Pizzeria Oregano

Simple and unpretentious local pizza place. We visited on a Saturday night and there were still tables available as it is slightly hidden down a side street away from the crowds.
They start off every table with some yummy marinated olives. We got the orecchiette broccoli e salsiccia pasta (broccoli and sausage) and the Toscana pizza (salami, pecorino, tomatoes and basil). Both were very nice although the pasta was a bit light on the broccoli. I tried one of the special beers «Isaac» and it was great, even my wife liked it.
Service was friendly although confused when we showed them our Unilocal check-​in offer (free glass of house wine), we did get the glass but after a small discussion explaining what we were showing them: p

Quite awful. The pizza was simply not good — my boyfriend made the mistake of ordering aa seafood pizza and it came topped with surimi sticks and a couple of wilted clams which looked like they had spent their last few months in a jar. I ordered a parmigiana and the dough was pale not crispy, way too much (and I suspect poor quality) mozzarella. We were hoping to find a dependable pizza place in the neighborhoid but we’re still looking.

Technically, 3.5 stars.
Pizzeria Oregano has the ambience of a Dominos or Papa John’s but with the added bonus of toilets.
Ambience aside, the food was pretty good for a neighborhood pizzeria. Good enough that I would return again but my heart does, and will always, lie with Santa Maria Pizzeria which happens to reside on the opposite side of London.
+Olives on the table were free of charge
+A pitcher of tap water was delivered to the table promptly
+House wine (red) was quite good with its buttery taste
+Spicy salami pizza got better after a couple of bites, the spicy salami was spicy and excellent; note to self to take Zantac prior to eating the spicy salami next time
–Special/​craft beer pricing was a bit strange — £4.95 for 33cl or £14.95 for 75cl — ordering 3×33cl will yield 99cl for the same price as ordering 1×75cl. Also, £14.95 for 75cl or even 99cl (for those of us who are maths savvy)? They are off their rocker!

One of my fav pizza joints right off upper street. A great place to meet up with people as it’s so close to Angel station. Portions are big and great value for the price. Their pastas are huge as well. One of my fav parts of this restaurant is they give you free olives so you can eat them whilst waiting for your pizza! Really friendly staff, Sebastian is awesome and really accommodating!

Pizzeria Oregano has seriously amazing and authentic Italian pizzas. This is not your crappy takeaway/​frozen pizza. I am a pizza lover through and through and this is by far my favorite pizza place in London. The décor might not be anything special, but who cares when you’re eating a delicious pizza? I would recommend having cash on hand as I’ve been there when the card machine is down.

Went tonight at Pizzeria Oregano as my parents and I were in Angel, and Unilocal said it was nice — as one does, right?
Well, I ate. A lot. A lot a lot.
It was really nice, what I like to call and consider «authentic italian cuisine» — packed on a Saturday night, very casual, good prices.
Relatively simple dishes, but with a lot of taste and very good products. The downside being that everything was literally swimming in oil, and it was all really a bit too heavy.
So definitely not a place to go if you’re watching your waste-​line (which I am supposed to do, really)
This is a generous 4 star because the food was really good and the service good.

One of my favorite pizza joints in London.
Like their description says, their portions are big and they value quality and taste. They meet that expectation for me as it’s my go to spot when I’m craving pizza. The pizzas are tasty and crust is nice and thin with a slight crunch. The pastas are delicious. The pasta noodles are always cooked al-​dente perfect and flavor is on point.
They have the best staff. Super friendly and nice.

The pizzas were pretty good but wouldn’t go quite as far as some of the other rave reviews. Slight style difference (good chewy, slightly charred, light base but a thinner, fresher sauce) between some other nearby places but they are all good in my book.
Pricing reasonable and good service too.

If you are looking for killer Italian food, well here it is at Pizzeria Oregano The rolls they serve are always warm and fresh. I absolutely adore their pastachena dish. It is a saucy, creamy baked pasta. Don’t let the egg in it scare you off like it almost did me; I thought it sounded strange the first time but it totally works and I wouldn’t dream of having them leave out the egg.

I really love this little, cosy Italian restaurant. The food and the drinks are amazing. There’s a wide variety of authentic Italian dishes, freshly cooked with high quality products and served with style. The atmosphere is really nice and relaxing, the staff are polite and welcoming and the prices are reasonable.

