Pizza, Roundly Applauded.
Pro Excellent Italian attitude.
Con Over amplified ambience.
Pay
€€€
Per Person €25-30. Starter, main, dessert, shared bottle of wine. El tenedor offers may be available. Gratis: niente.
Find
Website Clickety Click
Access Step-free entrance, not a lot of space between tables.
In Short
Hopes. Pizza crust that snaps & crackles in a welcoming ambience.
Reality Food with snap & crackle, but the atmosphere's not helped by too much pop.
First Impressions. Busy bar, eating area smaller than you'd expect. BIG tv screens.
USP? Staples from Naples on Argumosa.
The offer in three words. Saucy, spicy, creamy.
Service! Lots of hardworking servers. No waiting primadonnas in Primadonna.
Friend friendly? Yep. Menu has vegetarian and vegan options.
Rating for dating. Packed with them. Counted at least six.
Tip? A bit under 10%.
Change one thing? Turn the MUSIC down!
Revisitability. Very high, with good recommendability too.
Compare & Contrast
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Primadonna's pretty new, and managed an excellent prize-winner at Tapapies. So here we are, armed with an El Tenedor discount today, to try the real deal.
The result? Some decent authentic Italian cooking, with a few presentational rough edges that certainly don't stop us recommending the very enjoyable food offer. There's plenty to explore on the menu, although, lasagne aside, this is very determinedly a pizza bar.
We plumped for a couple of bruschette to start. And soon wished we'd asked about them as they're ginormous servings. A plain tomato one was a qualified success, with two huge slices of some very fresh bread and the best part of a salad tomato cubed across them. Too chilled to have maximum impact, plenty of seasoning helped offset this to a degree.
But room temp tommies would have been on the money. A picante version with cheese and spicy salami was spot on. And that was salami with a kick to it too.
I know what you're thinking; "to it too"? Not just insightful reviews, but owl impressions, too. And we have others. Sometimes, we're hungry, like a wolf. We feel that way now-ooooow!
Ahem. Mooo-ving on. Pizzas.
Interesting stuff, here. The pizziaolo's apparently off doing yoga with his dough. The good news is the result of all this stretching means curvaceous creations with a nice artesan look to them. Top toppings too. Going as neapolitan as I could, a classic anchovy-capers-olives combination was excellent. Lots of great fresh-tasting tomato sauce, perhaps rather more cheese than strictly needed, but it was good mozzarella for all that. Nice distinctive texture.
Diavola added the spicy salami we'd tried earlier to a margarita. Seasoned with spectacular chilli oil, this was a winner too. Bottom line, the pizzas are excellent. Not as huge as some we've tried, we have no complaints. There was no risk of wastage, which can happen with the serving sizes you can find in Madrid. If we're picky, we'd have liked a black pepper mill as well as that delicious oil.
Our questing spirit of enquiryтм meant Basic Fit will get another month's subscription. You might know what's coming.
What happens if you build gelaterias in the Sahara? Yep. Dessertification.
We ordered two of the three offerings, which means my latest Irish Catholic guilt trip - decades of experience, lads - is guaranteed to run for the next three months. Father, forgive me. It's been about 36 years since my last confession.
Thank the maker they're good sweets. The cannolo was the best part of 3cm across, 10 cm long, heavy with cacao sprinklings, some nicely crispy pastry, but it had a texture that gave way under a bit of force from a spoon, so dead right then. Tiramisu came in a plastic pot, which feels less homemade than a nicely cut quadrilateral on a plate, but, again this was very good indeed and really enough for two. Lots of creamyness from the mascarpone, plenty of boozyness from the sponge. So serious need of a grappa for the reviewer. There wasn't any in stock. Ouch.
The decor's distinctively dysfunctional. Filament bulbs turning vertically arranged green frondage orange. A large busy bar makes the dining area a little cramped, but I liked the atmosphere; a family at a window table, a babble of Italian behind us. And lots of ongoing date nights along the back wall; some first (mineral water? really?!), some not (bottle of red to share), one potentially blind (separate arrivals, looking fearfully hopeful). But some details want thinking about. Giant LCD screens showing sports are out of place. 90s poprock is an authentically Italian backing track, but turned up to 11 it risks a shouty rabble, not a friendly babble. The layout doesn't help relaxed dining, either as customers at the bar were visibly coveting tables, making us a mite self conscious.
