Nicola’s Pizzeria

Is good pizza worth surly service?  Only you can make the call.

Pizzeria da Nicolo was heralded as “supposedly” Bologna’s best pizza on the World Foodie Guide‘s Where To Eat In Bologna.  I used Helen’s recommendations on that site to find a bunch of other good places, but she never actually ate at Nicolo, so I can’t fault her.

The restaurant had fantastic and patriotic décor, with the walls painted in bright red and green hues and plastered with paintings of boats off of Sorrento and poppies in the fields of Campagna.  We each ordered a pizza (A quattro stagioni with mushrooms, prosciutto cotto, artichokes, and sausage was 6.50;  A cappricciosa with mushrooms, prosciutto cotto, and artichokes was 5.50).  At those prices, we thought, the pizzas must be individual size.  But no, they were enormous, their extra edges drooping off of the plates we were given like dogs’ ears.

Quattro Stagioni

The pizza was good, but certainly not the best I’ve had in Italy.  It can’t compare to Pizza Man in Florence or a little pizza place I went to in Parma the other day.

What stands out in my memory more than the food was the service.  It was surly at best and downright belligerent at worst.  Our waiter was sweaty, bitter, and overworked, and he begrudged us even the measly bottle of water and 3 pizzas he brought us.  We had to remind him that we existed several times during the meal, and when we asked to take a few slices of the enormous pizza home, he acted like he personally went to the cardboard factory to make the box for us.  And we could only have one.

I know that Italians don’t take home leftovers, but I think he could have spared the extra box.

Anyway, the box he did give us was so large (the size of a regular pizza) that I carried it around the city in front of my like a toy dog for the rest of the day.  And in Sorbetteria Castiglione I accidentally left it next to the cash register and walked away, at which point the cashier called out, “Ragazze!  Avete dimenticato la pizza!”  (You forgot the pizza.)

Anyway, the sour service just threw a shadow over this meal, especially when contrasted with the warm welcome we received at every other establishment we visited.  And I’m not sure I’d want to use a mealtime eating a non-emilian cuisine the next time I’m in Bologna, thought I do feel that it helped to break things up between the affettati and the primi.  Total bill for 3 was 26 euro.