Zia Lucia caused a sensation when it opened in Holloway in 2016; now it’s hoping to repeat the trick in Brook Green. The reputation of its pizzas has clearly spread west, because despite being located on a rather forlorn residential street round the back of Olympia, the place was packed on a Tuesday evening – although the non-stop stream of delivery drivers rather took the edge off the dining-in experience.
With only a few cold starters (salads, cheese and meat platters) and a couple of desserts (tiramisu, ricotta cheesecake) available, there’s no mistaking that you’re here for the wood-fired pizza. We preferred the varied flavours of our ‘mariona’ (tomato, mozzarella, gorgonzola and speck) to a spicily one-note ‘nduja’; we’d also recommend you steer clear of the staff’s recommendation to order the house-speciality charcoal base, which looks like a dirty sponge, and stick with the traditional dough. Still, with half of the 15 pizzas under £10, the menu allows experimentation over repeat visits and, unless you haven’t eaten all day, a pizza by itself should leave you stuffed. To drink, there’s Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc by the glass, and beer by the bottle.