I can’t believe I didn’t eat here until my last night in London. We had a great final meal thanks to Oregano. The free marinated olives on the table were a delicious start. My party tried the calamari appetizer. It was not your usual fried calamari, so we weren’t completely blown away. Each of us had pizza as our main course, which the restaurant is known for, and all the pies were delicious, fresh and fulfilling. But the best kept secret is the mixed salad! It’s not under the salad section but in the back as a side. It is fresh romaine with prosciutto and HUGE slices of fresh parmesan. You can drizzle olive oil or balsamic to your heart’s content. Absolutely my favorite thing of the meal.

This is our go-​to place for delicious pizzas and seafood pastas in
Islington. Great food is matched by
great atmosphere too.

I have to agree with Patrick on this one: the pizza is just plain bad. It’s not exactly the worst food I’ve had — I did finish my share of the food, which I wouldn’t have if it would have been awful. But it’s by no means an example of good pizza either — and I don’t just say that because I used to live in Naples and the pizza there is the only real deal (which it is). The dough was rather tough and gummy, the tomato sauce bland and the veggies (which were supposed to be grilled) greasy and mushy — as if they had been sitting around for too long. In sum, not an experience to be repeated and I am sure that there are better pizza places around.

I had pizza here last night and am not sure why my experience differs so much from what other’s have said. The interior is done out in a kitsch italianesque style — checkered table clothes, italian music etc. This is not so bad, but a little too forced to feel authentic. The service was friendly. But what was really problematic was the food. The vegetarian pizza was comprehensively bad. The dough, tomato sauce, and grilled vegetables (grilled really??), were all very bleh. Perhaps if you had one of the meat dishes things would be better, but that can’t excuse either pizza dough or tomato base. Normally I like to reserve judgment before going to a place a few times, but this is not a place to return to. One star for the service and nice neon sign out front.

My boyfriend and I went here today for lunch and were very pleased. For me, it was the best pizza I’ve had so far in London (I must say I haven’t researched enough on that, as I’ve donde on ice creams parlours ^^). The base was incredibly thin, it probably defied some laws of Physics, and I love that in a pizza. The ingredients were also superb.
I don’t remember the names of the pizzas we ordered, but mine had cherry tomatoes, provolone (apart from usual tomato sauce and mozzarella) and rocket. They were very fresh, especially the rocket, with plenty of flavour, so delicious. The other pizza had parma ham, very nice, and mushrooms (maybe too few and too small ones).
Price was OK, I think, because the pizzas were just huge, I could eat a bit more than half of mine and my boyfriend did a big effort to eat the rest and his :) The staff was helpful and correct, not very friendly though, but with those pizzas I didn’t really mind.
The only reason for what I don’t give the place 5 stars is because they didn’t put oregano in the pizza! I’m a truly oregano fan and was very disappointed. Such a betrayal to their own name…

I went there a few times already because they make the best pizzas I have tried so far!
The service is good and the price is average.
Desserts are also delicious but slightly overpriced.

Nonpretentious and serves really good pizza. What more do you need to know?
Seriously, REALLY good pizza … As stated by my friend: «better than any pizza I’ve had outside of Rome» and that is a very bold statement.
Until you try their seafood pasta cooked in tin foil. I now crave it on a weekly basis. Thanks a lot.
It’s in the alley next to slash behind Euphoria Bakery. and they are normally only open for dinner … but the place is so good it’s worth the wait.

Oregano — Pics @ The London Foodie
I recently went to Oregano, one of my local Italian Pizzerias in Islington. Oregano is a small and unpretentious pizzeria, tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Upper Street on Alban’s Place, and is nearly always full with shoppers and locals.
Service can be erratic but friendly — waiters are young, notably inexperienced and very likely English language students.
The décor is undistinguished with metal, uncomfortable chairs and bright lighting reminiscent of a school refectory or student union bar.
On my latest visit, Dr G, Tea (my dearest Italian friend) and I were lucky to find a table available within a few minutes of getting there.
As I can’t be bothered making pizza at home I always order it at pizzerias. I love cooking and do it frequently at home but I also believe that certain foods rarely taste as good as those made in professional kitchens, like authentic Chinese food, dim sum and pizza.
Dr G ordered a «Pizza Four Seasons» @ £8.95 (tomato, mozzarella, ham, olives, mushrooms, salami and artichokes), and was pleased to find his pizza base paper thin, and topped with a generous portion of cheese and accompanying ingredients.
Tea, as a good Italian, ordered the simplest of the pizzas — «Pizza Emilia» @ £8.45 (tomato, mozzarella, parma ham and rocket). She was pleased with her choice although the toppings were not nearly as abundant, and the pizzaiolo (the pizza chef) substituted basil for rocket.
The «Pizza Amici» @ £8.95 (tomato, buffalo mozzarella, sun-​dried tomatoes, parma ham and rocket) was also quite good. The base was indeed very thin, and I also felt that toppings were of an acceptable quality.
Since my visit to Pizza East last year, I started to enjoy a more substantial and chewy base, and the slight charring of the outside crust of my pizzas. I still enjoy having a thin base but this no longer holds such an attraction for me as it used to.
It is funny how some people get so obsessed about thin base pizzas, forgetting that the quality of toppings is just as important. There is nothing more vile in a pizza than tomato sauce which is not made on the premises (commercial tomato sauce tastes so terribly artificial), or worse, tinned tuna which smells just like cat food. Luckily, none of our pizzas suffered from these common faults.
The wine list was short and surprisingly expensive for what was on offer — house wines started @ £13.50 per bottle with the next choices on the list jumping up to £16.90 (white) and £17.90 (red).
Considering that many people would not order the house wine, I felt that the next available choices were a tad expensive.
The pizzas were about £2-£3 dearer than main competitors (La Porchetta or Stringray) but slightly cheaper than Pizza East where you would be expected to pay around £10 to £12 for a pizza.
Verdict — Good quality pizza, generous toppings and a thin base make Oregano a good choice pizzeria in Islington. Not as cheap as major competitors in the area but still a worthwhile option, erratic but friendly service. Given the quality and ambience of both Oregano and Pizza East, I would recommend spending the extra £2 @ Pizza East.

