Santa Maria Pizzeria Islington — Restaurant in London

I'd say that Santa Maria Pizzeria lives up to the high ratings it has on Google Maps. I visited pretty late afternoon (3-00pm-4:00pm) on a Saturday and the place was almost empty, but I can imagine things can get pretty busy during peak service times and would certainly consider taking someone here for a date night. The waiter that I had was friendly and attentive, and asked if I wanted a cravat of tap water and anything else to start off with a few moments after I was seated.

I went for the vegan 'Santa Maria' (Pizza alla Marinara) pizza and the fact that this is even on the menu tells you a few things about the restaurant. Firstly, that it's an authentic Italian pizzeria and secondly, that they're confident that their tomato sauce is tasty enough without any additional toppings. The Santa Maria is £6.95 and I paid £0.70 extra for black olives, which were generously added and of good quality. This is a pretty good price for London and you can always judge a good pizza place by how they season their Marinara style pizza. I also had a glass of the house red which was a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo priced at £5.95, once again I'd say this is fair for the area. The Chilli Oil is made in house with Scotch Bonnet chillis so has a perfect balance of sweetness and heat, although, I'd say that you'd likely want to avoid this oil if you're not a fan of spicy food. Now, this wasn't the best Pizza alla Marinara I've ever had but I'll certainly be coming back and the pizza itself warrants a solid 9/10.

Service is compulsory at 12.5% - even for someone eating by themselves. I'm not against compulsory service charges, but they do make me question whether the staff are being paid a fair rate in the first place.

The only real negative is that the playlist is incredibly strange, a mix of 90s and 00s dance music - think Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx, some weird house-remix of Soldja Boy's 'Crank That'? I'm not sure if this is the usual mix of songs that is played or rather the waiting staff wanting something to get them ready for afternoon service; either way it didn't fit the aesthetic and feel of the...

Me : "Hi, table for 2 please"

Waitress : "One Second"

Manager (who never once looks at any booking system, at the tables, at anything, straight over to me...) : "Sorry, fully booked"

If that was the case. Why would the waitress not say that immediately. I love when I smell the bs when I visit a place.

Fully booked. Sure you are. At least 12 empty seats. This was totally not because I'm not one of the middle aged, "untanned", people that I saw in there. Nooo, of course not.

Silly. Am local 30 times a year with numerous friends looking for a place for us to frequent.

So, congrats on losing out on 5 grand a year.

Islington tho. Typical. Probably won't matter much to them.

Always try not to go anywhere where the service isn't predicated on them needing your custom.

(Edit :

Why would anyone have such a response if they were told they could wait?, it's a fantastical assertion. Also. If you're fully booked. Everyone in the restaurant knows that. It doesn't require a degree in "management".

There are numerous ways you know if the business WANTS to serve you. Here are a few examples of ways to respond that would have never caused me to write this review.

"Hey, um, we have a table, but it's booked for [X], so you'll have to leave by then, is that ok?..."

"Um, let me see what I can do. Maybe this table might be leaving in..."

"Ah, really sorry, we have only reservations on these days, tell you what here is my card, if you call me next time, I'll organise you a good table...."

ANY of the above are examples of ways you know if you are WANTED as a customer.

Also, at NO point did ANYONE say "15-20 mins" at all. It was, look directly at me, "we're fully booked", bye.

At which point, when a business lies to try to make themselves or their future customers feel better... they EARN the 1* review...

This place has potential but let down by a few things.

We went on a Saturday afternoon, when we entered we were the only people there and were met with a ‘yes?!’ from one of the waiting staff (not even a hello). Someone else came to take our order and whilst the place was empty we felt rushed.

We ordered drinks - thumbs up for the red peroni - and a bruschetta.

Everything arrived at the same time annoyingly - the bruschetta base was barely toasted and the tomatoes were deathly cold; tasted like they’d been bought from Tesco - surely they don’t need to be kept in the fridge during prep time?

The pizza was ok but quite undercooked - I like a bit of colour on the dough/cheese but this was medium rare at best. It also arrived uncomfortably quickly and was clearly quickly prepared as if the toppings had been thrown at it - big lumps of layers and layers of ham etc.

Just no real element of care throughout the process and a real lack of finesse - applies to both the food and the staff, who seemed to be having their own little party, lying around on the chairs/tables up the back as customers ate.

Bizarre music - traditional Neapolitan pizza restaurant blaring generic rock - think Welcome To The Jungle etc.

3 stars because some of the ingredients were really tasty and the drink selection was good, but it’s a generous rating as it just doesn’t live up to what it...