Charing Cross, Pizza Restaurant Guide

“Not quite as good as the original in Naples, but still a safe bet if you want a traditional Neapolitan pizza in the heart of the capital” – Ciro Salvo’s offshoot of his award-winning chain (which is indeed headquartered in Napoli) serves “seriously great” pizza “as Naples intended” (using his special long fermentation dough); and its “busy and vibrant” quarters are “an excellent find so close to Trafalgar Square!”. A few pizza anoraks say “it’s fine, just not London’s best”.

“Bouncy, chewy, doughy deliciousness – the crust is to die for” at this pizzeria that uses seawater to make its dough. “The lovely little restaurant in Borough doesn’t look anything special during the day, but in the evening it’s very romantic with candles and soft lighting”. Some reckon “the food in St James’s is nothing like as good as the original in Borough”.

“The best whistle-stop pizza in London” for its army of fans – the Elliot brothers’ successful chain continues to grow, with their latest opening in Queen’s Park in June 2023. But even if “you can’t knock the food” or the “realistic prices”, the rest of the experience is somewhere between “pleasant” and “a bit underwhelming”.

An “open-plan kitchen” complete with fire pit is the theme unifying Neil Rankin’s four-strong BBQ-group, which takes all its supplies of beef, pork, lamb and chicken from Yorkshire farmer Charles Ashbridge. Despite some favourable steak suppers being reported, ratings took a further dive in our latest poll, continuing last year’s themes of “chaotic” service and a feeling that the overall experience can “promise more than it delivers”. Lack of value, in particular, inspires repeated gripes (“plates were minuscule at ridiculous prices…”; “we joked that you needed a microscope to find the portions…”)

2021 Review: “Neapolitan influences are evident in the choice of ingredients, and the wood-burning oven makes for good, chewy, charred crusts, unlike most high-street pizzas” – so say fans of this global chain, whose HQ is indeed in Naples. Not everyone is impressed, though, and ratings are dragged down by those who feel it’s merely an “everyday” choice: “OK for a bog-standard group, but not great”.

Dating from 1867, this fine Soho landmark should be famous, but has slipped off the restaurant map in recent years: initially due to its indifferent standards; and then due to Soho House’s purchase of the building, and its closure to non-members since 2019. In July 2023, the club once again threw open its doors to the hoi polloi, with a food operation now run by the team behind the Stoke Newington pub The Clarence Tavern. Fingers crossed, this promising partnership helps it recoup some of its old mojo, rather than descending once again into the Theatreland tourist trap mode that’s dogged it since PizzaExpress founder, the late Peter Boizot, sold it on in 2002.

Sit at the bar where there’s “Prosecco on tap” and hang with the Mayfair glam crowd at this “always buzzy” and “professional” Italian brasserie in Burlington Gardens, at the back of the Royal Academy: “a favourite for some good people watching”. Nowadays part of Soho House, “there’s something for everyone on the menu” and it’s a favoured lunch spot for local business types. On the downside, prices are high, the food is “average” and service can be so-so. (Reports on its Soho ‘Pizza Bar’ spin-off and City branches are few and far between).

“Outstanding pizzas” live up to the highest expectations at the London outposts of a Neapolitan original going back five generations and 150 years (even if these days they merrily break late founder Michele Condurro’s commandment that only two types of pizza are allowed, the Marinara and the Margherita). The Naples flagship became a place of post-divorce pilgrimage following Elizabeth Gilbert’s 2006 bestseller ‘Eat Pray Love’.

This “authentic Italian vermuteria” (they make their own vermouths) in the heart of Soho was founded 12 years ago by three brothers from northern Italy, and offers enjoyable cooking from their homeland, including “a great choice of pasta” and “the crispiest pizza ever – delicious!”

From Naples via Manchester to Soho – this “really top-quality joint in a former Wahaca is definitely a positive addition to the London pizza scene”. “The smiley, friendly service” and “big portions” – legacies perhaps of its Northern origins – “make the opposition look second rate”. It’s part of Manchester’s expanding Mission Mars stable, which is planning more Rudy’s and Albert’s Schlosses in the capital and beyond.

2022 Review: Grab and go at this new brand from Pizza Pilgrims where you can order New-York-style 12-inch pizza – available whole or in slices (in five flavours) – or pizza by the metre. Wash them down with alcoholic slushies and to kill any spare time there are ’80s-style arcade games.