Best pizza I've had, outside of Italy

One of the unfortunate parts about living in Southgate is that there is really nowhere to eat if you want to go out for dinner and stay close to home. However, one of the positive things about this is that you try every restaurant in the area and if it's any good, you return on a regular basis.This is embarassing to admit but I eat here at least once a week and have gone 4 times in one week before. It's a relatively big restaurant and constantly packed, night in and out. Making reservations is a must on the week-end, but the table turnaround is pretty fast and it's no more than a 15 minute wait. It's noisy, and at times can be quite the raucous affair, but it's also a lot of fun and is great for family eating. The crowd is quite a mix, whether it's a family with their small children in tow, a couple of businessmen sitting down for a quick meal, a young couple, or a group of friends. I think it's safe to say that it's a neighbourhood institution.The staff are incredibly friendly and make conversation with you; they might not be the best servers per se in that they forget to bring things to the table, or can be slow to take your order, but it's a small price to pay for the best pizza. I've eaten at la Porchetta which everyone claims is the best pizza in London, but Fantozzi gives it a good run for the title. I won't eat at la Porchetta anymore, even if I'm in Angel and have a craving for pizza. Their pastas are excellent as well, but I've never eaten any of the meat courses because I always give in to temptation... however, their starters are absolutely terrible and it's really quite a shame since they do so well in other aspects of their menu. The wine list is okay, nothing special, but it's a lot better than what I've seen in many City restaurants which are 3 times the price and nowhere near the quality.Hopefully they manage to pull it together, but until then I'll happily stick with the pizza!Their website is http://www.fantozzi.co.uk.

A User - 11/05/2007 | report this review