Café Marco Polo
121 rue Saint Lazare
75008 Paris
Tel 01 43 87 36 05
Reviewed on Saturday 25 April 2009 lunch time

Les galeries Lafayettes

Café Marco Polo is located right in front of the Saint Lazare train station and a 15 minute walk from the Galeries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann. I have been there several times and it was always good
We ordered two pizzas: a pizza royale (14.90 euros) and a pizza soufflée/calzone (13.60 euros). As drink we had a bottle of their red wine of the month (14.90 euros). Not much to say beside everything from the pizza to the wine was good! The pizzas were crispy. The pizza royale could have had more cheese though.

Pizza royale

Pizza soufflée

Cost and conclusion: It was 43.40 euro service charge included. I noticed that lately France is really becoming an expensive country and it is not just because of the currency exchange pound-euro.  Almost 15 euros for a pizza is quite a lot, compared to a steak etc. Well, still a good lunch and I am glad to live in “cheap” London!

Pizzeria l’Arlequin
Route de la Roquette, 06370 Mouans Sartoux, France
Reviewed on Thursday 23 April 2009 lunch time

L’Arlequin is a restaurant I used to go often, like twice a week when I was working for a start-up company in Mougins/Sophia Antipolis since it was just 3 minutes drive from the office. That was 8-9 years ago. Nothing fancy but a decent always updated meal of the day and a good range of pizzas. You can get a menu meal of the day + dessert for something like 11 euros. Pizzas are in the 9-11 euros range. I did not bother to take a photo of the menu since I was on vacation and this site is for reviewing restaurants based in London mostly 😉
It has been a long time since I was last there and I was nicely surprised that the owner still recognised me
It was a nice sunny day so we decided to have lunch on the terrasse, protected by parasols. A waiter saw that Henri the boxer was struggling a little with the heat so he came quickly with a bowl of fresh water. That was very nice of him and I like restaurants in France or Belgium where dogs are welcome.
The pizzas were fine but they were better cooked in the past. Still, the base is very thin and crispy. One special thing here is they have a pizza au foie gras et au foie de volaille (pizza with foie gras and chicken liver)! It is the only place I have seen such a pizza. It is a little heavy so the best is to share it with someone who has another kind of pizza.

Hot goats cheese

Pizza au foie gras et au foie de volaille

Pizza aux aubergines

Henri the boxer watching people eating

Please feed me!

Cost and conclusion: I did not pay for the lunch I recommend l’Arlequin if you have to eat something quickly in the area. If you want a better setting, go to Mougins or to Valbonne.

Pizza Express Wandsworth – Trinity, London SW17 7HR
Reviewed on Friday 3 April 2009 lunch time.

Pizza Express at Wandsworth Common

Peroni beer

The two pizzas were the pizza La Reine (prosciutto cotto ham, olives and mushrooms for £7.55) and the pizza Soho (an olive and garlic pizza with fresh rocket and shaved grana padano added once it is out of the oven for £7.55 also). The pizza La Reine was average, a bit too much tomato sauce which made the pizza go a bit soggy, and a bit stingy on the cheese and ham. No complaint with the olives, that was the right amount. The pizza Soho was good and light compared to the pizza La Reine. Its base was crispy and the fresh rocket was giving a good flavour to the pizza. The chilli oil was very mild but still nice.

The two pizzas

Pizza Soho

Pizza La Reine

Chilli oil

Cost and conclusion:  For £23.80 (plus service to add) it was fine for me who took the pizza Soho. I tried a little the pizza La Reine and I thought there was way too much tomato sauce making it bad. So overall it depends on the pizza you choose. There are usually vouchers with Pizza Express (do a search online) where you can take two pizzas for the price of one or get starters for free etc. With them the value for money would be good but I didn’t use them and for about the same the price you can eat much better at Rustica in Richmond, which isn’t located next door I agree. Still, if you have a big family, it is a good place to take your kids there. They even have baby changing facilities.

Fire & Stone – fireandstone.com

31/32 Maiden Lane
Covent Garden
London
WC2E 7JS

Reviewed on 27 March 2009 lunch time.

Pizza restaurant Fire and Stone

Fire & Stone is located in the touristic area of Covent Garden. It was the party menu 1 for £14.95 per person.
For that price you get a glass of Borgo Magredo Prosecco which was good, some Italian breadsticks served olives, a choice between 5 pizzas and as dessert a selection of Italian ice creams (average).
There were two vegetarian pizzas (Athena and Byron Bay) and 3 non vegetarian pizzas (Canberra, Cape Town and New York). I chose the Cape Town (pepperoni, ground spicy beef, mozzarella, tomato sauce and mild chilli, topped with fresh basil & oregano) which I found bad… The toppings were quite bland and the base was heavy and crunchy on the edges, nothing light and crispy.

Pizza Cape Town

Booked in group the tables were big but the rest is more like a cafeteria with all the tables in rows.

Cost and conclusion:  for about £15 (plus an “optional” 12.5% service charge added to the bill). you can expect better even if it is in a very touristic area. I would recommend the pizzeria Zizzi in the Strand at 2 minutes walk from there (73-75 The Strand, London, WC2R 0DE).