Mimmo La Bufala

Came here last night for a date night and will definitely return. It was a quiet Sunday night and we were actually the only couple — the other 4 – 5 tables we saw were groups of friends (though one or two tables may have been double dates, who knows).
The service was great. The waitress was lovely, quick to make a joke and happy to make recommendations. She took a few minutes longer than I’d expect to get the check (she acknowledged our request for it then I saw her taking another table’s orders, delivering drinks to two more tables, etc, before we got the check) but that’s a tiny slight in the face of great service the rest of the night. When we paid at the end, a man came over (manager, maybe?) to confirm we had a good meal.
I really liked the décor. When we walked in we were a bit surprised to see the place completely empty, but then they brought us upstairs and there were a few other tables taken. It’s a nice, white-​linen type of place but still feels very comfortable.
For a food perspective, we had the octopus carpaccio and garlic bread as starters — the octopus was really lovely, though a touch too much rocket; the garlic bread was good but a massive portion and we easily could have split it with another couple! It was also heavy on the rosemary, but I like that. The bread itself had a nice chewiness to it so, while we didn’t have any pizza, I’d confidently order it next time.
For our mains we got the bolognese with homemade tagliatelle (which was absolutely delicious) and the crab/​tomato pasta with homemade tagliolini. There were some solid chunks of crab in it which was nice, but the portion was really big for both. We each ate half and took the rest to go.
They say the desserts are all homemade on the premises. For £5 each that’s not a bad deal! I got a semifreddo which was really nice but, again, big!
Overall, I’d say it was a very good deal — £68 including service for all the above plus two beers and a soda. Note that the only beer they have is Peroni.

First the good:
I really liked the food, it was delicious. I ordered some focaccina (a smaller pizza with tomato sauce and a sprinkling of rosemary) to go with my raw shaved zucchini salad with truffle oil and some cooked broccoli on the side. The vegetables were delicious, focaccina was juicy and tender and broccoli was perfectly cooked with a hint of heat from chili peppers. I tried a bit of my partner’s pizza and it was nice.
And the bad:
Unfortunately, the reason for my bad review is that the service (the head-​waiter) was really bad — rude and inattentive. I didn’t feel welcomed and for every question or request I made, I felt like he was bothered. The head-​waiter didn’t check on us to ask how our food is, he forgot my partner’s wine and his salad (and didn’t apologize); when I asked what the price for a dish would be, he said it will be a surprise (?!); when I was ordering (I have a mild stammer), he just looked around and seemed impatient (the restaurant was almost empty btw) and my food came much later than my partner’s, even though it doesn’t require much cooking.
Conclusion:
To sum up, if you don’t care about the service in a restaurant, but only about the food, then I would recommend this restaurant (watch out, it is pricey), but I won’t be coming back.

We went there after reading great reviews all over the place. My friend order something, got something else but was too polite to complain. I ordered the Cornetto di Bufala pizza and was expecting something in line with a Calzone pizza that I had recently somewhere else. Not even close.
The place was very nice, though, and the wood fire base is priceless and wine was okay. I guess if you get what you’re expecting it’s most likely a great place. I myself will never know. Next!

This is a somewhat fancy, white linen, piano-​in-​the-​corner Italian place worthy of a special evening with a special someone.
Or in my case… the need for some decent pizza.
After 2 years of being spoiled by an amazing variety of pie places in Brooklyn, I can no longer suffer anything made by a chain or supermarket. In other words, I’ve become a pizza snob.
I even get picky about how it’s cooked (coal or wood-​fired is preferred). So I was happy to read an article about MLB’s pizza being worthy and have no qualms about taking a train or two in order to try out good food.
I honestly don’t need the linens or the piano or even a fork when it comes to pizza. And I kind of wonder if the formality of the place might intimidate some.
Here’s the thing… order what you want. Or get it to go. The staff just want you to be happy.
There’s a ritual to building a pie that you can watch here, for the pizza kitchen is on display, in the open. You can see the pizza chef roll out the dough, ladle on the sauce and sprinkle on the toppings. You can see the domed oven and the pizza inserted, then turned in order to face the glowing embers.
Wood fired pizza ovens are so hot that the pies cook in just a few minutes. This is where the flavors and textures dance. Where the art takes place. It’s where a crust becomes soggy or scorched. Where cheese melts or fries. Where a topping blends or burns. And sometimes all these things happen at once. And why pizza snobs debate over such trivial things.
Did MLB score in all these departments? Not quite. I like a slightly more chewy crust, and a sauce with some twang. But I’m very happy with the overall product.
And the best part about looking for the best pizza is that you have to try a lot of good pizza to figure out your fave.
For anyone on a pizza quest, this should be a stop.