-friendly choices without losing the sandwich-shop focus.
The value is practical: big sandwiches, loaded sides, salads, and desserts that work as an everyday downtown London meal.
Restaurantica’s write-up above is synthesized from broad public signal — community reviews add the first-person layer. Share the nuances of your visit to Al Paninos in London: the standout dishes, the room, the service.
Write a review
