| Ambiance: |  (3 / 5) |
| Service: | (3.5 / 5) |
| Value for money: | (3 / 5) |
| Pizza: | (2 / 5) |
Notting Hill was a location mentioned to me at a recent event I went to so I thought Friday night would be a perfect opportunity to try it out. Researching ‘pizzerias’, I came across a magnitude of them, as well as other awesome sounding eateries and bars. I settled on Otto’s because of its cornmeal dough.
Gin Cocktails at Portobello Star
We started the night at Portobello Star, a trendy gin bar on Portobello Road. As I’m off sugar this week (I know, crazy) I couldn’t have a cocktail so I had a standard G&T but I’ll definitely be going back to try out their cocktails from the extensive drink list. On the way to Otto’s, we discovered Arancina which was actually recommended to me as a place to try out, and as you could buy pizza by the slice, we thought ‘why not’? The location of Arancina is pretty brilliant, in the middle of Notting Hill and in a residential area. The design of the take-away was very eye-catching too, with a car sticking out of the front and pizza displayed within it. Serving Sicilian wood fired pizza, we opted for the run of the mill margherita and a suppli (risotto balls filled with mozzarella). To be honest, the pizza wasn’t great – it was quite greasy and reminded me of something you’d get at the remains of a Pizza Hut buffet. Also, the arancini wasn’t hot enough.
Onto the star of the review – Ottos. It took forever to get to! It was about a mile walk from Portobello Road, but once found it did look good from the outside. It was also found within a residential area amongst a row of restaurants, so probably quite a good location for consistent trade. Inside, it was half full and had a nice atmosphere. The table settings were very simple, with a bottle of water already on each table, cutlery in a cup and a clipboard style menu. We were advised by our waiter on how much pizza to order, as it was served by the slice and settled on ‘BBQ Pork’ and ‘Red Lentil Kofte’. We only had one each because we’d intended to go somewhere else for food after. Tapas crawl of London you might call it.
The Menu
Our pizza took longer to arrive than I’d expected, I thought as it was served by the slice, it would just be cut from a pre-made pizza but the time it took implied it was made from scratch, which I can’t fully understand. Anyway, twenty minutes later, it arrived and looked pretty small. We shared both but I ended up giving the majority of mine away because it just tasted dry, heavy and a tiny bit like sawdust. It also didn’t taste fresh, which to me implied that it HAD come from a pre-made pizza and it was simply re-heated, but I might be wrong.
Recommendation
The venue and service was great, and there are other things on the menu that I’d probably give a go if I was to return. I’m just not a fan of heavy dough, but others might like it, hence the 3 star recommendation.
Extra Information
Address: 6 Chepstow Road, Notting Hill, W2 5BH
Phone: 020 7792 4088
Website: http://www.ottopizza.co.uk/
NTK: Be prepared for a long-ish walk from Notting Hill tube!
