Update: Cerroni's Purple Garlic

Still one of my favourite pizza places, despite the slightly weird mechanics of ordering. Last time I went, I was utterly unimpressed by the lackadaisical service on offer, and by the salads, but the pizza was worth going for.

I went again last night (actually, I've been going there fairly regularly, despite the things I find to complain about), and noted a couple of improvements. First, the service was noticeably more cheerful. There seem to be a lot of high-school- and college-age kids working here, and they seem to be segregated by sex: all of the young men were in the kitchen (rather too many of them, from what I could see), while all the young women were out front. Looks like a lawsuit-in-the-making, to my lawyer's eye, but I mention it not because I think there's something wrong with it, but because it strikes me as an interesting throwback to an earlier, innocent era, when it was a common practice. 

Anyway, there was a lot of innuendo-laced badinage going back and forth over the counter that separates the two areas, but it didn't distract the staff from looking after the customers. The girl working the cash register seemed unfamiliar with the menu, as though it were her first or second day on the job, but she did okay. Soon after I placed our order, a waitress came to the table to ask if we wanted our salads first. This is the second time we've been asked that at the Purple Garlic, and I have to wonder how many people want it otherwise. Seems like they would assume, absent instruction to the contrary, that we would. Well, there in a nutshell is the descriptor for the service here: inefficient, but effective.

Last city inspeciton: August 2010
8 demerits

This time I opted for the artichoke heart and mushroom salad. I was very glad to see that they've gotten new bowls at the Purple Garlic: the old ones were always threatening to turn over from a misplaced fork-stab. My wife went with the side-salad, and was reasonably satisfied with it; my salad was large and generously made up, with marinated artichoke hearts and sliced mushrooms on a bed of shredded lettuce; though I regret not having asked for the dressing on the side; there was too much of it coating all the salad's makings. 

The pizza, as ever, was excellent. We always get a large pizza when we go here, so that we have leftovers to accompany the first soccer match of the following morning (West Ham 2:4 Manchester United; yes!). On this occasion it was a cheese pizza with black olives, roasted spinach and Italian sausage, which we liked so much that there's a danger it will become a routine order. But we know that the other ingredients are as good, and so at times I'm sure we'll vary our choices. As it should be.