La Porchetta vs Pappagone -- pizza restaurant deathmatch! (Restaurants in London in general)

Member Name: optique

Product:	Restaurants in London in general
Date:	03/04/03 (1224 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Porchetta every time, Great food, huge portions, miniscule prices, Competition keeps both places on their toes

Disadvantages: Pappagone tries hard -- but keep working on it lads!, You can only eat there once a week max, at risk of a coronary., Can be very loud

The location:
Stroud Green Road, Finsbury Park, North London.

The contenders:
In the red corner, the unbeaten favourite, laydeez n gennelmen, give a big hand for, LAAAAAAA POR-CHETTA!
And, in the blue corner, newly reopened with a flash large bar, the challenger tonight, will you welcome back to Finsbury Park, PAPPA-GONE!

The prize:
We are fighting tonight for the title of Greatest Pizzeria in London.

Okay, sorry for the build-up, but to anyone who lives anywhere near this corner of north London, this is about more than some tasty pizzas with friendly service and great value. This is serious. The Porchetta - Pappagone rivalry makes the Montagues and the Capulets look like bosom buddies. There's no room for neutral bystanders, and everyone in the area has a violent attachment one way or the other. Each side claims that all their Italian mates swear blind that La Porchetta, or Pappagone, is the best pizzeria outside Italy.

My household has always been a Porchetta house. So what's the attraction of the reigning champ?

The largest pizzas in London, for a fiver or six quid tops. You can ask for whatever toppings you fancy, and my tip would be to insist on extra rocket regardless which pizza you go for. (This is north London, after all.) And the pizzas are massive. Every time we go there, which is close to once a week for the past six months, we see uninitiated newbies ordering starters. Oh how we laugh! You see, the starters themselves are massive -- for garlic bread, they basically give you a full pizza minus the cheese. And then when the pizzas come, they hang over the edges of the very large plates by about an inch. Quality-wise, the toppings are great, and as long as you don't expect your pizza to be too crisp, they are great.

Throw in litres of house wine at eight quid, boisterous service and gorgeous heaps of side salads, tiramisu and the rest, and it's easy to see why queues

form outside La Porchetta on many nights, large though it is. A great meal for under a tenner, or stuff yourself silly with plenty of wine for 15 quid.

Last night, however, we decided to give Pappagone a try. I think we all felt guilty about cheating on La Porchetta, but what were we missing out on? And after all, they'd never find out...

It turns out that Pappagone is basically a slightly upmarket, slightly more pricey version of La Porchetta, with slightly smaller (or less gross, according to appetite) portions and classier options on the menu. Unfortunately last night the service was so-so, and we were kept waiting at several stages. They were also reluctant to serve tap water, which always puts my back up. In the end, we were all agreed. It was quite nice, if you like that sort of thing... but it just wasn't the same, and we'll be back to the Piglet very shortly, curly tails between our legs.

Has anyone else out there got a view on this deadly rivalry? Or are there similar competing restaurants in your area?

UPDATE

While nothing above is incorrect, I should add a note about noise in La Porchetta. The restaurant has always been a happy, bustling place, with a loud hubbub of conversation competing with the pop music playing, and sport on a big screen. This is good. On recent visits, however, I have not enjoyed the crescendos when a birthday is celebrated and the waiters bang metal objects to make as much noise as possible. It's tolerable once in an evening, but by the third or fourth time -- especially a problem at weekends -- it is very wearing. So probably avoid La Porchetta for a quiet evening out. Overall however I have enjoyed myself as much on recent visits as ever.

Summary: