Shoreditch, Pizza Restaurant Guide

“Barmy and OTT”: Paris-based Big Mamma Group’s original London venue brings a “great fun” cod-Italian vibe to Shoreditch (“think a full-mirrored ceiling” plus foliage and Capri-comes-to- Commercial Street knick-knacks) – “teens (and older types) love it”. If the food is only “so-so”, that hardly matters – the pizza and pasta go down well, while “the desserts look like something Marie Antoinette would order”.

“Fantastic pizza that’s good value” continues to win praise for Alan & Mark Wogan’s (the sons of the late Sir Terry) three-strong chain in Neal’s Yard (the original), Marylebone and the City. The 20-inch pizzas are enough to feed 2-3 people and flavours can be split 50/50.

“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!”

“Such a good pizza… and lovely Bloody Marys”, say fans of this “very cool spot”, on the ground floor of the iconic Tea Building in Shoreditch (the bar is in the basement). Originally opened by the Soho House group, it was snapped up by Gordon Ramsay in 2023, and he has since added a second branch within his Bread Street Kitchen in Stratford. Top Tip – “works well for big groups”.

Oscar Farinetti’s “Italian superstore” near Liverpool Street station – part of his 45-strong global foodhall chain – is a “great place to eat and buy Italian foods”, with a “massive display of Italian wines”. A recent link-up with Milan-based TV chef Carlo Cracco, whose name is now above the flagship restaurant Terra, has done little, however, to change the perception that this is a venue for browsing “interesting Italian products” rather than lingering over a meal – and those who do eat tend to prefer the “very good pizzas from a wood-burning stove” to more ambitious meals that can be “a poor and expensive experience”: “although ingredients are good, cooking is below average”, while “the terrace overlooks the Bishopsgate traffic, so you can soak up the City’s busy atmosphere… police sirens and all”.

Now you don’t have to journey to Peckham for Andrea Asciuti’s superior Neapolitan which fans say is “no contest, the best”. In spring 2025 he opened a larger, open-7-days-a-week, Shoreditch sibling in a 2,000-square-foot space accommodating 60 dine-in covers. Both offer his signature pizzas and panuozzo plus diverse street-food tapas (e.g. arancina, lobster croquettes).