Have ordered one of their most popular pizzas, via @deliveroo, for the first time. Must say I have enjoyed it very much as this pizza Santa Maria was expertly made. Rich flavours with light dough, perfectly balanced, with really quick baking and home delivery.
It was abundantly clear why were they voted best pizza in London by Time Out, a huge achievement and very well deserved.
One of the best Italians I’ve been to in a while! The only reason I didn’t give this place a 5* rating is because - unfortunately - the location is quite small and the back-room is not very appealing. Nonetheless, the food is to die for! The pizzas are delicious as are the starters. I would recommend the burrata as a starter, and the meat balls are mandatory! Santa Maria also delivers food, but nothing compares to the freshly oven-baked pizza arriving at your table. I probably go there more than once a month, so obviously, I would recommend a visit!
You can't get a more authentic Italian pizza place than Santa Maria. It's extremely busy in the evenings all the days. We had the focaccia bread with aubergine and tomato sauce and it was extremely tasty. For mains we ordered two pizzas- Santa Mattia- which was extremely tasty with buffalo mozzarella, mushrooms and truffle oil, and Santa Catarina which had green chillies. I thought I could handle chillies but this one was really spicy and we couldn't finish it. So order this one with caution. The size of the pizzas is a bit big for one but small for two. They serve very good house wines and gellato. To summarize, good handmade pizzas with minimal toppings and great taste.
There are pizzas and then there are Neapolitan pizzas, well the later is not enjoyed by everyone but i for one relish it for sure. Santa maria made exceptionally good Neapolitan pizzas.
We went for Santa bufalina - buffalo mozzarella with parmesan - everything was perfect except too much of parmesan and very little buffalo mozzarella, would have enjoyed more if the same was reversed
We then tried Santa Carmela - this one was made perfect
The best part of the meal surprisingly was not pizza but smoked buffalo mozzarella in marinara sauce - MUST TRY !
So having restarted Uni and being bored of the canteen food, I opted to venture out and try something in the area.
Holy moly! The name says it all!!!! Santa Mariiiiiiaaaaa! I opted for the Santa Mattia which came not even 8 minutes after ordering! Large stone baked pizza literally to die for!!! Staff were engaging, friendly and helpful.
The flavours were simply incredible and the dough had the right amount of crisp to it. Your pizza experience will never be the same!!!!
Grazie mille!! Round the corner from uni? I'm guessing that I'm gonna be a regular here
So if we share this hidden gem- will it no longer be a hidden gem? The queues are often out of the door, so perhaps the secret is already out. With years of searching for the best pizza, we found it on our doorstep. With regular trips to Italy, often day trips, just to savour a slice who would have thought we’d be happy with a West London pizza parlour. Naples is home of the best pizzas in the world but this place comes pretty close.
I wouldn't deny my love for napoli pizza and that is what drew me to this place and boy...it gets really crowded in here which is a testament of its popularity. Loved it to the core...so much so that i didn't leave even the slightest glimpse of crumbs on my plate....go for it
I do travel for a good pizza. Mainly, I travel to Napoli. Every time I go home, it is tradition that once picked up from the airport, regardless of the time of night, I am taken to a pizzeria for a welcome dinner.
Great Little Pizza place in London , Italian pizza as authentic as it can get in this city , absolutely love this place , great staff and quick services each and every time I visit !!
We always absolutely love the pizzas at Santa Maria everything we go, perfect thickness with the right amount of tasty toppings. The only downside is you have to wait a while for a table at peak times, but it's ok as they give you a buzzer and you can go for a drink next door in The Red Lion.
Best pizza outside of Naples. Wood fired oven pizzas with thin base, simple yet beautiful toppings.
They also do amazing aubergine parmigiana.
The place tends to be very busy, but it's worth the wait.
