Charing Cross, Pizza Restaurant Guide

“The pizza is so good! – with lovely premium ingredients for the toppings too” – at this showcase just off Trafalgar Square for Ciro Salvo’s Naples-based chain. The cavernous space is “very lively”… to the extent it can seem “a little bit too loud”. Top Menu Tip – “great supplí” (Roman-style rice croquettes).

Forget sourdough: the magic ingredient at this Neapolitan duo in Borough and St James’s is apparently pure Mediterranean seawater – whatever the formula, it results in notably tasty pizza, with a choice of Neapolitan and ‘Gourmet’ varieties (and there’s also a short selection of other main dishes, including pasta). “Service is very good”, too, and the ambience “enjoyable”.

“More hit ’n’ miss than they used to be, but still a go-to chain” – the Elliot brothers’ successful group is heading towards 20 branches in the capital, but “still producing quality dishes despite becoming quite a brand”: “lovely scorched, pillowy-based pizzas with plenty of power in the ingredients” and “reasonably priced for the quality!” Latest to launch, in June 2024, was a branch by Euston.

“Fire-cooked” steaks, supplied from North Yorkshire, aged in-house and supplemented by “inventive” side dishes (tacos, parathas and more), are what put Neil Rankin’s BBQ group on the map, with its fifth site opening in Paddington Basin last winter followed by a smashburger spinoff in White City. But even fans can note that what “was once a firm favourite has declined” – service is often “a bit all over the place” and dishes can arrive “lacking genuine flavour”.

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”.

Despite its cosy and historic charm, it’s tempting to omit this cosy Soho landmark which dates from 1867. It once was a major West End destination, and still has a gorgeous Champagne bar, but Soho House (owners since 2016) seem to have been mostly interested in converting its upstairs event spaces into 33 bedrooms, leaving the downstairs dining room run to be run in partnership with a North London pub (The Clarence Tavern x Kettner’s): “the food is average but it has a nice setting”.

“The energy is fab” at this “busy and buzzy” Mayfair haunt, whose large central bar, pavement tables and green leather stools import a sense of chic Italian glamour to this corner-site a minute from Bond Street. The Italian food (cicchetti, risotti, pastas, traditional mains) doesn’t detract from the occasion, but is “highly priced for average quality”, albeit “all decent”; and “service can suffer when it’s over-busy”. Nowadays part of Soho House, its branches spread from Berlin to West Hollywood, via the City of London (in The Ned). Comments on the latter aren’t terrible, but less enthusiastic than those for W1.

“Very, very large… thin-based crust… filled with toppings… excellent tastes” – the pizza satisfies all-comers to this pair of outlets from the veteran Naples operation that became famous through Elizabeth Gilbert’s 2006 bestseller ‘Eat Pray Love’. The first London outpost, on the tourist beat near Madame Tussauds and Sherlock Holmes in Baker Street, has been joined by a second in Soho.

This “lively family Italian restaurant in Soho” has a “lovely vibe”, “very authentic food” and a “brilliant vermouth bar” (‘vermuteria’) serving their own, home-distilled creations. It’s a modern place, founded by three brothers from northern Italy. Top Tip – “head down to the basement for the best atmosphere”.

“Reliably fresh pizza with Mancunian roots” – “so cheap yet utterly delicious” – is now available at seven locations across the capital (the majority of which have opened in the last 12 months) from this fast-expanding chain from Manchester’s all-conquering Mission Mars – “how can Pizza Express et al still serve the old stuff?”. Stablemate Albert’s Schloss bierkeller also arrived in London in summer 2024 – all 18,000 sq ft of it – just off Piccadilly Circus.

2022 Review: Grab and go at this new brand from Pizza Pilgrims where you can order New-York-style 12-inch pizza – available whole or in slices (in five flavours) – or pizza by the metre. Wash them down with alcoholic slushies and to kill any spare time there are ’80s-style arcade games.