Oregano — Pics @ The London Foodie
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I recently went to Oregano, one of my local Italian Pizzerias in Islington. Oregano is a small and unpretentious pizzeria, tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Upper Street on Alban’s Place, and is nearly always full with shoppers and locals.
Service can be erratic but friendly — waiters are young, notably inexperienced and very likely English language students.
The décor is undistinguished with metal, uncomfortable chairs and bright lighting reminiscent of a school refectory or student union bar.
On my latest visit, Dr G, Tea (my dearest Italian friend) and I were lucky to find a table available within a few minutes of getting there.
As I can’t be bothered making pizza at home I always order it at pizzerias. I love cooking and do it frequently at home but I also believe that certain foods rarely taste as good as those made in professional kitchens, like authentic Chinese food, dim sum and pizza.
Dr G ordered a Pizza Four Seasons @ £8.95 (tomato, mozzarella, ham, olives, mushrooms, salami and artichokes), and was pleased to find his pizza base paper thin, and topped with a generous portion of cheese and accompanying ingredients.
Tea, as a good Italian, ordered the simplest of the pizzas Pizza Emilia @ £8.45 (tomato, mozzarella, parma ham and rocket). She was pleased with her choice although the toppings were not nearly as abundant, and the pizzaiolo (the pizza chef) substituted basil for rocket.
The Pizza Amici @ £8.95 (tomato, buffalo mozzarella, sun-​dried tomatoes, parma ham and rocket) was also quite good. The base was indeed very thin, and I also felt that toppings were of an acceptable quality.
Since my visit to Pizza East last year, I started to enjoy a more substantial and chewy base, and the slight charring of the outside crust of my pizzas. I still enjoy having a thin base but this no longer holds such an attraction for me as it used to.
It is funny how some people get so obsessed about thin base pizzas, forgetting that the quality of toppings is just as important. There is nothing more vile in a pizza than tomato sauce which is not made on the premises (commercial tomato sauce tastes so terribly artificial), or worse, tinned tuna which smells just like cat food. Luckily, none of our pizzas suffered from these common faults.
The wine list was short and surprisingly expensive for what was on offer house wines started @ £13.50 per bottle with the next choices on the list jumping up to £16.90 (white) and £17.90 (red). Considering that many people would not order the house wine, I felt that the next available choices were a tad expensive.
The pizzas were about £2-£3 dearer than main competitors (La Porchetta or Stringray) but slightly cheaper than Pizza East where you would be expected to pay around £10 to £12 for a pizza.
Verdict Good quality pizza, generous toppings and a thin base make Oregano a good choice pizzeria in Islington. Not as cheap as major competitors in the area but still a worthwhile option, erratic but friendly service. Given the quality and ambience of both Oregano and Pizza East, I would recommend spending the extra £2 @ Pizza East.

Tucked away down an alley off Upper Street, this feels like a real locals’ secret which is always fun. The décor isn’t amazing, although nor is it horrible, the service was fine, but the pizza is delicious, wood fired with good toppings and not too expensive. Despite its location, Oregano is also usually pretty busy which is nice and quite reassuring.
The only thing is, there’s little to make you choose to come here over any of the other numerous restaurants on Upper Street except if you just fancy a change.