On a Saturday afternoon around 1:30 pm the restaurant was pretty bustling. This was to be expected given that it’s literally on the same street as the protobello road market. We had made reservations, which I would recommend, particularly if your group is larger than just a couple of people. We sat in the first room, right where the large brick oven is, which was nice because we got to watch the pizzas being made. The back room, though, does seem more cozy and intimate, so I would generally prefer that. There is also a small downstairs, which is likely just used only at the busiest of times (perhaps dinners).
Our waitress was nice, but had a hard time understanding what we were saying. We ended up ordering one marinara and one margherita. First, these are a great size and one will certainly feed a person. The pizzas are good, but they suffer from the same thing that many other imperfectly executed Neapolitan pizzas do – they are a little bland. Neapolitan pizzas are one of the hardest things to master and each individual component must shine without overpowering the others. Here, the crust and tomato sauce had quite weak flavors. The tomato sauce tasted very much like plain crushed and cooked tomatoes – not well-flavored, not well-spiced, but ultra tomatoey. It wasn’t actively bad, but it was very one-note. The crust was also relatively flavorless, and in terms of shape and texture, was not as doughy and thick as the superior Neapolitan pizzas tend to be.
Margherita – the same crust and sauce comments from above, but we actually liked the mozzarella on this pizza quite a bit and we do tend to be quite picky about its quality. Unfortunately, it didn’t blend as well as it should have with the rest of the pizza components, but the flavor was pretty good. It was stronger tasting than a regular house mozzarella.
Marinara – one extra note on this: the garlic that comes on the pizza is roasted with oil. I prefer fresh garlic on the pizza and asked for them to provide this in lieu of the roasted. They accommodated this request without any problems. Also, the marinara did not come with oregano, which is unusual, but when I asked, they provided it on the side.
A word about the risotto – two tables next to us ordered this dish and both complained about its lack of taste. One woman even sent it back and ordered the spaghetti with claims instead and liked that much better. She noted that the risotto seemed to be lacking salt and actual flavor.
The pizzas were good enough, but I’d probably only go back if I happened to be in the area.
