Southend-On-Sea
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265 Muswell Hill Broadway
London N10 1DE
+44 (0) 20 8883 1500
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September 11, 2010
Called to order 3 pizzas, person answered the phone ignored me talking to someone else then refused to speak English and hung up on me. Went to Pizza Express who were superb.
June 29, 2010
I’ve been to this restaurant many times – for my friend’s birthday, before a night out in the central London and just as a special treat. I also had one take away pizza there – something I will never do again. My experience is not as positive as I’d love to say to myself.
What I like on the restaurant is the yummy food and the vibrant atmosphere. Most of the staff are foreigners – I’d say Italian – so get ready that they will be “louder” than in other restaurants with English management. The manager keeps an eye on everything and tends to shout at his employees for any little mistake or slow service. You won’t see anything like ‘slow service’ in fact. The main manager will make you feel like you have to rush to choose your food, finish it and pay the bill. If I come only with my boyfriend, we just eat quickly the fabulous food and go (Manipulated into doing so by the manager) but if we are there with other 6 friends it is ok to take our time. The manager knows he is due to get some good cash, so he doesn’t really mind. Just book your tables in advance.
I am not sure if they still do the birthday surprise, but when I was there with my friend a year ago, they started singing and then through a pizza base on his head. It was hilarious actually. He was just looking around who we were singing a happy birthday to and there it was...straight on top of his head.
What I really didn’t like was our take away pizzas. We called from home, placing our order and then drove there to collect it. We said it was going to take us 20 minutes so we expected them to start with our order in the right time. What happened is that even though we were spot on in terms of the time, the pizzas were burnt (you will find out when on the way home, when you open the boxes) – what a disappointment. For such price I’d expect much more.
To sum up. The restaurant has its pros and cons. You have to be patient to go there – it is always very busy and people tend to queue for half an hour or more just by the door. The manager does his best in controlling fast speed of service but you may feel “rushed”. If you don’t order when he comes with the drinks he gives you the “customer” smile, but then he is likely to start talking to himself in Italian with a fake grin on his face. How nice is that. But the food is fabulous – the pizzas, the chicken, the deserts – all really tasty.
January 01, 2010
I have been to this restaurant before years ago and had an excellent time, but this new years eve was the worst dining experience of my life !
We were shouted at (by what we think was the manager) telling us to get in line! about six times even though we had reservations.
Insulted by most of the restaurant staff (one of us understood Italian swear words).
Our “Portuguese” waiter was inebriated or worse, so much so that it went from being a joke to a serious problem, he randomly half way through our order refused to talk to us in English, only Italian or Portuguese were our only options, knowing neither we simply pointed at the menu and hoped for the best.
Our waiter deliberately refused to serve 2 of our 8 dining guests to the point we had to ask 4 other waiters to check the order who all ignored us, until the fifth waiter after 30mins of trying to get someone to listen actually “corrected” the order still missing 1 guests meal who eventually walked out in disgust.
The person we believe was the manager had no interest in the guests he only seemed to want to shift people in and out of the restaurant as fast as he could all we saw him doing was counting cash and shouting at the top of his voice, he had no control of the restaurant floor or his staff.
The food that came was quite nice a shame the actual restaurant was such a poorly run shambles. The owner should find a new manager but definitely keep the chefs.
November 15, 2008
Great place for pizzas and lively environment. Some times you will be waiting in line outside the restaurant, the place is so popular. Great place for kids...they always treat them well. Although when the birthday song comes on over the tannoy it is absolutely deafening and as this place is full of people celebrating this can happen a number of times in an evening. Deafening. You will always have a great value meal, not just pizza they do great Cozze too and there is always a lively atmosphere. Noisy and fun.
November 02, 2007
Please dont be put off my the fact that La Porchetta actually translates as, The Pig, or a the tacky faux "Papa Dolmio" interior of the restaurant.
This is where you can get the best Italian food outside of Rome.
Signature dish is the stinco di porko (sounds awful...but tastes lush), but the pizza's are devine, and definitely this restuarants cash cow.
Like most great restuarants, the service never quite matches the food, but in general is pretty good. The pizza chefs at the front are welcoming on entry, and you can have some great banter with them, even when waiting for a take-out pizza.
If any more proof was needed, I had some Italian friends over from Rome last year, took them here, and they agreed it was the best Italian food they'd eaten outside of Italia...
Prices are decent, its always busy, and a great atmosphere...in short....go and get a La Porchetta pizza.
