Head here just for the pizzas

1441 Pizzeria serves Italian wood-fired pizzas

The pizza parlour chain ‘1441 Pizzeria’, with branches all around the country, is known for authentic Italian wood-fired pizzas. The concept and menu has been designed and created by the Italian pizza master chef Renato Viola and it has generally impressed its customers.

With these thoughts in mind, we headed to their outlet in Koramangala. The place, though small, is cozy, well-lit and colourful. All eyes are immediately drawn to the open kitchen which has a special wood-fired oven imported from Italy.

You are served authentic Italian thin crust pizza, with toppings of your choice — such a blessing in today’s times. You can choose from a wide variety of sauces, cheese and toppings which is separated into normal and exotic sections. They have even bravely offered pineapple.

Since its handmade, the pizza might not be Instagram-worthy but it’s warm and has a super crispy crust with the right proportion of spice and cheese. Since the toppings are your own choice, there is minimal chance of wastage.

The 8 inch pizza is good for one person. In case you are ordering the chicken pizza, you can ask for more pieces of chicken; they are happy to oblige you. Rest assured of the hygiene aspect — they use disposable plastic gloves which they change after picking up each topping.

We tried the ‘Calzone’ next, which could do with much improvement — it had an unpleasant sour taste and the insides could have been better cooked. The ‘Mushroom risotto’ had an overpowering taste of garlic and very little of mushroom; you actually bite into little pieces of garlic which leaves a bad aftertaste. The risotto was a little watery.

The ‘Jalapeño poppers’ also disappointed us -- too oily and no cheese at all; it felt as if we were just eating the batter. Surprising they messed it up because one can’t generally go wrong with this. The pasta had a strong burnt taste and no other flavour.

In desserts, the ‘Chocolate mousse’ was quite heavy — make sure you have enough space if you are opting for it. The Tiramisu too was more of chocolate and didn’t have any coffee taste at all.

An issue with the place is that the staff seems untrained. They forgot some of our orders and mixed up others. A more experienced staff would be a value addition to such a well-known chain.

1441 Pizzeria is located on 475/1, ground floor, KHB Colony, Koramangala 5th Block.