With its funky combination of black paint and red neon signage, the Soho Pizzeria is visually one of the most memorable restaurants in Central London, yet sitting within the labyrinth of achingly cool streets that is Soho, remembering just which prominent corner it sits on is still something of a challenge.
Meeting my Dad for lunch on a Friday, I was worried of having to wait for a table, yet we were quickly seated right in the thick of the action and given menus by our waitress. The clue should be in the name but pizza is very firmly the favourite dish here and as such I decided against either pasta or salad.
Looking around the restaurant and my immediate impression was that the pizzas were actually quite small, which usually leans me back towards a pasta dish but in this instance only made up my mind to go for the Calzone of ham, olives, capers, pepperoni sausage, tomato and mozzarella in a folded pizza.
Inside, the Soho Pizzeria is every bit as intriguing as it is from the outside, with its many photographs and posters that sit alongside more red neon’s in this large attractive space. There is even a stage area for live music in the evenings, which is surely only another reason for a night-time return to Soho.
After the olives at Paradiso the previous evening, I was dubious as to whether our starter of mixed olives would be able to compete, but yet again they were delicious, with the stones removed and this time with strips of red pepper to compliment them. The larger green varieties were particularly impressive.
The calzone arrived soon after and it was time to swap cocktail sticks for knife & fork. With no side salad the plate looked bare and my earlier concern over portion size looked like coming back to haunt me, yet nowhere have I thought the phrase ‘quality not quantity’ to be more apt than at the Soho Pizzeria.
The folded pizza base was golden brown, marvelously light yet with a nice crisp edge. Cutting into the middle and there was ham and pepperoni sausage spilling out like treasure from a chest, not the usual deflating of air as happens at Zizzi. The tomato sauce was thick and well seasoned with Italian herbs.
The Quattro Stagioni chosen by my Dad was similarly demolished in record time and cleared away before the dessert menu was brought over. Whilst all of the options looked good, it seemed only right to have the Chocolate Fudge Cake, served hot of course and with an extra scoop of ice cream at £1.10.
With the coke long since gone, my tap water was topped up and a latte brought over for my Dad. Whilst this time the fudge cake was huge, the quality remained the same, with a rich and moist cake topped with hot chocolate sauce and accompanied by a scoop of topnotch if extortionate vanilla ice cream.
The Soho Pizzeria proved to be every bit as good as it looks and will certainly be seeing me again soon!
Meeting my Dad for lunch on a Friday, I was worried of having to wait for a table, yet we were quickly seated right in the thick of the action and given menus by our waitress. The clue should be in the name but pizza is very firmly the favourite dish here and as such I decided against either pasta or salad.
Looking around the restaurant and my immediate impression was that the pizzas were actually quite small, which usually leans me back towards a pasta dish but in this instance only made up my mind to go for the Calzone of ham, olives, capers, pepperoni sausage, tomato and mozzarella in a folded pizza.
Inside, the Soho Pizzeria is every bit as intriguing as it is from the outside, with its many photographs and posters that sit alongside more red neon’s in this large attractive space. There is even a stage area for live music in the evenings, which is surely only another reason for a night-time return to Soho.
After the olives at Paradiso the previous evening, I was dubious as to whether our starter of mixed olives would be able to compete, but yet again they were delicious, with the stones removed and this time with strips of red pepper to compliment them. The larger green varieties were particularly impressive.
The calzone arrived soon after and it was time to swap cocktail sticks for knife & fork. With no side salad the plate looked bare and my earlier concern over portion size looked like coming back to haunt me, yet nowhere have I thought the phrase ‘quality not quantity’ to be more apt than at the Soho Pizzeria.
The folded pizza base was golden brown, marvelously light yet with a nice crisp edge. Cutting into the middle and there was ham and pepperoni sausage spilling out like treasure from a chest, not the usual deflating of air as happens at Zizzi. The tomato sauce was thick and well seasoned with Italian herbs.
The Quattro Stagioni chosen by my Dad was similarly demolished in record time and cleared away before the dessert menu was brought over. Whilst all of the options looked good, it seemed only right to have the Chocolate Fudge Cake, served hot of course and with an extra scoop of ice cream at £1.10.
With the coke long since gone, my tap water was topped up and a latte brought over for my Dad. Whilst this time the fudge cake was huge, the quality remained the same, with a rich and moist cake topped with hot chocolate sauce and accompanied by a scoop of topnotch if extortionate vanilla ice cream.
The Soho Pizzeria proved to be every bit as good as it looks and will certainly be seeing me again soon!
Look out if you buy bottled water ... they use already opened fancy Italian bottles probably filled from the tap or if fizzy water from their bar snake - and then they charge you £1.80
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