One of a growing chain in the UK serving very reasonably priced pizzas using excellent sour dough bases

This is a high tempo, casual and fun place to have a pizza and I was always interested in their josper oven cooking at 500 degrees and making the pizza in very quick time. And they weren’t wrong(!), the pizzas ordered came after 6 minutes and that was with a full restaurant, (including the cold being braved by those sat the cold outside. Great pizzas where I almost preferred the crust to the actual pizza, but this venue would benefit from outdoor lamps to combat the cold.

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I thought the ricotta, mushroom and ham (number 4) was the clear winner over the tomato, chorizo and mozzarella (number 6) as the mix of cheeses in number (4) combined with the differing textures were lovely. The (6) wasn’t bad but simply didn’t ring any loud bells of happiness compared to other pizzas had as an overall effect, but what I thought was excellent was the freshly made and baked sour dough, the crust of which can be dipped in the home made chili and garlic oils – these were both not too strong at all and were significantly better than any run of the mill dough balls and garlic butter or oil that you can get at other pizza venues. A glass of the house red went with these very well and all in all I was pleased with it and great to finally do. The base is not too thick and ultimately, it was nicely done with very smiley service that had wonderful Italian flare.

Until recently I thought Franco Manca only had two branches – their original flagship in Brixton and Tottenham Court Road, but as I visited the latter when passing through yesterday I discovered there are now 17 branches in the chain (as of 10 Oct 15). Good news for those that love this original chain, and although it was a Friday night I was still surprised at how long the queue was throughout the evening, roving its popularity and was nice to hear the number of Italians dining as well which is another good sign.

Great for informal occasions, if you can bear a queuing wait in busy times as reservations are not taken. I do think this branch would benefit from some heating lamps for those dining under the umbrella outside as we approach the cold months as my only other observation, but ultimately I was pleased with the package here and is certainly a good confirmation to have for future drops ins which I will definitely do when needed in the mood for a fun, quick fix.

(Post note: on uploading my receipt I’ve also noticed / realised I didn’t tip as assumed the 12.5% was added(!) so that’s going to have to rectified on my next trip which it will be! Thank you to the staff for such fun service).

Food Grade: 73%