PIZZA REVIEW #1

Hej og velkommen til min første pizza anmeldelse!

The pizza reviews are an INTEGRAL PART of my blog and function in a way similar to the "Pizza Contest" of lore; however, since I'm not exactly comparing three or four pizzas in one sitting it is necessary to adjust the rating system. Thus, it will basically be unorganized and may or may not include an actual rating system.

Pizza reviews will be made of each and every pizza I eat, not including "repeat" pizzas (i.e. Express Pizza in Nørrebro, where I have already eaten multiple times). The pizza review will be accompanied by a photograph if available. The pizza review will take price, quality, service, vegetarian options, beverage, location, weather, ambiance, wildlife, music, etc. into account. The pizza review may be edited, if reviewed pizzeria is revisited and the overall experience is thus changed. In the case of the edited review, a new blog entry will be posted so stating the editing of the former pizza review.

Anyway! Legal business aside, here is the first review....

PIZZA REVIEW #1:

VESUVIO

Rådhuspladsen 4

1550 København K

Vesuvio was the first pizzeria Jose and I went to in Copenhagen. We were walking around the town square (or Rådhuspladsen) and the surrounding area, trying to get a feel for the city. Since it was our first night we decided it would be okay to pay extra for some pizza, even if it was in a place that catered to tourists. After bypassing a cheap all-you-can-eat pizza place (very popular here - usually with names referring to New York or Italy), we decided to go to Vesuvio. I don't regret it (though my kroner stash might); the pizza was pretty amazing overall. It was also our first experience with Danish pizza, and taught us a few things:

• Danish pizzerias seem to blend Italian food and Mexican food together. Some of the hole-in-the-wall pizza places have pizzas, burritos, calzones and nachos. Even upscale restaurants like Vesuvio have "Mexicansk" pizza. And the music there was definitely in Spanish, not Italian...
• When Danes eat pizza, they eat a LOT of pizza. Our neighbors got a pizza each, and they were huge (Jose and I split one, and we didn't even finish our halves. There goes the gluttonous American stereotype, I guess?). They actually charged us an extra fee to split the pizza.
• You have to ask for your check.

When we got into the restaurant, the host seated us wayyy in the back. Maybe because we seemed like obvious tourists with our English-speaking and backpacks; maybe because my bright green coat and cherry red rain boots look slightly outlandish compared to all the dark colors people wear in Copenhagen. Who knows? It was nice, though, as we were next to a little fire and the window. There were some cactuses (not cacti) in the window, with ribbons around them, which was a nice touch.

(Why aren't my pictures aligning properly? :/ Sorry...)

The fire and the metal candle in the window, with the street outside.

The cactuses with ribbons in the window!

The view from our table. The Square Hotel and whatnot

We got a menu that was in both Danish and English. After going through it, and realizing that there weren't many vegetarian options (or low prices) we decided to get the Pizza Margherita. It was a ridiculous 106 kroner... but at the time we were too hungry and touristy to care much (we also didn't know if this was just the standard price for pizza there or not). So we split a pizza and each got a soda (for another expensive amount that I can't remember at the moment).

The waiter was surprised at our order. He reminded us that if we split a pizza, we had to pay 25 kroner (I have decided not to tell you how much that was because it's embarrassing to look back on - but we rationed that if we got two pizzas it would be an extra hundred, not just 25).

 

The orange Fanta (not Tuborg beer) that I got. I was trying to be super sneaky at taking pictures, because I already felt like the people were staring at us a lot.

Finally, our pizza came! It was served on two plates with a big leaf of basil on each... and it was unsliced. We had to cut our own slices, which was interesting (and a bit torturous at first when we reallyyyy wanted that first slice).

Our pizza!

(Whaaat? The text is over here now? What is this blog doing now? I have no idea and I apologize for its mysterious picture-aligning activities. I feel inept at blogging/computers/life).