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
Authentic Italian pizza. Its all about the base, and this one is good, doughy stretchy, a little blackened from the wood fired oven but light and moreish when you eat it
toppings is a limited choice but only the necessary authentic italian options and the very best at that. Buffalo mozzarella, basil, Palma ham etc... please do not even mention the 'p' word to me
House wine - very drinkable and cheap
ice creams are superb, even when you have no room left
service is..pretty Italian to be honest, they are always busy and this means they aren't always as sharp as they could be and they often don't seem that bothered, but i prefer this to over done service like the 'hi how are you' American style, plus who cares about service when the food comes quick and tastes this good
turn up early put your name on the list and go to the proper fullers pub next door for a London pride by the time you have finished your pint and had a look at the Ealing studios memorabilia your table will be ready,
its small in there and very tightly packed but thats fun
this is a gem of London and I hope it lives forever
5 stars / 100% neapolitan. I'm a regular @ Santa Maria so this review might not appear fair-minded. This is simply the best pizza outside Naples any Italian person would find after years of travelling around the whole globe (and I mean it!).
Just a warning to all the polite british diners: you must have clear in mind the difference between italian and neapolitan pizza, if you are a fan of pizza express, american pizza or just of the ordinary Italian thin crispy pizza served everywhere else then Santa Maria is not for you :-) Highly recommeded!
The food here is excellent and arrives very quickly once ordered. Only criticism is that the staff seem to have an inability to estimate the time that one must wait for a table to become free. Each time we have eaten there, we needed to wait for twice as long as we were told before getting a table. The point is that the food is well worth the wait but is incredibly frustrating to wait for longer than promised.
Good Thin crust Pizza. Popped into here for lunch today and the two pizzas between 3 of us, and they were pretty damn good.
Nice thing crust, a tad soggy but it was good. Good toppings, nice flavours and texture.
Would like to return at nite or the weekend as for lunch we were kinda rushed.
Great stuff. Not knowing about this 'best pizza in London' woo-haa we set off to this local restaurant with no preconceptions.
The timeout review in the window explained why it was packed on a wet sunday slightly before 6 for dinner.
I had the calzone with Neapolitan salami and ricotta. My girlfriend had an artichoke olive and meat affair. You can see why the pizza's won an award, the base was a perfect compromise between the (in my view often overly crispy) classic italian pizza and the doughier version that everyone else eats.
Combined with tasty but not spectacular toppings this made for two fine meals.
At 26 quid for two pizzas wine and two salads it was also excellent value.
Not much of a pizza fan so couldn't say if this is the best pizza in London. Definitely the best pizza in Ealing though. Which is fine for me.
The London Pizza Blog
+4.5
Santa Maria offers fantastic pizza at a very, very reasonable price and it’s easy to see why this little gem draws customers from all over London. It is worth noting that you cannot book in advance and competition for seats is fierce, but the Red Lion pub next door is a pleasant place to pass the time and one of Santa Maria’s finest is undoubtedly worth the wait.
A while ago, I stumbled onto the best pizza in London article by Timeout, which praised Santa Maria's traditional Neapolitan pizza and gave it a much deserved crown of 'best pizza in London'. Its a tiny place at Ealing (W5) with only 6 tables that often result in a long queue. Luckily, the 400 degree oven perfects each pizza by the minute so you'll never need t
The story is simple – two Italians, one big pizza oven from Naples and a quest for authenticity.
I wanted to visit Santa Maria for a long time. So now that I moved to Chiswick and Ealing is just a short commute it was a no brainer. Small pizzeria with rustic décor, wood fired oven brought from Italy, and a promise of authentic Neapolitan flavours and unique recipe as you will find in the street of Naples
One of the Best PizzaS in London!
The atmosphere is very Napolitan. It made me remember when I went to Pizzeria Da Michele in Naples, Italy.
Good taste, perfect dough.
The Santa Bufalina Pizza is a great and simple choice: mozzarella di buffala, basilico (basil) and pomodoro (real tomatos)!
I loved the concept and the authenticity of the place.
Good pizza. Very Italian. LOVE it. The place is often quite busy and worth it !! I had a classic margherita, which was very delicious, tasty, and cheesy.. even writing about it..makes me want one.
Also, I was very impressed by their selection of ice-creams. I had some chocolate gelato, which was mouthwatering and excellent. I definitely recommend going there and be ready for a perfect meal !! Especially for pizza loverss :)
Service was great. Prices were reasonable.
