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The Zizzi brand has been around for ten years
now, so it’s fair to say that they should know what they are
doing. We decided to pay their restaurant situated in the
Theatre District a visit.
Décor
The first thing
we noticed when we walked through the door was the chefs! They
were busy at work and could be seen tossing dough in the air in
the open kitchen which has a huge pizza oven against the back
wall. An open kitchen always adds that little extra to your
dining experience. The restaurant walls are painted in a rustic
cream colour, the tables chunky and wooden. There are many
Italian vases and jars of ingredients around the room which is
situated over two floors. Our table had chunky chairs on one
side and a booth on the other side giving us extra comfort.
Service
Andre, Tony and
Aja served our table throughout the evening. Zizzi believe in
working as a team and look after their guests which they did
here; making us feel relaxed and comfortable. When our order was
being taken they acknowledged our comments and always repeated
the order back to us making sure it was correct. We were also
asked our names at the beginning of the evening. Tony in
particular called us by name when delivering our food and taking
our orders, this was a nice touch which is surely not easy to do
in a busy restaurant?
Atmosphere
The staff certainly helped in creating a vibrant
yet relaxing atmosphere with lots of laughter and conversation.
Because of the obvious attention they give to all their diners,
we will be returning to this particular Zizzi very soon.
Food
We started with the mixed olives (£2.35) which
were coated with herbs and chilli. The Zizzi website describes
them as emerald like, firm textured flesh with a nutty flavour.
They are right! They were eaten within minutes of sitting on our
table. Next!
My guest and I then shared the Arancini (£4.95)
which is new on the menu. These are made from risotto, coated in
breadcrumbs, mozzarella, grana padano cheese and some peas all
rolled into 3 balls. I selected this starter as is looked and
sounded gooey and full of flavour. I was pleased with my choice
– this dish was both mouth watering and unique. The balls came
with a tangy tomato sauce on the side that just needed some more
chilli. I added this myself with the chilli oil that was on our
table - job done.
Zizzi do not sell dough balls but they do sell
dough sticks (£3.75). I believe the price is a little steep for
what you get which is about 8 sticks flavoured with infused
garlic and rosemary served with a garlic and basil dip. Some of
the sticks were soft and some were hard. I could not really
taste the promised flavours and to be honest these were all
quite bland. The restaurant ran out of dip so we were given
plain mayonnaise which did not help.
Mains
My guest then chose the Strozzapreti pesto rosso
(£8.75). This is a sautéed, slightly spiced chicken whipped up
with crème fraiche, red pesto and springs onions partnered with
twirly pasta. My guest does not really like spring onions so
these were removed. The dish was of a good size and well worth
the money. The pasta was crispy on the out side and gooey in the
middle. There was plenty of sauce and the dish was well
seasoned. The Strozzapreti was also piping hot on this cold
winter’s evening.
I was looking forward to trying the pizza because
we had heard all about the Rustica variety that is unique to
Zizzi. This pizza is unlike any other because it is far bigger,
thinner and crispier. This gives the customer more room for more
toppings. This particular pizza is an extra £1.95 but well worth
the price. I chose the Sofia with ingredients that included a
gorgeous spicy chicken, my favourite pepperoni, a flavoursome
roasted sausage which was crisp on the edges, tomato and
mozzarella. This was also topped with green chilli and fresh
rosemary (£9.25). The pizza arrived on a wooden board that
looked as though it had just been chopped off a tree. My guest
and I were gobsmacked by the size of this dish......”Wow!” The
pizza was so good and filling so tasty that we took half of it
home in a pizza box which actually had little room left because
the pizza was so big.
Desserts
At
this point we were incredibly full and our left over pizza and
pasta were already on our table in a brown paper bag ready to
take home. After a 15 minute break we ordered the panettone al
forno (£5.35) and the torta cioccolata (£4.85).
The pannettones takes up to 15 minutes to bake so
that gave us some much needed breathing space. This dish was
invented in Milan and is a fluffy, hot bread pudding topped with
cinnamon ice cream. This is incredibly filling so I struggled to
finish it. I honestly did not notice that the menu stated the
dessert was great for sharing. Oops! The hot bread worked
extremely well with the chilled ice cream.
The torta cioccolata is thick, chocolaty, rich
and comes with vanilla mascarpone. This is a dessert for dark
chocolate lovers.
We had a great evening and food was reasonably
priced. The large size of the portions stood out. We left
feeling looked after and enjoyed the entire experience. |
