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Il Principe

Il Principe

82 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX41JB, OX4 1JB, United Kingdom

Delis • Pizza • Pasta • Italian


"Il Principe Oxford, England. Authentic as pizza can get, Il Principe is well known amongst the locals and it should be better known to visitors. To thank the babysitter one day, there was a group decision for having pizza for dinner (what else to share? well, maybe fish and chips.. but where to go? After some negotiation and discussion, it was agreed upon for Il Principe. I had a cold at the time, so I stayed at the home base. From what I heard, the waiter there had a very strong Italian accent. Between six people, five pizza were ordered; quattro formaggi, vesuvio, napoli, parma and pesto Genovese. All five of them were good, for differing reasons some to varying degrees. By authentic, these pizzas had a thin base with few ingredients spread in a single and sparse layer on the pizza. This way, there is focus on the quality of the ingredients as well as the different flavours which contrast and interact. After this way, ideally there would not be going back to the pizza chains. For a four cheese pizza, the quattro formaggi was surpringly not overbearing. It was hard to detect the different types of cheese used but it was quite lovely to taste the different flavours. It would have been helpful if the menu told what the cheeses were to attempt detecting them better but it was a decent one, if the weakest of the lot. The vesuvio was advertised as hot underwhelming in that regard. Otherwise not bad, with a guaranteed dynamic of pepperoni, mushroom and chili oil. Parma was the surprise of the night, with the subtle flavours of parma ham and rocket mixed with the sharpness of parmaesan cheese. It was one that improved a second time around. The pesto genovese was pretty good, if a bit on the sloppy side. Tastes and ingredients here range from distinct and acquired to a bit strange for a pizza but the combination works exceptionally well. Finally, the winner of the night is the traditional and tried true napoli anchovies, olives and capers. Three salty and strong ingredients very familar to Italian cuisine. Combining these with good cheese and tomato and you have yourself a bone fide classic of Italian restaurants. This time was no exception. These pizzas were exceptional. I await going here on time, and anticipate eating their food. It is certain that I wish for a return."

La Stalla

La Stalla

270A, Wallisdown Road, Bournemouth, BH104HZ, BH11 8, United Kingdom

Pizzeria • Vegetarian • Pasta Dishes • Carne - Meat


"To me pizza is something that is very close to my heart. The amount of good memories I've had happened while having pizza with people. Often when I think of Pizza the emotions that come to mind are joy, hope, excitement , happiness. Yet last night when I sat there eating my pizza from La Stalla all I could feel was a blend of rage and sadness as well as the strong feeling that I had been deceived. I had paid 26 pounds for two vegetarian pizzas and an order of cheese garlic bread. I called up the place beforehand to inquire the amount of garlic bread pieces I would receive as well as the size of the pizza. Once I had received my takeaway and got home I opened the box and to my horror I only found two pieces of cheese garlic bread, the garlic bread looked quite sad and dry and resembled a toastie rather than a proper piece of Italian garlic bread. I then proceeded to open the pizza boxes and I had realised that I have been deceived, the pizzas that sat infront of me , they were not 12 inches. I grabbed my measuring tape and measured it as I knew this was not right . As I measuring I was hoping that I just looked at it wrong and that it was 12 inches , however my optimism was misplaced, the Pizza was in fact 8.5 inches on both pizzas. I decided to slice up the pizza and try to make the best out of a bad situation but the pizza sadly was nothing short of incredibly average. The pizza tasted the same as a frozen pizza, with a tasteless cardboard esque base, bland tomato sauce and cheese that very much felt like low quality heavily processed mozzarella. Overall , this was incredibly overpriced and truly just a miserable experience that I will not be returning to."