Pizzaiolo

A quick note about Pizzaiolo.

Lou, Peter and I ate there a couple of Fridays ago, and I must say that it was a mixed experience.

Despite showing up early in the evening, they made us wait nearly two hours for a table. We spent most of that time looking around some galleries in downtown Oakland, but it was somewhat annoying to have to wait so long, especially after the hostess told me that the wait would not be longer than about an hour.

Once seated, I realized that the acoustics in the restaurant are terrible. They seated us in a back room with a group of at least twenty people who were celebrating a birthday. When we first sat down they were still eating and they were reasonably quiet, but as soon as they finished eating and continued drinking their noise level rose dramatically. It made our conversation difficult.

The pizzas, however, were tasty. We ordered one pizza with nettles and cheese and another one with grilled squid and aioli. Both combinations were fantastic, though the squid and aioli was my favorite.

Despite my love of pizzas cooked in a wood-burning ovens, I couldn't help think that the restaurant came off like a loud, chaotic college town pizza joint. Perhaps that should come as no surprise. After all, Pizzaiolo is not far from the campus of UC Berkeley.