Shoreditch, Pizza Restaurant Guide

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”.

These “trendy pizza joints with a modern twist and clean, industrial interiors” serve “generously portioned and always-fresh” thin-crust pizza, attracting a good fan club for this 10-year-old group run by the late Terry Wogan’s sons, Mark and Alan. They make no claim to authenticity and are more influenced by New York than Naples – but the “bizarre combinations on the blackboard always turn out to be unexpectedly delicious. Believe in them!”.

“Quality pizzas served by nice people in a bustling, energetic atmosphere. What’s not to like?” It’s a formula that’s winning massive, post-pandemic expansion for the Elliot brothers’ chain, which is adding eight London sites this year. Perhaps inevitably with such fast growth, it no longer enjoys the stellar ratings of yesteryear, but to an impressive degree also evades criticism: “always decent…”, “I can’t speak for the authenticity, but they’re tasty as hell”. Top Tip: “their pizza home delivery kit is great fun”.

The “excellent Italian/American menu” means these “very buzzy”, industrial-style venues in Shoreditch (a former tea factory) and Portobello offer “much more than their consistently great pizzas”. They “can get busy, so book – especially on Fridays” and note: this is “not the place for a quiet romantic date”. A third site in Kentish Town closed a couple of years ago, and the owners, Soho House, seem to be focused elsewhere, but the ratings are very strong in our latest survey.