Villagio Pizza, Barnet. Consistently good meals but pricey

2nd Feb 2025.

For a cold February Sunday night, this place was unexpectedly busy when we arrived at 7.30. The last time we had been was midweek, when it was quieter. This particular location near the church in Barnet High Street has had many incarnations, but most of them have not stuck. I can only guess that the current incumbents have probably got the formula more correct, in that they are offering a menu that is fairly limited, have pushed the prices to the high end of what people might pay for a very suburban restaurant, and have the right sort of staff at the time of writing. It is is easy to get to and fairly easy to park at night down side streets.

Whilst called a Pizza restaurant, probably because there is a big pizza oven at the front, they also serve a limited number of other dishes of chicken, beef and fish, and obviously pasta dishes. I have eaten there once before. It is noteworthy that other Italian restaurants in the immediate vicinity have struggled to survive, so we will see how this one fares over the course of time. In the current economic climate with pressure on staff salaries, business rates and general consumer uncertainty, anything is possible.

On this occasion I had the mushrooms in a Neapolitan sauce with Garlic (and lots of it), and then an Il Padrone pizza, which I had last time. Portions are big, and after the mushrooms, I knew I would not be able to finish the Pizza. My wife had mussels followed by Chicken Milanese with linguine. The taste and quality of both was good

 

 

You can judge the size of the portions from the cutlery and glasses on the table. They were big portions, which made the price more bareable. The good news is that service was efficient enough and the dishes arrived hot. I inspected the open kitchens at the back and given that we were seated between the pizza oven and the kitchen (in a good way), this was not surprising. The chef when he saw me looking in insisted that all food was freshly cooked, which was believable. I would give both dishes 8 on the CHOF scale, so no problems there. I just drank water because I was driving, and my wife had a glass of wine (nothing special). There was no problem in splitting the bill with our friends. Our bill for two courses and one glass of wine, including service was £71.78. This is almost central London Prices for a middle of the road Italian, but because the food was good and portions big, I will go there again. I will write about this elsewhere, but I had a three course set menu at Cotes earlier in the week for £24, so it is still possible to eat out at a reasonable price in North London.