Santa Maria Pizzeria

I have read some of the reviews and feel like puttiing some things striaght for the record.

Santa Maria should be reviewed for the Pizza and Not the wine, and also yes it is a small place and yes it gets busy and yes you might not get a table biut it all goes with the culture of pizza for everyone without discrimination.

I came across Santa Maria by a friend's recomendation. It has then become our local. We go at least once a week and take all our friends and relatives from Italy that come along...

The pizza is the best i have ever tried. Great prizes, amazing ingredients, quick service and if you let the Napoletan flow take you with it then yo uwill end up hamming along the italian tunes.
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Irene
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, August 19, 2011

Well it has been over a year since my last visit to Santa Maria, and a lot has changed. While I have been away on my travels I have seen a lot of reviews that made want to check them out again to see if things were as they appeared form other reviews. Well I have to say what’s up people?

The true nature of a Neapolitan pizza is that it is made with the freshed of ingredients that you would find if you were in Naples Italy.

Walking in to Santa Maria I was greeted as though I were a long lost relative. wheni asked for a table I was advised that there would be a wait of 15 to 20 mins , which I had no problem with given that they were so busy. they asked if I wanted to have a drink at the pub while I waited which I did with no problem .

a little way through my pint I received my call that my table was ready. I promptly made my way over.

I was lead through the main restaurant that I have to say had a great vibe even though very busy in to a newly fitted seating area in the back.

The waitress took my order very promptly and brought our drinks through chilled.

When our pizza came it was piping hot and and reminded me of being a boy in Naples with my cousins, sitting outside the local pizzeria chatting for hours while we ate. The dough was very thin with that ever present flavor with toppings full of flavor. By the time we finished I could not understand what all the other reviews were talking about. We were treated very gracious and timely fashion and the food and wine were amazing.

I can't recommend Santa Maria enough. Best Pizza in London with out a doubt.
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Very rude waitresses that rushed us to order, eat, pay and leave as soon as possible. The pizza wasn't nice either - the dough was too soggy and rubbery.

If you want to eat in a relaxed manner, don't go to Santa Maria.
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2 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 3
Sunday, June 05, 2011

Do walk around hungry in South Ealing as you will inevitably come across Santa Maria, a lovely, authentic pizzaria. I've had way too many pizzas in my life, but the one I had at Santa Maria was the best one by far. Perfect, wood oven baked dough, lovingly sourced, top quality toppings, laid back, truly local atmosphere and hospitable service.

We started off with the bruschetta - char grilled bread, smoky flavours and flavoursome tomatoes, just the right amount of garlic, fresh basil and top quality olive oil. The waitress brought us a much welcomed bottle of acqua minerale frizzante in their own, very stylish, Santa Maria bottle and a chilled bottle of good quality Pinot Grigio to go with it. I had Pizza Danielle topped with fresh ingredients - strongly flavoured wild rocket, best quality parma ham and authentic buffalo mozzarella. My friend Rob had Pizza Anna with wonderful ham, artichokes and lush black olives. We finished off with amazing espressos and limoncello on the house! The whole evening was amazing partly thanks to the magnificent yet simple food we had but mostly due to an amazing atmosphere created by the locals, great music and the co-owner Pasquale. We will definitely be back and would recommend it to anyone. Worth a treck across London if you want a special evening. BTW, the bill came up to £29.00!
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Anna Stanglewicz
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Is Santa Maria the best pizza in London. The answer is a simple 'No'.

It may be the best pizzeria in the area however to say it is the best pizzeria in London is obviously not true. Yes the pizza is stone baked, yes the pizza is better than the chains, yes it is good value (rather cheap) however I wouldn't go out of your way to go there.

The pizza is thin and tasty but to be the best in London it would have to have a better texture. Best pizzeria in Ealing (not london)
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Fabs - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Monday, July 19, 2010

This place is great, the only thing letting it down is the surly looking waiting staff. It's very small but luckily I was able to get a table for four and we all ordered different pizzas. The dough was lovely, chewy and flavoursome and the toppings complement rather than overpower. Everything on the menu is reasonably priced and I thoroughly enjoyed my dessert of pistachio ice cream.

Must point out though that it was a chore to get the waitress to notice us. Every time we ordered something she looked at us as if she was doing us the biggest favour in the world. Quite a few times we were deliberately ignored and it took forever to get the bill. If in the area I'll still go back as the food is so good but how nice this place would be if it had pleasant waiting staff!
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Soo
7 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Friday, July 16, 2010

Awarding the 'Best Pizza in London' is quite a challenge. Pizza comes in many varieties, after all. Whether or not Santa Maria is the best, is really just down to personal taste. The pizzas are very good though. The tiny restaurant, with windows that open out on to the pavement, only serves a few different pizzas, a couple salads, and a couple starters. What I appreciated about the pizza is that you can taste the care given to every ingredient. It's not just about the toppings here. I could happily eat the crust with nothing on it but a little olive oil. It was chewy and very flavoursome. The sauce tasted of tomatoes rather than tins. The cheese was good quality and did not overpower everything else. A very enjoyable meal for two at £25, including two small glasses of red and a large beer.
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Dan
6 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Great little local Italian? Yeah. Great Pizza? Yeah. Best Pizza in London? Sorry - no.

Good points - the pizza is excellent and very reasonably priced. £25 for 2 starters, 2 pizzas and a couple of drinks.

Bad points - they're trying to do too much with too few staff and not enough space. The house wine is very mediocre (out of a 1.5 litre catering bottle and it shows)

If you're in the area (which we were) it's worth a visit, if you're not local to Ealing (which we're not) I wouldn't go out of your way.
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Gethin
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 10
Thursday, May 06, 2010

With all the buzz surrounding Santa Maria I was so looking forward to enjoying last night there with 2 of my friends. However, after waiting outside for 20 minutes without any acknowledgement from the waitress and waiters - not even a hello or an apology for the wait to keep us interested, the table of 4 we had been waiting for was split up and given to 2 couples behind us in the queue. When I suggested the waitress had been a bit rude given that we had been first in the queue and were a bit put out that she had ignored us the entire time we had been stood outside waiting, the manager was uninterested and unapologetic. A real shame as it had been talked up so much. From an outsider looking in the atmosphere appeared rushed and unfriendly without any focus on customer care. Perhaps it is the best pizza in London but I don't feel particularly motivated to give it another shot. It appears that massaged egos have given Santa Maria carte blanche to handpick their customers at the expense of others. The curse of the good review. At least the pleasant Thai restaurant nearer to home didn't turn a blind eye and I am sure to be a valued customer there. Sorry Santa Maria but 0/10 for effort and as for the pizza I suppose it will remain legendary.
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nonsensical_bubbles
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, April 29, 2010

for you to even think that the pizza at santa maria could be compared to the express, pizza hut or domino shows that you have no real appreciation for quality pizza or ingrediants. the very idea that a pizza should be piled high with ingrediants is something that was introduced by the those who we all know prefer quantity rather than quality. As far a dough is concerned it only appears soggy when it has the freshest ingrediants on top and when there is too much.

perhaps you were expecting ham and pineapple!

The pizza here is as good as naples if not better. i would suggest a trip there to understand what pizza is all about.
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, April 12, 2010