The Yard Pizzeria — Restaurant in St Albans

I was looking for a pizzeria with a wood fired oven and we were very excited to visit this place. Unfortunately, the Yard Pizzeria did not live up his expectations. The dough was very rubbery and underneath the pizza was burnt throughout (which is not down to the fact that they use a wood fired oven). We are an Italian family so probably our expectations/standards were a bit too high but this is no way near to what you would get in Italy in an average place. We make pizza ourselves with a wood fired oven (considerably smaller than what the yard pizzeria has), so we know what we are talking about; we use selected wood and have never burnt a pizza. We left the place speechless and very disappointed. The olive antipasto was good though; this was generously offered by the owners.

If you decide to give it a go then remember that a rubbery dough and burnt pizza are not good signs and this is not definitely the stuff that Italians would eat. I would have sent the pizzas back and left the place but my wife did not let me.

Do not be mislead by the facebook...

Found this little gem on route while visiting family. As soon as we walked in we were greeted with warm welcoming smiles and shown to our seats. The decor and ambience is a fusion of modern simplicity and rustic authenticity. Lovely wooden decor, Italian music playing and wood fired oven burning. We didn't have to wait long to place our order, it's all open plan so we were able to see the chef prepare and cook our food in the amazing wood oven. If I wasn't impressed enough already .... We started off with Garlic bread (which my daughter loved so much we ended taken another one to go) then the pizza, WOW! I have to say this is the best pizza I have ever eaten, the dough was so soft and the toppings perfect, it tasted delicious!! The only thing I am gutted about is that this quirky pizzeria is so far from where I live :( I will definitely be adding The Yard to my route planner every time I visit my...

Update: Came here for birthday lunch and we knew it would be nice. We booked a table. We were told we were unexpected by a waitress that doesn't seem to like people. Our starters hadn't come so we had to go and ask as everyone else had food. Everything then came together and was dropped on the table with no care. No cutlery. No serviettes. Food was amazing, if difficult to manage arriving all at one, and one of the owners came over, apologised and offered some cake but we'd been there so long our kids had gone past hungry to tired. Such a shame. Waitress silently took our money and went back to chatting to her friend. Amazing how one person can make such a difference to the dining experience. I really hope things improve in the future.

food is always brilliant and quickly served. A great place to...