Japes Soho — Restaurant in London

Japes is a deep dish pizza restaurant a five minute walk from Shaftesbury Avenue and therefore the perfect location for Oxford Street shoppers, Sightseers as well as Theatre goers.

The restaurant has a lovely facade and beautiful interior. You can tell a lot of attention was made regarding the layout, as you aren’t squeezing past anyone to get to your seat, and the size of the restaurant is comfortable for both people dining solo and in large groups.

As usual, I must mention accessibility. There is a small step at the entrance and though there may be a disabled toilet on the ground floor, I did not spot it! Toilets were clean, but very dark (mood lighting? Who knows).

Now to the food. I had the Chicago Pizza (Classic with Pepperoni) and my friend had the Mediterranean (Goats Cheese, Feta, Halloumi (oh my) as well as a variety of vegetables, though she took the olives out). My expectation having seen the pictures on instagram and knowing what Deep Dish Pizza is supposed to be, meant I was very confused when the pizza I received wasn’t actually that deep, and it definitely wasn’t as saucy as an authentic Deep Dish.

There wasn’t much of a stretch, and in that respect I was disappointed. However, that doesn’t mean that the pizza wasn’t absolutely delicious. It was a very good pizza, with thicker crust for sure, so I can forgive Japes for somewhat deceiving me. On a technicality, it was a ‘deep dish’ pizza, though only in name.

Because the food was good, the service was excellent and the restaurant as a whole was wonderful, I have given Japes a solid 4 stars (4.5 maybe), not 5 stars as my anticipation for real deep dish pizza was overwhelming before I got there.

I will definitely go back to try the long list of desserts they have on offer, which...

So. I'm a bit conflicted about this place, I want to give them five stars but I feel as though they're doing themselves a disservice and shooting themselves in the foot with their marketing/messaging.

After spending many months in the United States living in the Midwest in and around Chicago for sometime, which is the birth place of deep-dish, I have developed a bit of a taste for it. And so It's unsurprising I went on a bit of a hunt looking for that unique taste while living in the UK and during that search I came across Japes which claims to sell authentic deep-dish, but it just absolutely isn't.

But what they do have though, is an absolutely amazing and unique pizza recipe that stands on its own as one of the best I've ever eaten and I really think they ought to market it as such instead because honestly, it's better.

Their in-house dough is unbelievably delicious and the toppings are fresh and flavourful. The stringy cheese is layered on thick and has an incredibly satisfying pull when broken apart and and the presentation is incredible. The portion sizes are also huge and the prices are also very reasonable for the area.

I was a bit sad to see them remove burgers made with their pizza dough from the menu during my last visit but I did enjoy the inclusion of a london crust in it's place.

I love Japes and I encourage everyone to visit. I hope one day they recognise what they have instead of trying to be something they're not because what they have is so...

Had been here before, probably over a year ago now and loved it... Went back tonight and was highly disappointed, pizzas were not the same, they have clearly made some cost cutting changes, however prices have still risen, which, okay fair enough I get the current climate. The biggest issue was my pizza was under cooked, there were areas where the dough was translucent and raw and when your squeezed it, it's just stayed flat. When raising this the server was lovely and said no problem I'll take it back to the kitchen. However, she came back saying the chef said it's fine and is cooked, which again okay he might think it is but what harm would it have done to whack it back in the oven for 5 mins? I'm the one that's gotta eat it and I feel it's under cooked. You could clearly see the raw dough around the edges, when you cut into it there should be air bubbles but it was just thick dough and it was as pale as anything yet everyone else's was a nice brown colour. The only reason I didn't give 1 stars was because my partner said his pizza was good and it did look nice! Sadly not a great experience and with so many places to eat in London it's defo no longer worth the price even if the pizza was...