La Pizzeria Review

September 15, 2015 by Rich - Foodie Reviewer

La Pizzeria Review

According to tripadvisor there are 29 Italian restaurants in our local area. That’s quite a few I thought. Ok, not as many as Chinese and Indian, they top the table, but a pretty close third. So I reckon it could be a bit ‘hit and miss’ when trying to find a good one, almost an impossible task; or so I thought? Whilst I was having a little peruse on good old Tripadvisor, it soon became apparent, one Italian eatery has been right up there in the league table for a very long time. Not normally slipping below third place in the rankings, pretty good I thought. Now, as you may have recalled in earlier reviews, I do have a few issues with Tripadvisor. I mean, how can a fine dining establishment be ranked below Nando’s for example? I love a bit of Nando’s! Don’t get me started on their hot sauce, ohh the hot sauce, I could pour that over my cornflakes in the morning! I can’t get enough of it. But Tripadvisor does need to work on a kind of categorisation system! Any way, back to this Italian restaurant. It’s had 429 excellent reviews no less! Surely these guys have got to be doing something right, you don’t get that number serving up rancid risotto’s or under par pizza’s. Time for Lou and I to don our eating trousers and head off to La Pizzeria in Westcliff. 

Located directly opposite Les & Gary’s on London Road, La Pizzeria has recently undergone a facelift. If you’ve been there before, you will be all too familiar with the size of the restaurant. There was hardly room to swing a ‘gatto’ (that’s Italian for cat folks!). Well the refurb has done wonders front of house. Still small, the layout is much better, whilst still retaining the charm of the ‘original’ La Pizzeria. They even uncovered a 100 year old window during the refurb, still with its original glass; this is now a feature in the restaurant. Ricardo, the chef owner, is always on hand when you arrive with a warm welcome. As you’d expect, Ricardo is Italian, well actually from Sicily, and as we all know the Italians are so passionate about food. I had very high hopes here.

Peroni’s all round whilst we perused the menu. We ordered some tomato and garlic pizza bread as a little pre-starter snack. Rich tomato sauce and garlic on top of a thin, crispy, pizza base. It was pretty good! A perfect beer snack! On to the starters, not a bad selection here, fish meat and veggie. We decided to order a couple of starters, but to share; I do love a bit of sharing, such a social way of eating, even if it’s only the two of you! We chose the Calamari picante. Rich, tomatoey, and spicy with tender calamari, a very enjoyable starter it was too. We saw Arancini on the menu, and we just love Arancini! How could you not like a deep fried Sicilian rice ball, with either a mozzarella and ham, or a Bolognese centre? Isn’t anything deep fried just delicious? We thoroughly enjoyed the Arancini Al Prosciutto; yep we chose mozzarella and ham. Gooey melted cheese with ham, inside a creamy rice ball, all encased perfectly in a crispy crust, it was delicious.

Gosh, at this rate I feared I would not have enough room for the main courses. Thankfully, we were able to request a little wait between courses, which gave us an opportunity to enjoy a few more slurps of the lovely Chianti we had ordered. As you’d expect, all the usual suspects appear on the menu. Pasta, Pizza and Risotto’s, but also some great sounding alternatives to the Italian staples. How do you fancy Spigola (Sea bass cooked with garlic) or Chicken Valdostana (Chicken cooked with onions, parsley ham and mozzarella)? I was in a pizza mood, so the pizza giacalone was for me. Topped with mushroom, pepperoni and wurstel it sounded tasty! I need to point out here; I thought it a little odd to see German sausage (wurstel) on a pizza, after all pizza is Italian! However, I have since investigated this, the Sicilians have a traditional snack of sausage (wurstel) wrapped in brioche dough, topped with sesame seeds then baked. Just like our very own sausage roll really! So, there you go, wurstel is a traditional Sicilian sausage. The pizza was scrummy, topped high with meat and cheese on a thin base, I was a happy man! Lou went for the Filleto Ai Fungi Porcini, translated as Fillet steak with porcini mushrooms and cream. This was a lovely piece meat! Cooked rare it was just so tender, and the sauce was wonderfully mushroomy! I guess the secret to good mushroom sauce is, well, mushrooms and this was packed full of the fun-guy! I kid you not this was one of the most tender steaks I had eaten in a long time. Both the steak and pizza had beaten us, so we decided to take the left overs home, which was not a problem.

If you have read my earlier reviews, normally after a chow down such as this, pudding would be a course too far, however, most are homemade, so I felt it my duty! But what do we have? We decided to challenge Ricardo, what would you consider your most impressive pud? We left him to it. He scurried off to the kitchen and returned with a large slice of the old Italian classic, Tiramisu! I’ve got to be honest, this wouldn’t had been my first choice, I’ve never really been a fan of it, but this homemade wedge was super light, creamy, with a delicate coffee flavour. Lou and I devoured the lot in what seemed like seconds!! A couple of ice-cold limoncello’s followed, I just love limoncello, I could have polished off the bottle, but I would’ve staggered out of the place! It was time to head off, £86 for a delicious Sicilian feast with wine, not too bad at all.

Well, I really think Ricardo has worked wonders with La Pizzeria; it really is little a hidden gem. After our lovely meal it soon became apparent why this restaurant has been top of the pile for quite a few years. Not only the food, but also the service and hospitality, it all works together perfectly. So, if your struggling to choose an Italian, give La Pizzeria a go, it really is a taste of rustic Sicily.

La Pizzeria can be found at 640 London Road and contacted on 01702 341456