Pizza Punks

This will be my first time reviewing a restaurant within its opening fortnight. So whilst this review is accurate to my experience, the service and menu are all likely to change as they work out what it right for them. Another note, whilst I’m writing this there are the most delicious smelling black forest gateaux brownies baking in the oven. If one of my sentences ends up making no sense, it’s probably because I’ve gone to take them out of the oven.

We (Nick, Sheetal, and myself) went to Pizza punks on a Friday night around 8:00. It was fairly busy and we had a 20 minute wait for a table. That was fine, my main issue with the beginning of the evening was that we waited nearly 10 minutes at the podium for someone to come and tell us there’d be a 20-30 minute wait for the table.  The don’t take bookings for parties less than 10, so be prepared to wait.

(The brownies are cooked, cooled, and decorated.)

We were told to wait at the bar whilst the table was vacated and cleaned. Their choice of cocktails is comprehensive, giving you plenty of choice. There’s not a huge amount of space at the bar. They could do with an extra couple of chairs and maybe another table. We ordered our drinks just before we were taken to our table. Nick ordered a beer, Sheetal ordered a garden fizz, and I ordered a drumstick caiproska. The cocktails were lovely, priced between £6 and £8.50 which is fairly average in my opinion.

The decor is interesting. The space is large and lit with a LOT of neon, and feels very modern. The pizza oven is located on the main floor, the kitchens are in the basement.

 

The menu is simple enough. A few starters/small plates, the pizzas, and a few alternative mains. We ordered candied bacon and chilli cheese ,garlic and rosemary focaccia topped with honey. Neither of these were anything to write home about sadly. I’d heard good things about the candied bacon, but it was just overly chewing. I thought that the bacon would have been a touch crisper. The bread was just so-so, the honey worked really well with the flavours but it was just OK.

 

We each decided to have a pizza. The main point of Pizza punks is that for £9 you can put as many toppings on your pizza as you want. There’s a choice of a sourdough base or a gluten free base (£2 supplement, which to me seems a bit unfair).

Nick

• Sourdough base
• San Marzano tomato sauce
• Nduja + chorizo sausage
• Tender stem broccoli
• Mozzarella cheese

Nick really enjoyed it, it was tasty and there was plenty of spice from the sausage. The sourdough base is a decent base, crispy and flavourful.

 

Sheetal

• Sourdough base
• San Marzano sauce
• Pineapple
• Peppers
• Onions
• Brocolli
• Egg
• Mushrooms
• Mac and Cheese
• Fior di latte

Again Sheetal enjoyed her pizza but said it needed seasoning. Now the mac and cheese. Sheetal felt a bit cheated. It wasn’t really mac and cheese, just cooked macaroni put on the pizza. That seems like a bit of a cop-out to me.

 

Me

• Sourdough base
• Panna sauce
• Fior di latte
• Tallegio
• Hot smoked salmon
• Caramelised onions
• Egg
• Rocket

The pizza itself was tasty, the Panna sauce was light and tasty. The cheese they use is good quality. My main issue was it all could have done with a squeeze of lemon (not offered on the menu sadly) and that the onions were burned rather than caramelised.

We had a second round of drinks. Nick had a coconut and chilli daiquiri, Sheetal a ‘Final word’, and I ordered a blood orange negroni. The negroni was the worst decision I have ever made. It was just so bitter, overpoweringly so. Lesson learned I will never order one again.

For a £9 pizza I was happy enough with it, but after all the hype I was expecting more. Everything was good, but nothing made me say ‘Yes this is the best pizza in Glasgow’. The service was great, although the pizzas took a wee while to come out, but it was a fairly busy Friday night. The servers a lovely and really chatty. We asked one girl if anyone had ordered a pizza with everything They have apparently but she’d talked someone out of it.

I really wish I had more to say about Pizza punks, but it was just OK. Nothing to write home about. Maybe I’ll revisit once they’ve had time to settle in.

Find Pizza punks on Facebook and their website.