Hatfield, Pizza - Restaurant Guide

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.

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”.

A Finsbury Park fixture for almost 30 years, this particularly friendly and lively Italian welcomes a loyal crowd for pizza, pasta and a decent selection of main dishes.

“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”.

“Fabulous pizza” – “quick, fresh, delicious”, and “impeccably made with original toppings” – makes this London-based group “a Friday night favourite”, with 14 outlets across the capital and counting. Founders Johnnie Tate & Nick Buckland last year secured investment designed to boost their presence to 40 sites over five years.

“Fabulous pizza” – “quick, fresh, delicious”, and “impeccably made with original toppings” – makes this London-based group “a Friday night favourite”, with 14 outlets across the capital and counting. Founders Johnnie Tate & Nick Buckland last year secured investment designed to boost their presence to 40 sites over five years.

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’.

2025 Review: A former lockdown project that graduated via pop-ups to a permanent site in 2023, with an enthusiastic social media following: it features New Haven-style pizzas, cooked at low temperatures for a light crust and with a concise choice of toppings. In her March 2024 reivew, the Sunday Times’s Charlotte Ivers declared herself a fan: It’s only pizza, but this one will remind you the magic is still there.

Kosher pizzeria in Hendon (with branches in Golders Green and Edgware) offering “some of the most inventive and tasty pizzas around” – with the guest choosing from five different bases (thin, deep-pan, stuffed-crust, calzone and light) for each custom-made pie. There’s also a “good choice of pasta, a fun ambience and great milkshakes”.

“Be prepared to queue, as these are very popular irrespective of the gentrification label they have undeservedly been given” – a duo of hip East End bakers, which support at-risk young Londoners and operate out of an urban-grunge alley near Dalston Junction (the original), now with a Harringay spin-off in Green Lanes. As well as pastries, cakes and bread to take away, both provide excellent brunches: “towering sandwiches plus good coffee”. “Wish there was one in our neighbourhood instead of the ever-expanding Gails juggernaut!”

“Every neighbourhood deserves a Crudough”, declare fans – but only Archway (the “relatively no-frills” original) and Angel are lucky enough actually to have a branch! Their “fresh, thin and crispy sourdough pizzas” are “served up with charm and a great range of beers and wines”. Top Menu Tip – “their Melanzane Parmigiana is superb”.

“Bravo team Rossella!” Luca Meola’s “always-welcoming family trattoria” near Gospel Oak is “a lovely local that’s stood the test of time” and is “permanently buzzing” with regulars from across north London, for whom it’s often “a go-to restaurant for family celebrations and parties”. “Luca and his team provide excellent service”, a varied menu including “home-made ice creams”, and “wines from their own vineyard in Italy”. Top Menu Tips – “cheap dishes for lunch bring in many locals”; and “the authentic range of pizzas including the best Margherita and a Salsiccia made with Italian pork & fennel sausage and caramelised onions are just delicious!”.