Fire + Stone = Great Pizza (Fire and Stone Pizza Restaurant (Covent Garden, London))

Member Name: whiskmite

Product:	Fire and Stone Pizza Restaurant (Covent Garden, London)
Date:	24/08/09 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic food at good prices

Disadvantages: None I can think of

I visited Fire & Stone with four girlfriends before going to the theatre. Therefore the aim wasn't really for a long, drawn out catch up session, but for a quick bite before heading off for a show. We got a deal with lastminute.com, who I booked our theatre tickets with, for a pizza and a glass of prosecco for £8 - fairly good value I think!

The Fire & Stone we visited is in central London - Covent Garden, which is conveniently close to theatreland. It is fairly easy to find, it has a big glass window at the front. The reason behind its name is that the pizzas are stone baked in a big Italian oven.

We booked our table for 6 but did warn them that some of us would turn up early. No problem, they said, you can sit at the bar while your table is being prepared. As I came in they told me that one of my friends had already arrived and showed me where she was sat. We had to go to the bar to order drinks but the service was very fast, friendly and professional.

We had looked at the menu in advance on its website (http://www.fireandstone.com/coventgarden/restaura nt/index.asp) and were very excited as they all looked very impressive! We were seated promptly at 6 and once we had decided what we wanted to eat. The menu is divided into continents all the pizzas on the menu are named after a city on that continent. For example, Cairo has roasted peppers, courgettes, aubergines, roasted red onions, a house tomato sauce, goats cheese and pine nuts; Marrakech has lamb spiced with cumin, mozzarella, mint yoghurt sauce, green olives, raisins & sliced red onion; New Foundland has Poached flaked Atlantic salmon, roasted fennel, basil pesto base, mozzarella, sweet red onions, rocket and salmon caviar - etc. As you can see they really try and find the 'theme' of the place they are naming the pizza after and make it very individual.

The pizza I chose was 'Byron Bay' - named after a fantastic little beach town in Northern New South Wales, Australia. Byron Bay had basil pesto, sliced field mushrooms, cumin roasted sweet potato, cherry vine tomatoes, mozzarella, green olives, and crushed macadamia nuts. My friends ordered a variety of different pizzas, all of which looked delicious, but mine was the only one I ate so it is the only one I remember or can comment on! I love sweet potatoes and all the other ingredients on it, so was fairly sure it would be a winner, and wasn't disappointed at all. The roast sweet potato had a delicious flavour and it went perfectly on a pizza with the sweetness of the tomatoes and the subtlety of the mushrooms. There weren't many olives on the pizza, sadly, but I'll let them off as it really was delicious. All of my friends enjoyed their pizzas too.

We had to remind our waitress about the prosecco but once she was asked she went into action and they appeared less them five minutes later. The bill was also delivered very promptly. Perhaps too promptly if you weren't in a hurry to leave yourself, but as we were it was all the better!

I'd say this was a great place to eat either pre-theatre or pre-drinks. The atmosphere was nice and relaxed and the serving staff were very quick and professional.

Summary: REally lovely pizzas, affordably priced