| Ambiance: |  (4 / 5) |
| Service: | (3.5 / 5) |
| Value for money: | (3 / 5) |
| Toilets: | (4 / 5) |
| Pizza: | (2.5 / 5) |
I hadn’t seen Bennick in a while so we agreed to meet for lunch. He’d suggested pizza (gold star), so I mentioned B-Soho as I’d read about it being a bar that serves good pizza, which is a concept I’m interested in for MYO, and when he found 241 vouchers for pizza there, it was a given – I was sold.
On first impressions, I was really impressed. All in black, B-Soho came across elegant and fashionable. Most importantly, it had a great central location which was incredibly easy to find which is always a selling point to me and my hopeless lack of direction. Inside proved even better. Although the combination of wood logs, art work and the vast variety of lighting would possibly seem ill-matched to an interior designer, when put together it actually looked pretty cool. The background music was lovely as well, I recognised a few songs from a Vienesse gala I’d been to on NYE, which made me feel quite civilised for a few minutes. I have to mention the toilets, as both Bennick and I rated them BUT if you’re a girl reading this, then the lack of lighting around the mirror may cause problems as I could hardly see my face, let alone my make-up. I did love the seating arrangements though and the fact you’re asking where you’d like to sit. From a choice of tables and chairs, or sofas – we chose a sofa. Possibly not the best idea for eating pizza with a knife and fork but definitely winning in the comfort stakes.
The menus came, presented on the clipboard design that I love but it was a very limited menu, and I’d gone in wanting intending to order something I’d seen online. There were only 5 pizzas to choose from on the ‘express menu’ so I was a little cheeky and asked for the larger pizza menu to order from. I was granted my wish, and I ordered Italian sausage and wild broccoli (I made sure to ask for the ragu as I didn’t fancy a Bianca base today). Bennick ordered a spicy pepperoni pizza, or something along those lines. We had the debate about ordering a margherita, and we just couldn’t justify getting our second ‘free’ pizza as a margherita. And, it’s all about the dough anyway…
The pizzas came ten minutes later and we were asked if we’d like chilli oil or black pepper, to which I took both. I’m sorry to say it, but I was thoroughly disappointed by both pizzas. The toppings were very sporadic and the broccoli hadn’t dried out enough so made my whole pizza, and dough quite wet. The sausage didn’t taste of the greatest quality either. As the dough is the most important thing in my search to find the perfect pizza, I was keen to taste the crust and again, I was disappointed. It claimed to be Neapolitan but the dough, despite being well seasoned, was chewy and didn’t have that light fluffiness of a true Neapolitan pizza. It tasted like it’d been rolled too, as when looking closely, the dough was very tight and held together if pressed between my fingers. Also, the waiter confirmed my suspicions that it had been cooked in a gas oven, which seems to be making a big difference in this quest to find the best dough. So far, Rossopomodoro – with your stone baked oven and dough recipe, you win.
Recommendation
Even though the pizza isn’t a selling point, I’d recommend going to B-Soho for a drink and a quick snack as it really is pretty cool inside and they have happy hour 5.30 – 7.30 Mon – Friday, making drinking pretty inexpensive, especially in such a nice setting and central Soho location.
Extra Information:
Address: 21-22 Poland St, London W1F 8QG
Phone: 020 7287 1661
NTK: Check out B-Soho’s happy hour times for cheaper drinks as the cocktail menu looked pretty scrummy and what better than having 241 to get you through the list?!
