Pizzarellys - lost its touch?

Having caught the late afternoon showing of Nativity! in the Odeon (Tuesday tickets are only £3!) we fancied something to eat. Under impressed with the food outlets in Victoria Square – that is, under impressed with the food outlets without queues snaking out their doors – we headed back to Lisburn to grab something to eat.

We’d been to Uno’s quite recently, and having walked across to Lisburn Square we found that the excellent Café Square Bistro had closed early. So we headed back to that old favourite, Pizzarellys in Bachelors Walk.

Growing up in Lisburn, I spent most of by birthday teas eating in Pizzarellys. (All except a couple of meals over at Angelo's half way down Market Lane tucked in-between Reids shoe shop and the Health Centre. I’ll always remember being in there when the bomb went off at the fun run.) So while the owners may have changed over time, it’s an established fact in my mind that Pizzarellys is a reliable place for a meal.

But it has changed. And going by Tuesday night’s experience and feedback since then from other people, it’s lost much of its charm and quality.

The honey chicken strip starter was a bit too tough. The pizza was ordered with “no onion” (and it was underlined on the order), but it came festooned with more onion than any other ingredient. To be fair, when I pointed this out, the waitress did immediately volunteer to wipe it from the bill.

Their selection of pizzas on the menu is quite strange too. I wouldn’t want everywhere to be the same, but it’s odd not to find Four Seasons or BBQ Chicken on the menu. In fact the standard ones (which nearly all come with onion by default) are plain, simple and frankly uninspiring. And while you can build your own, it’s a much more expensive option than choosing the standard ones off the menu. But I digress ...

The vegetarian courgette lasagne had a millimetre or two of vegetable at the bottom of the stack, but you had to go looking to find it.

On the plus side, customer service was good, the milkshakes were large (and half the price of a lot of other establishments) and the Emu on the top of the Christmas tree was unique.

But unless I hear that Pizzarellys has improved, I’ll not be back. The less-than-perfect Uno’s down the street, and amazing Market Square Bistro in Lisburn Square will get my business instead.

You can check out other people’s reviews on Lookaly.