When Apartment Group food goes wrong…
You’d better seriously deliver on a basic pizza when branding yourself a “pizza house” – unfortunately, I think Apartment Group’s latest venture would be better off leaving that off their title.
Being fond of the other group’s other ventures (As You Like It, Mr. Lynch’s, etc.) we had to try out the recently opened Sunderland location. An Apartment Group venture selling pizzas as well as it’s famous cocktails – count us in!
At first glance of the menu – it is exactly the same food, albeit at a lower price, than the other restaurants. The classic fish and chips, burger, gammon steak, it’s all there, as well as the multitude of mojitos. Drinks prices are much cheaper than AYLI et al.
The food coming out of the kitchen looked to the exact same standard and presentation as it’s sister restaurants, so see our review of As You Like It for that, but the pizza unfortunately falls flat.
We went for a classic cheese and tomato (pictured above, £5.95) which arrived snappy enough, a good sign, but this was, however, on second time of asking (we got someone else’s pizzas first time round). While we can appreciate they are only recently opened, there seemed to be tons of plates going back to the kitchen, and some unhappy customers. We were, however, given free drinks for the mixup.
At first glance, it looks like a takeaway pizza that you can get from any high street at 2AM – not massively inspiring. Upon closer inspection, it’s a thick, rubbery doughy base, a little too perfectly round. Tomato sauce doesn’t have either the sweet or tangy hit that you look for. Cheese burns and melts over the top nicely enough but doesn’t give the creamy ooze of a good mozzarella. Also, the menu says this is a cheese, tomato and basil pizza – here at least, it’s herb is conspicuous in it’s absence. It’s entirely edible, just a massive disappointment for a place branding itself as a “pizza house”.
Verdict: Give the pizzas a miss and stick with the pub classics. Gains points for drinks prices being much cheaper than its sister restaurants, but you’re probably best off staying in Newcastle. If you want a good pizza, did you see The Waterline?
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