So despite the overwhelmingly expensive 200-something kroner for a split pizza and two drinks, it was pretty amazing. It was a thin crust pizza, as you can probably see, similar to a New York style crust. The mozzarella and tomato sauce were delicious and the crust was just the right balance of crispy and crumb (meaning the fluffy inside part). The basil, as the "green" of the pizza margherita's flag (named after Queen Margherita and meant to represent the colors of the Italian flag), is a staple when it comes to making this kind of pizza. Although there was simply one leaf, it was still appreciated.

Once we were done, though, we realized that it was no easy task to get the bill. We waited a long time for our waiter to return, but we didn't see him anymore. Finally, after waiting probably an hour after we were finished eating, we had to ask another waiter if we could get the bill (and a to-go box!). The new hostess had also, meanwhile, seated a couple right next to us (and I mean right next to us, like an arm's length away, in a pretty empty restaurant). They didn't talk much to each other (most of the time, they sat in silence - I think they guy even brought some reading material with him) but the thing they did the most was stare at us. It was kind of awkward, especially since we were done eating, and we just wanted to get our check and get away from them! Jose and I spoke Spanish just so they couldn't understand us because it was just plain creepy.

Finally we got our check, did NOT tip, and left. That sounds rude, but tipping actually doesn't happen here. Unless the service is SUPERAMAZINGSPECTACULARBESTEVER you just pay whatever it says on the bill. And tax is already factored in to the individual food item price, so there's no tax added to the end (or at all, to your knowledge). Since tax is high here, food prices are high - along with prices of almost everything else. This is one of the reasons why we thought the pizza price at Vesuvio may be the standard... But as you will see soon enough, this was luckily not the case... Not in all places, anyway.

Anyway, here is my attempt at a points-based review! I'm going to try to be really discriminating in giving ratings that are too high. Just because. I know I'll find the perfect pizza place somewhere in Europe, and when I do, I want to be able to give them 10s!

Location: pretty fantastic. It literally opened to the town square of Copenhagen. 9/10

Seating: also nice, since we were right by the window and had a view of the street as all the buildings lit up, but our neighbors definitely jeopardized this rating a bit. Seriously, why seat someone so close when there are plenty of other tables? 6/10

Music: in Spanish, so that was cool I guess. Kind of weird to mix with Italian food, but whatever. I don't remember what they individually played but it was an eye-opened to the future mixing of the two countries we would see! Haha. 6/10

Price: ughhhh. Not good. But I'm sure there's pricier pizza out there as well. 3/10

Service: well, they were very polite... just not too friendly, I guess. Haha. 5/10

Beverages: mmm, orange Fanta. Too expensive, but that'd be included in price. 7/10

Pizza temperature: perfect and straight from the oven! Yum... 10/10

Pizza presentation: not sliced and a bit awkward on the two plates, but really delicious looking....with that basil leaf too haha. 8/10

Crust: yummm. The only complaint is that it was a bit hard to cut through when slicing it, especially since I was hungry! Haha. 8/10

Cheese: mozzarella and delicious. And lots of it. The combination of the cheese and sauce were the best part of the whole pizza. 9/10

Sauce: fresh tasting and slightly sweet. 8/10

Overall: (rounded average) 7/10

I would have expected it to be higher after thinking about the quality of the pizza, but the price really was a factor in it all. Maybe that's just because I'm thinking from my point of view right now - I'm down to my last 100 kroner! So I've been bargain-hunting like crazy, and finding things like 6 pieces of pita bread for 6 kr. and baguette for 10 and cheese for 5. And don't get me started about the discount candy store right down the street we discovered yesterday...

Anyway, this was a great place, if a bit touristy and expensive. It was a nice restaurant, but I still can't imagine pizza costing that much at even a pricey place in the US. I guess it has to do with what I mentioned earlier - the tax being so much higher. And, of course, the quality of the ingredients (maybe Vesuvio is the Danish Chez Panisse?) and their accessibility. California grows everything, jeez.

I am still hunting for the perfect pizza! I can't wait to go to Naples... but until I do, I'll continue to search in Copenhagen (and yes, I do have more reviews coming up soon).

Hej hej!