Pizza Paradiso

Authentic Italian Pizza, Unmatched and Delightful!

A visit to Pizza Paradiso is like slipping into an old pair of your favourite slippers – comfortable, occasionally surprising, but with the odd scuffed edge that keeps the experience grounded in reality. Nestled in a pocket of London where the pizza proficiency might not exactly be legendary, this little gem serves up some unexpected delights. Their sourdough pizzas conjure discussion: the crusts leave behind a lingering pillow-soft memory with a season finale worth missing your train for. The pepperoni offers its own crisped sonnet to perfection, while the Margherita shows restraint with cheese that's merely a background harmony rather than the lead. However, if you're swinging by on a lazy afternoon, do gasp galore at every bite before it becomes a cold memory due to the vagaries of delivery – something Deliveroo would rather you didn’t harp on about.

The setting feels like a community chorus singing ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ in the background, and while the score repeats, the venue thrives on affable service above all else. Staff have garnered near-legendary status for their hospitable flair, topping pizzas with charm and conversational wit in equal measure. Save a certain culinary missteps – forgettable Caesars too far removed from any emperor's glory, and a few soggy affairs threatening integrity – where they truly succeed is with creating moments not just slices. You wander out with the aftermath of loading textures and flavours alongside echoes of a playlist best perhaps described as ‘enthusiastically dedicated to Houston.’ For regular local punters, Pizza Paradiso remains a reliable retreat, balance restored from each cheesy transgression by neighbourhood appeal and that inexplicably comforting thin crust which defies comparison the world over, or at least the NW postal codes of it. — Penelope Savory