Pizza Luxe

I’m really liking what the westfield guys are doing with the outdoor area here now the sun’s out. Why sit inside at the food court/​chains in the centre, when there’s warmth, fresh air and jazz outside?! At least, there was yesterday — an awesome jazz trio were jamming the evening away on a temporary astroturf and deckchairs area set up there at the moment.
We sat at one of the outdoor picnic-​style tables of Pizza Luxe, which was the perfect place to enjoy the music and warm breeze, beers in hand (they have peroni/​pilsner on tap). No one went for wine this time, but we were amused to see it categorised as ‘good’, ‘better’ or ‘best’ on the menu.
Other than being in the right place though, it wasn’t anything too special. We got a couple of veggie pizzas to share; thin-​based and tasty though the toppings didn’t go as far to the edge as I would’ve liked. The combo of pomegranate seeds, goat’s cheese and rocket on the one I chose was something new and turned out pretty good (if a little messy as the seeds kept rolling off).
It was the presentation that generated the most discussion though: pre-​sliced into 6 with the pieces lined up in a zig-​zag pattern along a plank of wood to serve. I quite liked it, though one of the group took issue with a circular pizza being served in a different shape… (yeah he needs to get out more, I already told him!).
The service was friendly though sorry to say, a little ditzy — it was hard to get their attention, they brought out 2 glasses for 3 people, forgot a menu for the late arrival, and so on. Not enough to seriously annoy us, but maybe enough to affect my choice the next time I’m deciding which of these places to sit outside…

Pizza Luxe is one of many restaurants on Chesnut Plaza — the outdoor bit of Westfield Stratford City leading towards the Olympic Park. It feels like a chain but isn’t really — they have two restaurants in separate cities and that’s it. The décor is very industrial with old metal bins as lampshades and lots of steel and tiles.
The pizza was A-​OK. Tasty enough, very thin and chopped up into 6 pieces and rearranged into a parallelogram (it reminded me of a visual ‘proof’ for the area of a circle I use in my Maths lessons). The straight from the oven cake is a bit misleading it seemed like a piece of cake just warmed up in the pizza oven. Still it was quite a tasty cake.
The temperature was cold though, we asked for them to close the door which they did but seriously it was colder inside than out. We had to leave to find somewhere warmer to hang out.