The food was okay and a hit with all the family but Katherine MacAlister went to the Oxford eaterie at the wrong time

Our visit to Zizzi’s was like a reality TV show, I’m An Oxford Resident Get Me Out Of Here, as we sweltered in the urban jungle of George Street with a gaggle of relatives and lots of children.

Our challenge was to take a party of 12 to the New Theatre, squeeze in lunch and park with only an hour to spare on a busy Saturday lunchtime.

No problem, I thought, as I unearthed my Anneka Rice jumpsuit and wondered where on earth to go. George Street is packed with family friendly restaurants offering a quick, easy, cheap meal, both pre and post theatre. How hard can it be?

Very hard as it turned out. Planned like a military operation Monty would have been proud of, parking being scarcer than a lesser spotted woodpecker with two beaks, we all arrived at Zizzi’s by 1.15pm, ready to sit, order, eat and leave. This allowed us a leeway of 15 minutes to run over the road, drag the kids to the loo, find our seats and hunker down in time for the 2.30pm matinee. A tight ship maybe, but one we were determined to steer with a mastery not seen since Nelson helmed the Victory.

But that was to under-estimate the feeding hour at George Street. When we turned up at Zizzi’s there were people queueing out the door waiting for a table, so it was lucky we had booked or we wouldn’t have stood a chance of emerging in time.

We fought through the packed interior to our table, ordered drinks with considerable difficulty and scanned the menus. When a waiter failed to take our drinks order the warning bells started to ring, our end of the restaurant only having one waiter serving, a hapless fellow who meandered around without noticing the hands in the air waving frantically as children wailed in hunger and the clock ticked on.

We called the manager over asking if we could order. He alerted the hapless gent who spilled a bottle of red wine on the couple by the window. Eventually, sensing our desperation, the manager returned and even he paled when we explained we needed to be out in in 40 minutes, our order taking a minimum of 20 minutes to arrive.

It meant that when the food finally reached the table it was like something out of Guinness Book of World Records. The children, knives and forks ready, dived into their bowls of pasta and plates of pizza with gusto. The kids’ menu is three courses and a chocacino for just £6.75, although they only had time for two.

Us parents started eating in a most undignified manner, pasta being faster to eat it turned out than pizza, ravioli inching over the finishing line first. So behind were the pizza eaters, that desperate cries of “fold it,” echoed from both ends of the table and the doubled up pizza came into being.

In fact the food was very nice. My calzone, (trifolati, sautéed garlic and parsley mushrooms, creamy porcini mushroom sauce, mozzarella, riserva cheese, rosemary and a little chilli £10.95) the Italians’ answer to the pasty, was delicious and something I’d definitely try again. The porcini giganti tortelloni pockets (£9.95) filled with ricotta and porcini mushrooms in a wild mushroom sauce with baby spinach, crispy sage and riserva cheese was also a great success.

The rustica pizzas were huge, and while in this instance not the best choice, in every other capacity, except speed eating, a great option, the more expensive rustica pizza piccante (pepperoni, spicy Nduja sausage, salami, roquito chillies, mushrooms, mozzarella, rocket and mascarpone £12.95) a winner. The skinny pizza primavera (goats’ cheese, roasted aubergine, artichokes, peppers, tomatoes, olives and fresh oregano £9.95) with a salad was better waist and time wise.

Having paid the bill as our food arrived, reasonable as no one was drinking and we only had one course each, we all cantered out the door en masse like stampeding wildebeest. With five minutes to go, we found our seats as the curtain went up.

So, if you do visit Zizzis, leave more time or go at a more antisocial time of day, otherwise it ages you. I was 96 by the time I got to the theatre.

Zizzi’s, 59 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BE. 01865 202 993
oxford@zizzi.co.uk
www.zizzi.co.uk/italian/restaurants/oxford/high-street