il buco - Reviews

Express newspaper November 2007

It's all delectable dreams at Auckland's best pizza restaurant. Pizza is quite easily a crowd pleaser. Throw some tomatoes, a handful of pineapple and some ham onto a pizza base and there you have it. Well, not quite. It's easy to make a good pizza, but far easier to make a bad pizza. Luckily for Aucklanders, Il Buco is a sure thing for great pizza.

The small, intimate Ponsonby Road premise offers cosy tables outside to dine in sunshine, yet the small number of tables result in the pizzeria being more of a takeaway destination. The many parks surrounding make Il Buco the perfect takeaway pizza restaurant to spend lunch times in the Spring sunshine.

The most inspired pizzas on the varied menu are the selection of vegetarian and vegan pizzas. Being with my vegetarian Brazilian boy, I cringed at the thought of him yet again forcing down the bland, floppy, cheesy things most pizzerias pass off as the "vegetarian choice". Il Buco is not one of these places. The plentiful non-meat options range from the delish Primavera, which merges the four loves of my life (caramelised onion, asparagus, mozzarella and brie) and the simple yet inventive combo of Patate, which is a dairy free combination of potato and rosemary. Much to my embarrassment, I was forced to scream "get in my mouth" upon seeing the pizzas. Whether or not the friendly, warm and chatty staff heard or not remains a mystery, but they were polite enough to pretend to ignore it.

Being the lover of taste explosion plus pizzas, I was wary as to whether they could cater to my over exposed taste buds. The tasty Tonno is a healthier option. Tomato, fresh tomato tuna, parmesan, mesculin and mayonnaise are delicately stacked onto a thin pizza base, creating a scrumptious guilt free alternative for those health junkies. Fellow taste explosion lovers will adore the Puttanesca, which is a fine blend of ingredients including olives, capers and anchovies on a dairy free base.

It would be easy to list off delectable ingredients for hours using Il Buco's thirty options until the whole of New Zealand was forced to move to Ponsonby Road to become Il Buco regulars. Auckland has many good pizza places, but they are a dime a dozen. In the competitive restaurant market, something needs to stand out to make you succeed. Il Buco is worth a visit because if offers affordable, tasty pizza with a mind-blowing selection of unusual pizzas with inspired ingredients.

The only major downfall of Il Buco is its tiny size. The cosy atmosphere, friendly staff and fabulous pizzas would be a great little restaurant to spend a few hours on a balmy summer night with friends. Despite this, it is still one of the best pizza specialists in Auckland. Any pizza lover needs to have a slice of Il Buco pizza for a new experience, and those who dislike pizza should go to Il Buco to change their mind!