Hail this pizza royalty

A Malad pizzeria has been doing well for over a year, and here's why

Food: Fresh
Ambience: Cosy
Service: Prompt
Cost: Average
Verdict: 1/4

The heart of any pizza is in its dough, and Malad's Queen Margherita Pizzeria has its heart in the right place. The soft-as-cotton dough with generously topped cheese, meat and/or fresh veggies is the reason this small outlet, which is a little over a year old, has been doing decent business despite top players like Pizza Hut and Dominos not too far away.

Ours was a takeaway but there was a problem — no food aggregator app was open to deliver to our Borivli residence. So we thought of checking with the restaurant if they would, and for a fee of Rs 150 (it's Rs 50 for the first 5 km, Rs 100 for seven and Rs 150 for nine), they agreed. But we wondered why, on the bill, the amount was put against 'Open items' instead of delivery charges. The order, incidentally, took a little over an hour to arrive, which, given the distance, was rather efficient. The pizzas were neatly packed in cardboard boxes, with just a piece of tape across that could easily be flicked back to open up.

All cheese

Coming back to the food, we ordered the diavola (Rs 650), which was lavishly laced with ham, spicy salami and smoked bacon. The meat cake (Rs 550) was loaded too, with chunks of differently flavoured chicken pieces swimming in mozzarella. The all cheese (Rs 450) was our third choice; the liberally layered cheeses had us craving for more. The other veggie treat we tried was Greek goddess (Rs 450) — cherry tomatoes, onions and black olives jamming with a white cream sauce that's aptly named 'heaven'. The crust was thin and soft enough to fold and eat like a fresh-from-the-oven roti.

Meat Cake

However, while the pizza quality was good enough for us to recommend this place, the same cannot be said about the desserts. Both, the tiramisu (Rs 200) and chocolate mousse (Rs 150) were not creamy enough for our liking. That said though, it's the pizzas that this place is known for, and no one's complaining about that because these guys sure know how to dough it right, pun intended.

Diavola

Time 12 pm to 12 am
At Lourdes Heritage CHS, Gautam Buddh Marg, Malad West.
Call 9930917249

Food review rating: 4/4 EXCEPTIONAL, 3/4 EXCELLENT, 2/4 VERY GOOD, 1/4 GOOD, 0.5/4 AVERAGE

Queen Margherita Pizzeria didn't know we were there. The Guide reviews anonymously and pays for meals

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