Pasta e Pizza — Restaurant in Amsterdam

Pretty good authentic Italian pizza spot!! Portion sizes are plenty, flavors are fresh & tasty. The restaurant name doesn’t do justice to the quality of the food served and the amazing people!!

The staff here is so genuine and sweet, truly some of the kindest people. They are from Italy and you can feel how proud and excited they are to share their food with others. Majority of the diners were also Italian, which is a great sign.

Plenty of seating inside (there’s a 2nd floor too), food comes out quick and the music is top tier. Eating here reminded me so much of visiting Italy!!

Shortly after I arrived, a group of 20 Italian men walked in. The owner was very excited and soon this entire group started singing along to the classic Italian songs playing in the background. I know not all ppl like this type of experience but I had so much fun!! Every table started clapping along, it was such a vibe and so much fun!!! I think that goes to show the type of environment the owner and staff create to make their customers feel comfortable enough to sing along and enjoy themselves. Truly a...

Had the rucola salad, which was fresh, well dressed and well presented.

Also had the spaghetti bolognese which was well presented but horrendous. A bolognese is supposed to be mostly meat with a soffritto of onion, celery, carrot and garlic with a just a little tomato. This sauce was 85% tomato, 10% meat and 5% onion. They mention celery and carrot on the menu but it’s left out. I know that in most restaurants and homes it’s made with more tomato than it would be done traditionally. Perhaps the food snob in me would I’d let it go if it was seasoned better. Almost no salt was used, no vinegar, there were some very small flecks of green in the sauce but no herbaceous flavours at all and only a very small amount of Parmesan or more likely grana padano on top.

Maybe the restaurant has a new chef or they forgot some ingredients for the latest batch but I’d suggest tasting the bolognese sauce because that can’t be how it’s intended to be served. If it is, I’d strongly suggest finding a new recipe.

The square of pizza bread was...

Unfortunately my experience did not reflect the positive reviews I had read before hand.

The pizza was homemade dough with San Marzano tomato and fior de latte cheese which were both delicious.

Unfortunately the dough itself had an off, almost sour taste, I think perhaps due to incorrect yeast balance (it was a hot day so perhaps a proofing issue).

There was no tap water available. I ordered a spritz but it was disappointing aesthetically. It was served in a huge glass but only half filled and with a limp lemon cut too thin on the side.

While the other observations I could overlook, the two separate hairs I found on my pizza were what made me write this review. One was black and the other was grey. I can look past one but two, from two different people is not an accident but a hygiene issue, and definitely something that should be looked at.

I hope these are things that can be solved now I have drawn...