Pappagone or Porchetta

SimonB

Wednesday night Porchetta:

We had to wait ages (45 mins) for our take away pizzas because they were understaffed and the restaurant was full.

However, the manager was very apologetic and gave us free beers while we were waiting.

Still, I'd rather wait 45 mins for a good pizza at Porchetta than go to Pappagone for a cheap cheese and bread approximation.

tosscat

I may have to retry La porc - it was always minging when I went before.

dion

I went to Pappagone yesterday and it was great. I can't understand the appeal of the other place.

katiejane

Blimey - we really are polarised aren't we?

tosscat

or are we reactolite?

magicP

We were in Pappagone on Saturday and it was splendid. They were very busy though and needed the table back by a certain time.

Spaniel

Porchetta, definately, without doubt. I will lean in the window of Pappagone to pick up some ice-cream, but that's as far as I'll go, and even then I feel guilty.

rainbow_carnage

So we had our first Pappagone pizza last night. After 6 years of mostly very decent take-away pizzas from La Porchetta, we never felt the need to change. But last night at 11:45, I was hungry, La Porchetta was closed, so I took a leap.

Big mistake. The pizza was terrible. The base was much too thin. Everything soaked through. We wound up having to eat the toppings with a spoon. The peppers were completely raw. The cheese tasted very Tesco Value.

How anyone could possibly prefer this place is beyond me. Is it any better when you eat in? I've only eaten at La Porchetta once. I don't like the atmosphere, and there are way too many kids there. Pappagone looks about the same from the outside, though.

I'll stick with La Porchetta take-away for all of my pizza-eating needs.

matt

I can't remember ever seeing many kids at Pappagone. Do you have agoraphobia? Just asking.

katiejane

Yeugh. Kids.

I must admit I'm swaying, and thinking of making the switch. I'm encouraged by the fact that I saw the lovely lady who served us in La P on Rosebery Avenue - I think she owns it with her husband - through the window there last week.

Has anyone tried La Venezia near Petek yet?

rainbow_carnage

@ Matt - You may be right about the kids at Pappagone. I've never actually gone inside - just looked in from the street - and it seemed like there were many kids.

And no, I'm not agoraphobic. I just don't like it when other people feel the need to inflict their precious angels on me. It's not cute when your child comes over and insists on touching things on my table. I don't go over and touch your child.

And the squealing... oy!

Liz

Went to Porchetta for the first time in ages on Saturday night (becauase Pappagone was full). Haven't had a pizza at either for ages, but the melanzane parmigiana at Pappagone is much better than Porchetta. I had rung to book, which they had completely forgotten about when we got there and stuck us in a rubbish table at the back. Decor looking really quite tatty now, and we were served by a guy who took great trouble to tell us that he was only helping his friend out and wasn't a waiter really, then kept coming over to ask if we liked him or not. Bizarre. It is true that there are often kids in both, early evening - don't think there's much to choose between them on that front.

Colette

@ Liz - really? having tried both lots of melanzane parmigiana, I really can't tell the difference between either. I assume they get a job lot frozen from the same distributors. I tend to have the Porchetta one take away, and no matter how often I tell them on the phone when I order to make sure that they cook it all the way through, it is always slightly cold in the middle. Still, it's a pretty good parmigiana, so I keep coming back for more... I've just learnt to pre-heat the oven at home before ordering.

Liz

Well, maybe I was slightly biased in that it came some time after everyone else got their pizzas, and we were at a crappy table. But that aside, I'd definitely say that the Pappagone version is better.

Alchemist Jack

Can't I vote neither? Both far too loud, the service rushed, the pizza mediocre.

Colette

Actually had a really good pizza from pappagone on saturday night. I was almost impressed. Their melanzane parmigiana (main course size specially requested) was a joke though - tiny portion for the price, and it had obviously been microwaved - absolute rubbish compared with Porchetta's (sorry Liz).

T.J.

Was discouraged by a very salty base on a pizza in Porchetta shortly after moving into area and haven't been back. Must try again. Enjoy going to Pappagone if only for the big handshakes. Il Bacio was tasty enough but the atmosphere fell somwhere in between Pappagones and a sterile Pizza Express which I found a bit odd.

I think Lupa are the tastiest by far for delivery (Calabrese - savage!) but I've gotten into habit of pre-heating the oven when I order as it's always bloody cold. Crouch End to Carlisle Rd, it's not miles away! This happen others or do they just not like me?

matt

Always cold from Lupa and Firezza (St Paul's Road, near Highbury & Islington roundabout)

JoeV

Late to this discussion but whenever I'm feeling homesick Pappagone never fails to cheer me up. I feel instantly transported back home to an outer nyc borough (and the pizzas are just about the best I've had in London).

katiejane

An outer NYC borough. Hmm. Not Italy then?

les08

Papagone by a long, long country mile. You know they once put banana on a pizza for my extremely hard to please sister when she was visiting.

David

I wonder if there's some scientific equation to the cut-off point a pizza being delivered gets cold. Matt always gets cold pizza from Firezza & Lupa, I've yet to have a cold one from either. After much heated debate supporting both sides of this argument I'm suspicious of any view that separates them by a country mile, let alone a long, long one. Clearly, my only conclusion can be that les08 owns Pappagone.

immmy

Porchetta every single time. To be honest, only been to Pappagone once when Porky was closed and felt it was a cheap imitation - service & atmosphere not as friendly and pizza not as good.

You really can't beat an amazing Porchetta pizza, though lately the SGR branch's prices have gone up. Me and the boyf often go to the Pollo Bar La Porchetta on Old Compton St which is criminally reasonable in price considering the location, and just as friendly.

Also I'm bloody bored of people looking at me like I'm simple when I say "por-ketta". A "ch" in Italian becomes a hard c, it's the "cc" that you soften.

Colette

or even just the "c", if it's before an "e" or an "i"

unaesthetic

when we got a biked delivery from firezza it came cold, but the couple times i've walked there and back, the pizzas have been fine.

i do tend to prefer porchetta, but yep, the prices have gone up lately and the quality isn't what it was, which is why we've been defecting to firezza recently.

andy

We ate at the Old Compton St one the other week - it was exactly the same menu/decor/wine as the SGR venue. Which, given that it was in the centre of town, made it a bargain.

injoke

pappagone by miles and miles and miles.

pizza better, staff nicer, and unlike porchetta it's not always someone's bloody birthday with all the "oh god, we don't get paid enough for this" pot banging and singing.

David

les08 and injoke are clearly partners that own Pappagone.

injoke

call me a traditionalist but i prefer my pizza without a lake of cheap undercooked cheese and pepperoni juice on the top, i've had to bore holes through the middle to drain porchetta pizzas on more than one occasion. next time i'll tell them it's my birthday.

David

So that's one mile for the cheap undercooked cheese, one for the pepperoni juice and another mile for having to bore holes. And a country mile for having a banana handy. Neither are perfect, I just refuse to believe there's such a gulf between them.