La Piazza Restaurant — Restaurant in Douglas

La Pizza

Well, it's Wednesday and the father decided to take out his two sons wife and daughter in law for a nice evening meal. My father decided to pick the established La Piazza (The Square) for its prestige and long reign on the Douglas promenade. I, on the contrary wanted to go to the upcoming and humble Pizza & Pasta but due to the acoustics and noisy environment, my father had decided otherwise…(Sigh).

Anyway La Piazza; where to begin? Perhaps the starter. 6 slices of bruschetta and a garlic bread. Let’s start with the bruschetta. Dry bread and some chopped tomatoes with a hint of olive oil. Hardly rocket science I guess. Hardly first date material though either. Following the bruschetta, we had also wanted to test the waters of the garlic bread. Consequently, a pizza shaped garlic ‘bread’ made out of dough had arrived at our table; one half lathered in tomato puree and the other melted cheese. My brother interestingly pointed out that if he had folded the garlic bread in half, would it have been a calzone? I guess we’ll never truly know.

Now for the main course. My brother and I had both ordered the Bari Calzone which I believe is named after the city of Bari in Italy. Would make sense, being an Italian restaurant and all. However, when I spotted my calzone arrive in front of my eyes, I was certainly a little bit bewildered by the sheer size of the meal. It had looked like someone had created a baby otter out of dough. The meal was coated in bolognaise which, I will not tell a lie, I did actually ask for. But here’s the kicker; and perhaps, even a twist in the tale. The La Piazza Menu states that the Bari Calzone has Italian fresh salami with chillis hand picked from the local farms of Napoli, complemented by a generous sprinkle of Mozzarella. I was certainly excited to say the least. However, I feel my father was maybe trying to punish me as he knows I love calzones. What had I done to deserve this meal? Whilst I made an incision on the calzone I had discovered the following: honey roast ham (which I believe had come from the Co-op), a mystery cheese, perhaps cheddar? And some green and red peppers which from my evidence so far, was not hand picked from Italy, let alone Napoli! I’m no critic, by any means, but fool me once shame on you……………………………....you won’t fool me twice. Was this the quality of Bari? No. Was this the quality of Bury? Absolutely. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but maybe you can hire a new...

As lovers of Italian cuisine, we approached La Piazza with hopeful hearts and empty stomachs. Sadly, we left with the bitter aftertaste of regret – and what we think was supposed to be garlic.

From the moment we stepped in, we were greeted not with “Buona sera!” but with the kind of cold indifference that makes you wonder if you accidentally wandered into someone’s private kitchen during a family argument. No welcome, no smile, and certainly no atmosphere – unless you count the stifling, furnace-like heat. We genuinely considered ordering gelato just to survive.

Now, to the food – if you can call it that. The garlic bread arrived first, and so did the butter – all of it. Swimming in what can only be described as a garlic oil slick, the bread was less “crispy antipasti” and more “soggy sponge from a vampire repellent ad campaign.”

Then came the mains. Ever had the sense that your pasta sauce came from aisle 3 of a supermarket – probably labelled “value range”? We did. A sad, lifeless concoction that somehow managed to taste of absolutely nothing. It was as though the chef had made a solemn vow to remove every trace of flavour out of respect for… well, nobody knows.

And for this privilege? Prices that would make a trattoria in Florence blush. The food may not have been authentically Italian, but the bill certainly screamed “Tourist Trap!”

To sum it up: La Piazza feels like someone googled “Italian restaurant” and gave up halfway through reading the Wikipedia entry. If this was a tribute to Italy, it should come with a formal apology to the Italian embassy.

Do yourself a favour: skip this one. Go eat literally anywhere else. Or just have a nice dream about pizza – it’ll probably be...

Delicious food, excellent service, and authentic feel.

I loved the chilled vibes, and reasonable prices (its nice to dine somewhere that's not exploiting the tourists, but nor is it so cheap that quality is compromised).

I cannot wax lyrical about this restaurant and its staff enough!! We need independent restaurants like this to thrive!!

It had a very unpretentious and genuine familial vibe, which was just so comfy and welcoming. It just felt how a good, honest, and hard-working traditional Italian family-run restaurant should: (vastly superior to many of the restaurants I visited in Rome or Napoli!!). (I've no idea if it is family-run, but either way, that 'feel' to it is very welcome).

The service was delightfully friendly and efficient.

The food was devine.

The decor is cute and quirky.

A definite must-go for visitors to and...