The Big Slice – Paisley

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The Big Slice is the new pizza place in Paisley. It only opened on the 6th of December 2024. It has a great location in the town centre, next to the museum.

Service

The service here was top notch. No complaints. We ordered as we went in and the lady was very helpful. Ordered and it was brought to our seat when the slice was ready.

Style

The style is described as a slice of New York.

Order

I decided to lean into the Slice offering and i opted for a Pepperoni Slice (£5.50). The slice is that of a 20″ so is a reasonable size. A slice alone wouldnt fill you up for dinner, in my opnion. I opted for another to fill me up. In terms of value, its hard to judge, as there are not many slice pizza shops in the UK. So for 2 slices of pizza and a can of juice it was £13. I would say to sit in and have that, its reasonable value.

Taste

I have been lucky enough to just be back from a trip in NY and ate at a fair few of the famous pizza places (Joe’s, Rubirosa’s etc). Overall, i enjoyed this pizza, and will go back no doubt. However, there was a bit of me that felt it was missing something to really give it that NY pizza slice taste.

I think the base of the pizza is spot on, and very similar. The sauce was good. I thought the cheese, while nice, didnt really give me that NY slice taste, that maybe a Franks Pizza would. Peperonis were nice, on the first slice i would have like some more.

Summary

Value for money: 4/5

Taste: 4/5

Would I go back? Yes

Baffo Pizza

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Baffo Pizza is situated on Argyle Street in the West End of Glasgow. It is directly across from Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum and is in a handy location; a relatively walkable distance from Byres Road and Finnieston, and close to main bus routes and a subway stop (Kelvinhall).

The pizza style is the same as Paesano – a Neapolitan style –  and as such often leads to some heated discussions on which is better! It can divide opinions and could perhaps cause a slight riff between relationships on our thoughts on who wins the title!  I will leave my opinion at the end! 

Service

Due to COVID19,  it was a fairly straight forward experience. I ordered online and then collected in store at my chosen time. I was in and out of the place within about 60 seconds, so no complaints service-wise!

There is limited parking at the front of the restaurant, so you/r best bet is to try and park in the surrounding streets. We parked on Old Dumbarton Road near Tantrum Doughnuts, which could be tempting for an après-pizza treat (if you have room!)

Style

The style of pizza is Neapolitan. I love this style of pizza. My warning for this style of pizza is that it needs to be eaten ASAP or it gets cold pretty quickly! I would also recommend a cold can of Irn-Bru as a supplement to this style of pizza (or any pizza in fact).

Order

I went for the classic Margherita (tomato sugo, fior di latte mozzarella, basil, extra virgin olive oil) priced at £7. My partner had the Cotto (tomato sugo, fior di latte mozzarella, prosciutto cotto) priced at £8. Overall, roughly in line with competitors, although the Paesano Margherita is a pound cheaper (£6). 

There are two sizes that the pizzas come in two sizes: Tonda & Mezzo Metro. They are both the same style of pizza. However, the former is your standard circle (12” roughly).  The latter is more of a rectangle shape which is a half metre long and for sharing. 

Taste

This is a good pizza. I did enjoy it. The sauce was fantastic and the crust was just right. The cheese also hit the spot. 

I did feel there was not as much mozzarella compared to other similar style pizza places. It was also cut into quarters which did not make it easy to eat, particularly as we were eating on the go. I think these small points give Paesano the edge.

Summary

Value for money: 4/5

Taste: 4/5

Would I go back? Yes

Further Details

Website: https://www.baffo.co.uk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PizzaBaffoBirra/

Forno Paisley

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Forno is a relatively new pizza, pasta and burger takeaway in Paisley. This was an impulse buy, as it is located next to a Tesco I popped into to pick up some odds and ends. The location is really handy – just off Glasgow Road, it’s in a wee gem of a spot that must get a lot of through traffic heading to the supermarket.

Service

The staff here are super friendly. It was easy to place an order and you get shouted once its ready. The wait for two pizzas was roughly less than 10 minutes.

Style

On their website, Forno describe their style of pizza as authentic Italian pizza and the best pizza in Paisley. It goes on to say that Forno is driven by “the passion for Italian food, from all the trips to Italy visiting those small villages that no-one ever heard about“. Their website also mentions using fresh dough, which is always a plus.

Order

The normal pizza menu size is 12”. It was also noted on their website that you can order pizza by the metre! We chose two 12” pizzas: Margherita & Vesuvio  (Spicy Chicken & Red Onion). These were priced at £7 and £8 respectively. The pricing seems in line with similar establishments.

