Rudy’s Pizza Napoletana recently opened their latest branch here in Nottingham on Victoria Street joining a flux of popular pizza chains hitting the city over the last year or so.

While I do welcome that Nottingham as a city is deemed worthy of consideration by the restaurant world I do worry about the impact on the smaller more independent traders in town.

That wasn’t going to stop me popping along to check them out especially when I read that they were offering about 3000 free pizzas to the local folk to bring the curious in during the first month. I took full advantage of that signing up on their website to book myself a table

Lets see what their pizza have to offer my taste buds

CARNI PIZZA

The first pizza we shared was the CARNI – “San Marzano tomato, fior di latte, Grana Padano, salame finocchiona, salame picante, wild boar salame, basil, olive oil”

I always opt for the meatiest pizza on the menu and this one did not disappoint with it’s triple salami whammy.

I wish I knew which slice was which type of salami because one of them really did float my boat with bits of cracked black pepper in amongst the slice

I think it was probably the wild boar as ‘finocchiona’ typically has fennel flavours and salame picante is essentially pepperoni

The tomato and cheese mix together well but with the crust being so thin it was hard to tell what was cheese and what was base when you get to the middle of the pizza. it is all a bit of a big cheesy strand 🤣

I like the crust better toward the outside where it was thicker, chewier and more bready but as all the flavour is in the bits with topping you are better off folding bits together as you eat it.

PORCHETTA PIZZA

The second pizza we shared was the one called PORCHETTA detailed as a “White pizza, Fior di latte, roast porchetta, sage roasted potatoes, smoked mozzarella, caramelised white onions, cracked black pepper, rosemary oil”

I do enjoy a white pizza every so often so was happy to see one with porchetta on the menu. I love a joint of porchetta with the crisp fat and juicy tender meats so that was what I was hoping to find on this pizza

Flavour wise this one was a bit tame or perhaps I should say subtle (its the same in the end to my taste buds). You got a pleasant enough hints of smoke from the cheese, a slight sweetness from the onions and nice gentle herbiness from the sage and the rosemary.

Perhaps eating this pizza alongside the meat one didn’t help it’s cause

I like it well enough but I thought the potatoes could have been more roasted as could the porchetta which I like crispier. These ones were just like little cubes of spud a bit more time in the oven maybe?

Despite having said all that it was a decent pizza and lets be honest we all like things different ways and I know that it’s not all about me 😂

Rudy’s serve Neapolitan Pizza, the sort with a really thin and floppy base so that you either have to eat it with a knife and fork, or slice and fold to eat like a pizza sandwich

I am happy to try eating it both ways depending on whether I have a nice crusty end bit or when I am just trying to get all the good stuff off without spilling it down my top

The pizzas were large, bigger than I expected and the menu was interesting enough to consider coming back for another try but compared to other pizza joints in Nottingham they face stiff competition for my trade.

The good thing is that they are well priced and big so it is probably going to be easier to grab a table on days when I haven’t pre-planned my pizza outing

📍Rudy’s Pizza Napoletana are located on 6 Victoria Street just up from the Old Market Square alongside the Tram Track

Check them out on their website and on their Instagram page

ps. I hear that their empire is also spreading across town into West Bridgford at least according to their careers page where they are looking for staff for that location 🧐