The quaint Santa Maria Pizzeria is located in St Mary's Road and is always filled with people trying to taste a pizza from, arguably, one of the best pizzeria's in West London.
As soon as you enter, you feel the heat from the wood fired oven imported all the way from Italy. I had seen this pizzeria advertised in a few articles online and decided that I must go here next, especially as their website personally invited me: "...happy to feed everyone, from penniless students to VIPs" - the former being me.
I decided to order the 'San Francesco' and it was nothing short of amazing! The cheese and tomato sauce oozed out of the pizza, yet the pizza base still had a crunch. With most of the pizzas costing under £10, eating here is a bargain! Would recommend to anyone.
Every time that I have visited Santa Maria there has been a 10 minute waiting time. This isn't a complaint, this is purely pointing out how in demand this minute pizzeria is. This is not a place where you are allowed to sit back and relax, the service is fast, and the food arrives within minutes.
The bruschetta is coulorful and crispy. Their pizzas live up to their reputation. Their thin bases combined with their rich tomato sauce is delicious no matter what topping, and just how I imagine true Italian food to be. And finally there wide selection of Gelati is the perfect way to finish.
I admire their speedy customer service, and their head on approach to providing fabulous food, fast. Fancy fast food? They're on to something.
I was staying at Ealing Broadway and this place is always full!! Even though we have to queue to be placed for sit/take away, the pizzas are worth the wait!! Definitely will come back again when i have a chance to London
Best pizza in London and friendly staff from Napoli
Seriously great pizza every time. Be prepared to wait but can leave mobile number in restaurant while having a drink next door.
Great pizza - a pizzeria that wouldn't look out of place back in Italy. It's tiny inside but if you go early, you should be fine.
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
Santa Maria is a tiny pizzeria in a quiet part of Ealing that opened in early 2010 by Pasquale Chionchio and Angelo Ambros. What sets it apart is the authenticity of the pizzas, prepared in a wood-fired oven by people from Naples who care about quality. They have sinced opened a sister restaurant called Sacro Cuore. The room seat just over a dozen, plus a couple of tables outside, and on the Sunday night that we visited we had to wait over half n hour for a table (there are no reservations taken, but there is a convenient pub next door in which to wait). At the back of the room is a proper wood-burning oven at 400C that will cook a pizza in 90 seconds flat.
The menu was refreshingly simple, not straying far from the core product. Wine was a simple choice of white or red. Garlic bread was a huge portion, itself almost the size of a pizza. This tasted distinctly of garlic and was seasoned nicely, with a little rosemary (12/20). Bruschetta had good quality tomatoes but a rather uninteresting base (11/20). A side salad had good tomatoes but ordinary dressing and leaves (11/20).
However the point of the place is the pizzas, and the two that we tried were very good indeed. The base was soft and supple, which is the mark of a proper Neapolitan pizza: the toppings pleasant, the tomatoes imported from Italy (easily 13/20). My Santa Caterina pizza, enlivened by a little green chilli, was just £6.45, less than you can pay in a high street chain for something a fraction as good as this.
Ice creams were supplied by award-winning producer Oddono in South Kensington. A scoop of vanilla was ordinary, decent texture but hardly any vanilla taste but the other two were quite different. Chocolate ice cream had a rich chocolate taste and the pistachio ice cream was lovely, loaded with pistachio flavour; these were serious ice creams, if bought-in. Service was cheery despite the pressure on the staff from the queues of people outside. The bill came to just £15 a head including drinks. While the pizza at Franco Manca has the edge for me (especially on the toppings) this is nonetheless genuinely excellent pizza, clearly one of the best in London.
BRILLIANT PIZZA
The menu is pretty much only pizza, but fanatic and wonderfully authentic. The staff are very nice and genuine. It's a must eat.
