Taste Test: Bottles Pizza

NOSA: In our Bottles review, we mentioned the addition of pizza to the menu. A restaurant specializing in Tex Mex fare suddenly adding pizza to its menu is probably one of the weirder things we’ve encountered in Lagos. Not the weirdest though, that one belongs to the Tex Mex spot at Ikeja City Mall with Efo Riro on the menu. That one will never not be funny.

FOLLY: Word is Bottles built a proper wood-fired oven to go with it too.

NOSA: Adding pizza to the menu is definitely weird, but I’m not going to lie and say Bottles hasn’t been thorough about it. The pizza selection isn’t boring, on paper, and they deliver too. The Pesto Pizza, in particular, looks very interesting.

BOTTLES PIZZA Focaccia Pizza Olive oil, crushed garlic, mozzarella cheese, fresh rosemary, rock salt 3000 Garlic & Potato Pizza Sliced potato, mozzarella cheese, oregano 3800 Chicken & Salsa Pizza Sliced chicken breast, chunky salsa, mozzarella, oregano 4500 Summertime Pizza Pineapple, ham, BBQ sauce, mozzarella cheese, feta cheese 4000 Margapino Pizza Black olives, green peppers, jalapeños, mozzarella cheese, oregano 4000 Spicy Mexican Pizza Spicy ground beef, chopped tomato, diced green chili, black olives, green peppers, jalapeños, salsa, diced avocado, mozzarella cheese 4800 Parma & Rocket Pizza Parma ham, mozzarella cheese, rocket 4500 Salmon & Rocket Pizza Salmon, mozzarella cheese, rocket 5500 Pesto & Feta Pizza Pesto, olive oil, diced tomato, mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, oregano 4000 Napolina Pizza Chopped tomatoes, anchovies, capers, crushed garlic, black olives, mozzarella cheese, oregano, sea salt, black pepper 4500 Vegetarian Pizza Black olives, green peppers, red peppers, artichoke, feta, mozzarella cheese 4000 Tomato & Basil Pizza Chopped tomatoes, fresh basil, mozzarella cheese 3000 Peperoni Pizza Pepperoni, red peppers, rock salt, cracked black peppe, mozzarella cheese, fresh basil 4500 Spicy Shrimp Pizza Shrimp, garlic & lemon sauce, green chili, rock salt, cracked black pepper, mozzarella cheese 5000 Margarita Pizza Sliced tomato, mozzarella cheese, oregano, rock salt, cracked black pepper 3000

NOSA: For our little experiment, we went with the Parma & Rocket Pizza. The rocket wasn’t really rocket. At my big age, I think I should know what rocket is. What’s on the pizza is actually a baby spinach. It looked and tasted like it. I know my vegetables, fam.

FOLLY: Nosa doesn't eat fruit but he makes up for it in vegetables. I guess that's a good thing. Anyway, yes he is right definitely spinach and not rocket.

NOSA: They did warn that everything on the menu was subject to availability of ingredients, but it would’ve been nice if we were warned ahead of them bringing the actual pizza. I mean, look at the rocket on Sabor’s Surf & Turf Flatbread and how they use real rocket.

SABOR

Bottles

FOLLY: The parma ham was okay but cutting it up in squares would have been better than spreading uncut atop the slices and thus creating a logistical challenge .

NOSA: As you’ve probably gauged by now, Bottles leans towards the thin crust wood-fired style like Pizze-riah and La Taverna.

FOLLY: While we're comparing, the quantity of parma ham was a little bit less than you'd get on a pizza at either of the aforementioned places.

NOSA: Yeah, unlike the aforementioned two, our pizza wasn’t also particularly fresh. The limited “cheesiness” hinted at it, but the crust gave it away.

FOLLY: I also wasn't particularly impressed by the quality and quantity of cheese on this pizza. The base tomato sauce was more prevalent than the cheese was.

NOSA: It tasted like it was made some hours earlier and just heated up before it was served to us. Thin crust pizzas don’t really “keep” well. If it’s not eaten fresh, it’ll expose many a pizza parlor. The crust quickly turns stiff. If you’ve eaten a day old baguette, you should be familiar with how it hardens. With a thin crust pizza, it’s like eating a biscuit.

POSTSCRIPT

NOSA: It such a shame because Bottles has clearly put a lot into this pizza thing happen and such rookie errors should not occur. It’s an easy fix though and I do hope they fix it.

FOLLY: Or maybe we caught them on a bad day? Or maybe they should just maintain their focus on Tex-Mex? If you've tried it can you let us know your experience?

Taste Test: Bottles Pizza

Posted by Nosa O on June 20, 2018