Star Rating

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Uffizzi 

735-755 Lea Bridge Road, 

Walthamstow   

E17 9DZ   map

Tel 020 8509 2259  

Web Site

Once commended by Time Out magazine as selling ''the best pizza in London'' the Uffizzi  has long been very popular in the area. Known by some locals as the 'Elvis' restaurant, Elvis has recently been missing from the forecourt. His guitar disappeared many years ago and I guess he has now followed (maybe he's alive and still out there somewhere?)
This restaurant is somewhat quirky due to the nature of its Friday and Saturday nights, when diners are treated to live music, sung and performed by the owner and a part-time waiter! This brings a party atmosphere to these evenings and is very popular for celebrations, so if you want a quite meal I would stay away at weekends. The food is basic and consistent and the pizzas really are very good, cooked in front of your very eyes by a proper pizza chef in a proper pizza oven. (I would recommend the pizza garlic bread as a starter if your feeling particularly hungry). Pasta is served in generous portions along with the usual pesce  and carne main courses. Pizza and pasta cost around £6 to £7 per dish.
Service can be a bit flaky and it's not unusual for them to get the order wrong. Staff are obviously quite used to this and are always happy to correct mistakes quickly and without contradiction. A staple E17 pizzeria.

Sept 08

Hi , don't agree about Uffizzi, pizza ok but anything else is hit and miss, used to be a great place 15yrs ago

Carol.

Posted 5th January 2009

We went to Uffizzi just before Christmas and it was full of Christmas parties. It was certainly very lively, but not exactly the place you'd go for a romatic dinner for two. In fact we were sandwiched between two large parties with hardly room to move our chairs out.
We started off with the calamari, which was a pretty unimaginative affair with a rather tasteless salad garnish on the side. Being from New Zeland my husband was excited to see New Zeland mussels on the menu. However when they arrived they were over cooked and rubbery.
I never normally eat pizza in England as it doesn't taste anything like Italian pizza. However, based on the Time Out reviews I thought I would throw caution to the wind and try it. I should have got warning signs when I saw the choices (beef steak on a pizza??). I didn't however and ordered the quattro formaggi. It was again very average with a badly cooked base and poor quality cheese on top. My husband ordered pasta with cream, salmon and spinach. There was hardly any spinach on it, the salmon tased like it came from a tin and it was very heavy on the cream. In all it was a very clunky dish which lacked the subtleness of good Italian cooking.
Having lived in Italy I usually avoid Italian restauarants over here because I think they are very poor quality. Uffizzi has done nothing to change my mind about that.

Esther.

Posted 7th January 2009

A couple of friends and I visited uffizzi restaurant at the end of last year on recommendation from a work colleague. What a lovely place, the atmosphere was great, the staff were friendly and the food was superb.
I Had the New zealand mussels and they were lovely, my friends had the stuffed mushrooms and the calamari napoli both commented on how nice the starters were, then for main I had the seafood spagetti while my friends had the steak. The spagetti was so tasty and the seafood plentiful whilst my friends commented on how tender their steak was. I must say that I would highly recommend this restaurant to all my friends and I will be definately going again and again.

Jo

Posted 26th January 2009

My wife and I are regular customers at Uffizzi we visited Rome last year and found that the food there was not a patch on Uffizzi, Time Out magazine who also travel the world said Best Pizza in London! I think that if they had sampled the food that we did in Italy, they might say best pizza in the world, its so refreshing to see that the British can hold their own in a world market, not only is the food better than what we found Italy's Capital city its also better value for money, I had a main course Vongole and Crevette spaghetti from the specials menu priced at £6.50 at home in Walthamstow.
 
Andy

Posted 17th February 2009

I thought I would give Uffizzi a try as "best pizza in London" sounded  
too good to be true.
It was! Perhaps Uffizzi was one of the best places 10 years ago, but  
pizzas in London have changed a lot since then. Iit certainly does not  
compare to the truly excellent Italian-style pizzas you can find in  
the capital these days (try Story Deli on Brick Lane, for example). If  
you come expecting pizzas of this high standard you will be  
disappointed. It doesn't even match up to the newer big chains e.g.  
Strada.
Still, I quite liked the place nonetheless, and here's why - the  
atmosphere! This was the most friendly and welcoming restaurant I have  
been to for ages - had a real community spirit about it.
So, if you live in the area and are happy to put up with nice but  
unexciting pizzas give it a try!
 
Dan, E17