Taste

My Margarita pizza was fine. As you can see from the above picture, it was not the most appetising looking pizza. It also looks like one half of the pizza got cooked longer than the other (especially on the Vesuvio). Almost looks as if the pizzas were under done compared to somewhere similar like Enzos or Paesano. On the margarita, I felt that the crusts were dry and a bit of a struggle. The Vesuvio pizza was better. The spicy chicken was the right level of heat for us, but if you are a Spice Lord, you might find that it doesn’t pack a punch. There was a decent amount of toppings however.

Summary

Value for money: 4/5

Taste: 3/5

Would I go back? The search for the best pizza in Paisley continues…

Further Details

Website: https://www.fornoitalian.co.uk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FornoItalian/

 

 

 

 

Enzo’s Chippy Crookston

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Enzo’s Crookston opened its doors this weekend. It is the nicest looking chippy I have seen! It is on the site that was previously ‘Marios’ which had a bit of a slow demise. This was largely  due to changing owners and, in my opinion, a decline in quality. So it was welcome to see new owners putting a fair bit of capital into it (judging from the exterior).

Enzos Chippy Crookston

Service

The service was good. You place your order and get a receipt with an order number to listen out for when it’s ready. I thought this was a nice touch. I have been in some chippys where you can feel like you have been forgotten about or even worse asked ‘What was your order again?’ It took roughly 10 minutes until the pizza was ready.

Style

The style of pizza is interesting. On their marketing material and website, they claim that they prove the dough for 24 hours, and use a tried and tested family recipe. It has a super thin base but the crusts are big and crispy. It’s definitely not the standard chippy style pizza.  It is a light pizza – when carrying the box, it almost feels empty!

Order

We went with a 16” margheritta pizza which came in at £9.25.  This is roughly in line with what most places in the local area charge. The closest chippy to Enzo’s, Criterion on Paisley Road West, charge a similar price for the same size of pizza, but you get a free bag of chips thrown in as well.

Enzos Chippy Crookston Pizza

Taste

The pizza was good and I would definitely have it again. You can tell it’s a quality pizza. As mentioned above, it is a light pizza. A 16” inch pizza would normally leave us struggling on the final slices but in this case, we finished it no bother. The crusts were right up my alley, but we did end up using a dip as they were a bit dry. A mayo dip would have been a nice offering.

Enzos Crookston looks like a great addition to the area and provide a good pizza.

Summary

Value for money: 4/5

Taste: 4/5

Would i go back? Yes

Further Details

Website: https://enzoschippy.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/enzoscrookston

Paesano Pizza Covid19 Takeaway

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Paesano Pizza opened their doors at their West End restaurant for takeaway only this weekend. After being shut for weeks due to the Covid19 virus, they initially tried using Deliveroo to allow people to pre-book their pizza and collect, but the roo website wasn’t playing ball with them. They then set up a queuing system outside to order and collect pizza. This seemed to work well despite a massive queue. We decided to hold off and went on Sunday lunchtime around 12. The weather was rubbish and probably why there wasn’t a queue! Jackpot, straight in.

Service

If you have ever been to Paesano before, you know the service is quick and the food is served rapid! This was no different despite being a takeaway. You go in the front door and place your order via a contactless card. They have put the tables to split the queue into three lanes to collect your pizza. I was in and out within 10minutes.

Style

Paesano pizzas are Neapolitan style pizzas. A personal favourite of mine. However, this style of pizza needs to be eaten ASAP as it gets cold quickly. I learned this lesson previously with a takeaway pre-covid19 at Paesano. So I decided to eat it in the car. I accompanied this with a chilled Irn-Bru and off we go.

Order

The pizza i went for was the no2 (Tomato sugo with mozzarella, fresh basil and evoo) priced at £6. My partner had the no7 (Fresh Tuscan Fennel sausage with sugo, mozzarella and evoo) priced at £8. I think the pizzas at those prices provide good value for money.

Taste

The pizza hit the spot. A good amount of cheese for the style of pizza. The sauce at first glance looked a bit too much but actually was the right balance. The crust was just the perfect size that was filling but not overbearing. The slices were cut so could easily pull them off and eat. I really enjoyed it. Having been to Paesano many times, they are consistent in their high standard and that’s a quality that separates the best pizza places from the rest.

The takeaway experience was spot on. When the restaurants open back up for dine-in, I will do another review to go into more detail on that experience.

Summary

Value for money: 5/5

Taste: 5/5

Would I go back? Yes.

Further Details:

Website: https://paesanopizza.co.uk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paesanopizzagreatwesternroad/