Gourmet Pizza (Restaurants in London in general)

Member Name: Leolover

Product:	Restaurants in London in general
Date:	27/03/02 (1336 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely food, reasonable prices, nice atmosphere

Disadvantages: expensive liqueur coffee

I've often found that it can be difficult to find somewhere that sells decent food at reasonable prices in the Piccadilly Circus area. It sometimes feels like you're forced to either fork out a fortune in a ridiculously overpriced restaurant or grab a sweaty burger from McDonalds. I've recently discovered a really nice pizza/pasta restaurant about five minutes from Piccadilly Circus station, which offers great food at prices that won't break the bank. It's called 'Gourmet Pizza'.


**** THE FOOD

For your starter, you can't beat the gourmet pizza crust, a pizza shaped garlic bread topped with sundried tomato and fresh basil. There's also a cheese topped version, alongside popular starters such as caesar salad, antipasto and mozarella with fresh tomato.

As the name suggests, Gourmet Pizza specialises in pizzas, but these aren't the run of the mill stodgy pizzas like those offered by Pizza Hut and Deep Pan Pizza Co; these are Italian style, with a light, flavoursome and herby base topped with some of the most original range of toppings I've ever seen. Some examples:

English Breakfast Pizza - topped with Italian sausage, bacon, tomato and two fried eggs.

Chinese Duck Pizza - topped with heaps of chinese roasted duck, spring onion, broccoli and hoisin sauce

Chicken Satay Pizza - delicious chicken in a peanut sauce, with onion and mushroom

If pizza doesn't float your boat, there's also a great selection of pasta dishes to choose from, one of which I love so much that I nearly always order it; the Fettuccini. It's a generous serving of fettuccini pasta with chicken pieces, prawns, peppers, spring onion and fresh coriander in a spicy, light sauce. Scrumptious and highly recommended.

If you've got any room left after your main course, Gourmet Pizza offer a selection of delicious home made ice-creams with unusual flavours such as r
ed and white grape, along with the standard flavours such as mint choc chip and vanilla. You can mix and match - three different flavours in one bowl - or stick to just the one flavour.


**** THE DRINKS

Gourmet Pizza has a fairly decent wine list, but the house read and white wines are perfectly acceptable and only around £10 a bottle. There's also a selection of bottled beers, soft drinks, fruit juices and mineral water.

There's a nice selection of coffees to finish off your meal - choose from cappuccino, latte, expresso, double expresso, standard filter coffee or various liqueur coffees. Beware - at £3.95, I think the liqueur coffees are a bit pricey for an establishment that is otherwise very reasonably priced.


**** THE AMBIENCE

The service is relaxed, warm and friendly. The layout is attractive and inviting. There are plenty of tables, and they aren't crowded together, so you can relax and have a private conversation above a whisper, unlike some other Italian restaurants I've been to. It's not fancy or pretentious, it's exactly the kind of place where you might want to grab something to eat before moving on somewhere else for drinks, or for a pleasant lunch.


**** THE PRICES

Starters range from £1.95 for a standard gourmet pizza crust, to £5.00 for a continental meat platter.

Pizzas are between £5.00 - £10.00 depending on your choice of toppings.

Pasta dishes range from £6.96 - £9.95.

Steaks/Chicken/Fish dishes are about £10.00. There's usually a selection of fish/meat specials, and these are also around £10.

Desserts will set you back £3.95 - but they're well worth it!

Coffees are from £1.95 for a standard coffee to £3.95 for a liqueur coffee.

House wine is £10 a bottle, bottled beer £2.95 a bottle. Soft drinks are about £1.75.


**** THE LOCATION

Gourmet Pizza is l
ocated in Swallow Street, just off Regent Street, about five minutes from Piccadilly Circus station and on the opposite side of the road.

It's surrounded by several other, more glamorous restaurants, including the legendary Indian restaurant Veeraswamy's and Bentley's seafood restaurant. Nice though these places are for a special occasion, Gourmet Pizza beats them hands down when it comes to value for money, and this is why I find myself heading there time and time again.

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