I saw someone on Twitter say that Pazzo had said they would get in vegan cheese for pizza, and on their Facebook page they'd posted a photo of Violife (one of the best dairyfree cheeses out there IMO), so I was particularly excited to try their pizzas.
It felt a bit like a takeaway place with seating rather than a restaurant I'd go to for a special occasion. (My hair smelled a bit like a chippie when we left and I could faintly smell fish as we were waiting for our meal.) When we walked in I was pleased to see they sold beer, and they had their sign stating they had no card machine very clearly on display. With it being a Monday night, in a new place, and on the southside, I wasn't surprised to see it very quiet; some of the staff watched us walking towards the tables with looks of curiosity - are we going to sit down, are we going to leave...?
The waitress was very pleasant and I said I knew they had vegan cheese for pizzas and did they have anything else suitable for vegans? Their menu had a few items in Italian which I needed explained, and nothing marked with dietary symbols (vegan, vegetarian, gluten free or otherwise) apart from the mention of gluten free pizza bases. No separate 'Vegetarian' section of the menu; even the list of pizza toppings weren't separated into veg and non-veg.
After the waitress had checked she came back and said something I couldn't quite determine was a negative or affirmative, I took it to mean only the pizzas were vegan-friendly. I asked about the pumpkin ravioli, did it have egg, and she checked with the chef and it did. I didn't even ask about the fries, or whether we could have the garlic bread with cheese with oil instead of butter, as I expected she would need to check again with everything I asked. She was super lovely and efficient, and obviously felt sorry she wasn't able to tell me more straight away, but on a menu where you have no idea what some of the items are or if they likely have allergens, some staff training is necessary! Though in fairness, when I asked for explanations of the Italian ingredients I didn't know she could help me out easily there.
After that awkward start we were pleased that the pizzas didn't let us down and they were delicious. We both prefer doughy over crispy bases and the waitress had advised the 'traditional' base would be better for us than the 'thin'. We took what we couldn't finish away and she packed it into a small styrofoam box so we didn't have to carry three slices in a big box, which was very helpful.
There are three base pizza options: traditional or thin (£8) and gluten free (£9) and each topping is paid for at set prices between £1 and £3/£4. I quite liked this as it means you don't need to ask for toppings to be swapped, and when the bill arrived I was very happy to see that there was no extra charge for not only cheese - I guess it's a given most people will have cheese on their pizza - but also no extra charge for vegan cheese. Hopefully they'll keep the Violife and won't start charging extra!
There is no 'Toilets' sign, but given there is only really one way you can go that isn't the front door the logic is they would be in that direction, and I can confirm there are customer toilets beyond that door - one male, one female, and one disabled.
On the menu in the window there are sandwiches displayed, and one is 'Vegans Dream'; its filling is hummus and veg, so not hugely inspiring, but would be nice to go back for lunch and get this with some fries and see whether I'd feel like bumping my review up to a 4 (or a 5!). read more