Eating from 2045 to 2230 or so, the service worked well, with four staff on hand. As things filled up, things started to frazzle, though. Our server should have known the grappa had run out and had to come back with bad news; some random bruschette turned up as we were paying the bill; at other tables the when-can-we-order? body language was starting to appear.
But it's very tasty food, with just those niggly details to sort. They'd edge the decimals toward the magic 5.0.
Pro Excellent Italian attitude.
Con Over amplified ambience.
Pay
€€€
Per Person €25-30. Starter, main, dessert, shared bottle of wine. El tenedor offers may be available. Gratis: niente.
Find
Website Clickety Click
Access Step-free entrance, not a lot of space between tables.
In Short
Hopes. Pizza crust that snaps & crackles in a welcoming ambience.
Reality Food with snap & crackle, but the atmosphere's not helped by too much pop.
First Impressions. Busy bar, eating area smaller than you'd expect. BIG tv screens.
USP? Staples from Naples on Argumosa.
The offer in three words. Saucy, spicy, creamy.
Service! Lots of hardworking servers. No waiting primadonnas in Primadonna.
Friend friendly? Yep. Menu has vegetarian and vegan options.
Rating for dating. Packed with them. Counted at least six.
Tip? A bit under 10%.
Change one thing? Turn the MUSIC down!
Revisitability. Very high, with good recommendability too.
Compare & Contrast
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Primadonna's pretty new, and managed an excellent prize-winner at Tapapies. So here we are, armed with an El Tenedor discount today, to try the real deal.
The result? Some decent authentic Italian cooking, with a few presentational rough edges that certainly don't stop us recommending the very enjoyable food offer. There's plenty to explore on the menu, although, lasagne aside, this is very determinedly a pizza bar.
We plumped for a couple of bruschette to start. And soon wished we'd asked about them as they're ginormous servings. A plain tomato one was a qualified success, with two huge slices of some very fresh bread and the best part of a salad tomato cubed across them. Too chilled to have maximum impact, plenty of seasoning helped offset this to a degree.
I know what you're thinking; "to it too"? Not just insightful reviews, but owl impressions, too. And we have others. Sometimes, we're hungry, like a wolf. We feel that way now-ooooow!
Ahem. Mooo-ving on. Pizzas.
Diavola added the spicy salami we'd tried earlier to a margarita. Seasoned with spectacular chilli oil, this was a winner too. Bottom line, the pizzas are excellent. Not as huge as some we've tried, we have no complaints. There was no risk of wastage, which can happen with the serving sizes you can find in Madrid. If we're picky, we'd have liked a black pepper mill as well as that delicious oil.
Our questing spirit of enquiryтм meant Basic Fit will get another month's subscription. You might know what's coming.
What happens if you build gelaterias in the Sahara? Yep. Dessertification.
We ordered two of the three offerings, which means my latest Irish Catholic guilt trip - decades of experience, lads - is guaranteed to run for the next three months. Father, forgive me. It's been about 36 years since my last confession.
The decor's distinctively dysfunctional. Filament bulbs turning vertically arranged green frondage orange. A large busy bar makes the dining area a little cramped, but I liked the atmosphere; a family at a window table, a babble of Italian behind us. And lots of ongoing date nights along the back wall; some first (mineral water? really?!), some not (bottle of red to share), one potentially blind (separate arrivals, looking fearfully hopeful). But some details want thinking about. Giant LCD screens showing sports are out of place. 90s poprock is an authentically Italian backing track, but turned up to 11 it risks a shouty rabble, not a friendly babble. The layout doesn't help relaxed dining, either as customers at the bar were visibly coveting tables, making us a mite self conscious.
But it's very tasty food, with just those niggly details to sort. They'd edge the decimals toward the magic 5.0.