Carpenders Park, Pizza - Restaurant Guide

“Still our pizza favourite no matter how successful and busy they get… the black dough even makes you feel you’re eating healthy!” – this eight-strong chain has grown from its Islington base over the last ten years (est. 2016) and its successful formula revolves around four 48-hour slow-fermented doughs – charcoal, wholemeal, gluten-free and traditional. Of these the first is the most eye-catching: “interesting charcoal-based pizza with delicious toppings”. The original N7 branch near Arsenal and the W14 one (they call it ‘Hammersmith’ but it’s closer to Olympia) attract most feedback, but it’s the food that wins fans: for example, “the original one feels buzzy when Arsenal play at home when it’s packed out, but otherwise can feel a bit grim and loveless”.

“Top-class pizza at the new outlet by Kew Gardens” (on the site of Hawthorn, RIP) wins a particular thumbs-up this year for this “properly Neapolitan” chain (“down to the shrine to Diego Maradona on the wall” in TW9). It was well-rated this year, if not as stratospherically as days gone by, supporting those who feel: “I don’t seem as keen on this place as everyone else, but it’s fresh and friendly and local”. The group started in Ealing over 15 years ago and – as well as its Kew launch – also added a Paddington branch in 2025 to join those in Fitzrovia, Fulham and Islington.

This “no-nonsense” Italian with “perfectly good pizzas” has been a family-friendly fixture in a railway arch by Golders Green tube station for more than four decades.

It may feel “like eating in a small caff”, but this outpost of Naples in suburban Ealing serves “simply the best pizza”. It’s “run family-style, so service is friendly” – and the high quality of the fare means “they can be busy”. Founded in 2014, it has a second branch in Hanwell.

2024 Review: “Top Neapolitan pizza”, say fans of this Kensal Rise 11-year-old and its Crouch End offshoot, which offers a “limited and delicious menu (they stick to what they know) in cool surroundings”.

Reopened after a five-week refurb last summer by a duo of locals with backgrounds in hotels and the music industry, this long-established ‘Pub & Dining Rooms’ is aiming to win back the prominence it once enjoyed when it opened in 2000 as one of the first places in then-gentrifying Queens Park with any foodie ambitions. It promises seasonally led, restaurant-level cooking from a chef who should be able to deliver it – Tarryn Bingle, previously of The Pem, La Trompette and Arbutus.

2022 Review: A “lovely local” near Turnham Green, this “family-owned Italian” is “tiny but with terrific food and atmosphere”. There’s a good range of pizzas but the Puglian dishes are what makes it special.

This smartly converted pub in Ravenscourt Park offers a full menu of Italian starters and mains, but the highlight for most reporters is the “thin and crispy Roman-style pizza – so good”. (The Bird in Hand at Brook Green is a sibling on similar lines, while the Oak in Notting Hill was relaunched in July 2025 as The Good Oak under new owners).

“Sneakily good pizza” – double-fermented Neapolitan-style – ensure that many branches are “always packed” at the Elliot brothers’ still-expanding chain, whose new summer 2025 opening at the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane marked a return to the site of one of their earliest pop-ups in 2013. Nowadays, it’s one of the more commented-on multiples in our annual diners’ poll. Top Menu Tip – “pepperoni and honey!”

2025 Review: This “old-school” Notting Hill Italian has been “a great crowd-pleaser for the whole family” for more than 30 years. According to one local: “you will not have a great meal but on the other hand I’ve never had a bad one” – as a result it can be “extremely busy, but the service is great” and keeps on top of things. Essenza and Mediterraneo in the same street (see also) are its younger stablemates.

2022 Review: With its foliage, fairy lights and heaters, this September 2020 newcomer – where tables are predominantly outside – injects a festive spark into a quirky space, next to Shepherd’s Bush market and the Goldhawk Road tube bridge (opposite the station). Founders Will Fuller of Soho House Group and Frazer Timmerman of Incipio Group aimed, apparently, to import a bit of East London groove to this converted railway arch and adjoining large yard, and judging by it being permanently packed they’ve succeeded! Pizza is the menu mainstay and staff try hard. A 120-seater, it’s also available for events.

2024 Review: “Great food and drink, especially pizza” makes it worth remembering this stylish (if sometimes noisy) Olympia pub-conversion, a few minutes’ walk from Brook Green (part of the Oak group).

For a relatively “cheap ’n’ cheerful” meal, but in a ‘proper’ restaurant and “out of the Portobello Market crush”, this “great neighbourhood Italian” just off Notting Hill Gate continues to come recommended. “The pizza’s delicious, but there’s also good fish” as hinted at by the large tank in the dining room. In summer, there’s a brilliant front terrace for making the most of the weather. (“Was taken by an Italian friend and the food was well up to reputation”.)

“Still our pizza favourite no matter how successful and busy they get… the black dough even makes you feel you’re eating healthy!” – this eight-strong chain has grown from its Islington base over the last ten years (est. 2016) and its successful formula revolves around four 48-hour slow-fermented doughs – charcoal, wholemeal, gluten-free and traditional. Of these the first is the most eye-catching: “interesting charcoal-based pizza with delicious toppings”. The original N7 branch near Arsenal and the W14 one (they call it ‘Hammersmith’ but it’s closer to Olympia) attract most feedback, but it’s the food that wins fans: for example, “the original one feels buzzy when Arsenal play at home when it’s packed out, but otherwise can feel a bit grim and loveless”.

2022 Review: Adding Indian spicing to pasta and crispy Italian pizza explains the name of Devinder Singh’s Tufnell Park venue, which opened in Spring 2020. Early bird feedback suggests it's a concept that ‘has legs’.

2024 Review: “Top Neapolitan pizza”, say fans of this Kensal Rise 11-year-old and its Crouch End offshoot, which offers a “limited and delicious menu (they stick to what they know) in cool surroundings”.

“Sneakily good pizza” – double-fermented Neapolitan-style – ensure that many branches are “always packed” at the Elliot brothers’ still-expanding chain, whose new summer 2025 opening at the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane marked a return to the site of one of their earliest pop-ups in 2013. Nowadays, it’s one of the more commented-on multiples in our annual diners’ poll. Top Menu Tip – “pepperoni and honey!”