Went with my best friend and pizzas are amazing and well cooked. We asked for the names of the staff and Mattia, Maria, Gabriella, Emma and Valerio were super lovely and helped us choose the food and the drinks. To know that most of the staff are Italians you can tell the food will be authentic and to remember. We ordered the San Nicola and the San Rocco and portions were generous and fair for the price. Even we were super full we still shared two desserts which were delicious and left us licking our finger tips. Yum! Definitely will come back to try new things <3
Arturo Eduardo Avalos Torres
+5
As soon as I came inside, Gabriela and Vincenzo were very welcoming, my friend and I I were seated and were introduced to the menu, in different occasions I had to ask questions as I am not familiar with the menu, they were always attentive and happy to answer my questions, even tho the pace had some busy tables, they were always making sure everyone were well looked after.
The San Giuseppe pizza was great the Sant Anna wasn't. There was something missing in the flavour, and the oven was strong, because the pasta was burnt.
I had the same pizza at Santa Maria in Ealing and it was better there . Thanks to Marika⭐
Visited the restaurant on Sunday. The food and atmosphere was perfect, the pizza was gorgeous and tasty, exactly like real Neapolitan pizza. The service was quick and the staff was very friendly and attentive. I really recommend this place, I will definitely visit again.
Tasty pizza as always when at Santa Maria, but staff lacking basic manners. No hi and bye, some of them seemed a bit annoyed while it wasn't even that busy. I prefer Fitzrovia branch more than this one.
We loved the pizzas and in particular the San Nicola with caramelised onions. Very nice staff and we had the food served pretty fast. All very tasty and the Tiramisu was amazing and I normally don't like Tiramisu. Highly recommend this place.
Visited early on a Saturday evening in early May. An excellent pizza experience. The pizza itself is delicious. The dough is a particular highlight; it’s quite spongey and rich. The sauce is also flavourful and liberally applied. Service was attentive. The pizzas were cooked and delivered within a few minutes of ordering. The pizzas are pretty large, a bit more than I’d typically eat on my own, but good value. Always nice to have leftover pizza to take home. Overall we had a great time and will definitely return.
Really good pizzas. Excellent quality ingredients in all the dishes. A good quality Chianti on the menu at £30 a bottle. Nice atmosphere and great service from all the staff including Fay and Ollie. I would highly recommend this place. Special mention to Ollie, who went as far as taking a photo of the vegan ice cream, unprompted, to confirm it was vegan when we asked him to check.
What can I say, from pizzeria Santamaria it is always like coming home, where you can eat an excellent Neapolitan pizza and find excellent pizza makers 💪💣💥If you want to eat an excellent Neapolitan pizza, stop by 😉🍕🇮🇹🇬🇧
We were waiting for Santa Maria to come to East London, and we couldn't be more happy!
Their pizzas are some of the best in the city. Simple ingredients, great quality, light dough. We will go back again, again and again! ❤️
Good prices and big portions.
I found the pizza delicious but a little bit soggy in my opinion due to all the toppings.
Only downside for me was that the branch in Angel is rather small to go with a pushchair.
As we went for early dinner they managed to give as a table at the back.
Absolutely fab again!!! Consistently epic - 100% my favourite pizzeria in Islington (and yes, I have been to all the others).
Lovely staff, great music.
If you haven’t been - go immediately 😊
Passing by with some friends, the local was very nice and clean, staff and food were amazing.
Definitely a place that I would go and suggest to everyone.
We get served by Vincenzo and Gabriella, they were really friendly and help us a lot with the menú and give a lot of suggestion that we appreciate it and loved it.
Ahhh. So long since we've had a proper pizza in London. This place is as it should be. Humble, well priced, friendly service, simple menu and top notch pizza which wouldn't be out of place in Naples.
Will be back any time I'm in the area!
Pizza overall I’d give a 4/5, the dough is really good but toppings a bit disappointing. Big negative for me were the canned mushrooms, I much prefer fresh. Service was pretty slow but it was a Friday night.
Good selection of drinks and nice atmosphere
Did you know Santa Maria have a full vegan menu? Their pizza is one of the best in London (this is not an exaggeration) and with such affordable prices (most pizzas are around £12) it's a favourite spot to visit for my partner and I. The staff are always very friendly and the venue in Angel is trendy looking and cosy. I take a lot of friends and family here because it's great as a vegan there's heaps for me, but also a great selection for everyone else too.
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