(Previously we’ve looked at Dublin’s oldest established restaurants, the city’s first Chinese restaurants and the city’s first Italian restaurants)
When did pizza first arrive in Dublin?
One of the first mentions in the newspapers comes from Monica Sheridan in The Irish Times on 07 April 1956. Explaining to her readers that pizza was “a sort of open tart made with tomatoes and cheese on a base of yeast dough”, she described it as becoming “frightfully fashionable all over Europe”. Sheridan doesn’t make any reference to any restaurants in Ireland where you could get pizza. However in Italy, she wrote:
It is sold (and very cheaply, too) in little restaurants known as pizzerie, where they have special open ovens. The pizze are prepared and cooked before your eyes, and a very appetising sight it is. They are eaten piping hot, at a sort of quick-lunch counter, or you can take your pizza with you and gnaw it on a bench.
Ostinelli’s at 17 Hawkins Street was offering pizza as early as 1957:
Dublin Evening Mail, 29 July 1957
In The Irish Times on 20 July 1959, Moira Molony offered advice on ‘Giving a Party On a Shoestring”. She described pizzas as “absolutely scrumptious, but learning how to make the wafer thin pastry requires a practised hand”. Smartly, she advises readers to try “the concoction first on your family”.
A year later, the same paper reported on a “very gay reception” held by the Italian Ambassador at Lucan House (described as “the most beautiful embassy in Dublin”). At this soirée “Pizza, washed down with Ovrieto, was consumed in great quantities”.
The legendary Coffee Inn who operated from South Anne Street from 1954 – 1995 had pizza on the menu by 1962. This was confirmed by a comment left by Tex Browne:
It was a favourite haunt of art students and teenage would-be bohemians. The proprietor was a very patient Italian called Mario who allowed his young clients to congregate without let for the price of a coffee. You could have any pizza topping you desired as long as it was mozzarella and anchovies!
The Coffee Inn, South Anne Street, 1960s. Fáilte Ireland Tourism Photographic Collection, Dublin City Library & Archive.
A restaurant called Paycock at 32 Dawson Street offered the dish by January 1965 (Irish Press) with Bernardo’s at 19 Lincoln Place offering “pizza napoletana” by March 1967 (Irish Times).
The Irish Press, Jan 14, 1965.
The Honey Bee on Wicklow Street described itself the “ONLY ‘Spaghetti House and Pizzeria’ in Ireland'” when it was opened in July 1967. The owners were Dr. Dionisio Tullio and his Scottish-born wife Irene. Dr. Tullio who was from Gallinaro, Italy and served as a Lieutenant during the Second World War. The restaurant’s pizza chef was Joe Forte from Naples. Dr. Tullio’s son Paolo (1949-2015) was an award-winning chef and food critic in his own right.
Advertisement for The Honey Bee. Evening Herald, 4 July 1967.
By a the mid 1970s and early 1980s, a lot of Dublin’s American style restaurants started to offer pizza on their menus. Places like TJs Pizzera on Lower Grafton Street and Georgian Fare at 14 Lower Baggot Street.
The Irish Times, 21 July 1972.
Not forgetting Murph’s Gasworks Cafe at 21 Bachelors Walk (1976 – 1985), Thunderbird at 84 Grafton Street (1977 – early 1980s) and Solomon Grundy’s at 21 Suffolk Street (1978 – 1986).
Though now associated as a take-away, Mizzoni’s opened its first restaurant in Rathgar in 1974 and is still open today (as of 2018).
The Irish Times, 10 Dec 1975.
Flanagan’s at 61 O’Connell Street (1980 – Present) and the Bad Ass Cafe at 9-10 Crown Alley (1983 – Present) are the only two restaurants, who fit that bill, that are still open today.
Pizzaland which opened a branch at 52 Lower O’Connell Street in 1976 and at 82 Grafton Street the following year should also be mentioned at this point. They were part of a UK chain of pizza restaurants which was wound down in the mid 1990s.
The Chicago Pizza Pie Company, on Stephens Green where TGI Friday’s is now, was also a popular spot in the 1980s.
Pizzaland (beside Avis), St. Stephen’s Green, 1990. Credit – Dublin City Photographic Collection
Italian-run places also started to offer pizza in this period. Some of the ones that have come and gone include The Pizzeria at 12 St. Andrews Street (early 1970s), La Caprice at 12 St. Andrews Street (1976-?), Pizzeria Italia at 23 Temple Bar (1986 – 1996), Chew ‘n’ Chat at 112 Ranelagh (c. 1987 – 2007) Da Vinceno’s at 133 Upper Leeson Street (1988 – 2011) and Da Pino at 38-40 Parliament Street (1993 – 2010).
Advertisement for La Pizzeria, Evening Herald, 12 July 1972.
Of those still operating, Pizza Stop at Chatham Lane can definitely be described as the oldest operating Italian pizzeria in Dublin City having being on the go since 1982.
Writing in the Irish Press on 12 Jan 1989 critic Ruth Tooth described their experience:
We loved the atmosphere… The smell of garlic hits you in the minute you walk in the door. The kitchen is visible to all. It is clearly very popular and the business and bustle of the place makes for warmth and feeling of being totally at home.
Tooth’s guest described his pizza (medium Margherita for £2.95) as “one of the best he has ever eaten”.
(The three of us from Come Here To Me! and two close friends had a meal there a few weeks ago. All five of us were greatly impressed with the quality of the food. Four starters, five pizzas, nine beers and four expressos came in at €149.)
Pizza Stop, Chatham Lane (2010). (Pizza Stop Facebook)
The Independent Pizza Company at 28 Lower Drumcondra Road wasn’t far behind, openings its doors in 1984. They continue to receive glowing reviews.
In August 1987, self-confessed pizza addict Padraig O’Morain went on search for the best pizza in Dublin for The Irish Times. TJs’ pizza was described as “unexciting but nothing wrong with it”, the Pizza Calzoni at Flanagans was “unforgettable” and got the thumbs up, the Bad Ass Cafe was a given a glowing review, Pizzeria Italia was excellent while O’Connell Street’s Pizzaland was of average quality and on the expensive side. You wonder why he didn’t try Pizza Stop or Independent Pizza Company?
The late 1980s and early 1990s saw a rake of pizza places open that some of which are still in business today: Fat Freddy’s on Crow Street, Miller’s Pizza Kitchen at 9-10 Baggot St Lower, Pinheads at 104 South Circular Road (estd. 1989), Ristorante Romano at 12 Capel Street (estd. early 1990s?), South Street Pizza on South Great Georges Street (estd. early 1990s), Little Caesar’s Pizza at 5 Balfe Street (estd. 1991), Gotham Cafe at 8 Anne Street South (estd. 1993), UK chain Milano at 38 Dame Street (estd. 1995), the Steps of Rome at 1 Chatham Street (estd. 1995) and Cafe Topolis at 37 Parliament Street (estd. mid 1990s?)
Yum… Steps of Rome, Chatham Street. (Stepsofrome.ie)
The 2000s saw many pizzerias come and go. Some of those that were opened in this decade and that are still open include Ciao Bella Roma at 25 Parliament Street (estd. 2003), Enoteca Langhe in the Italian Quarter (estd. 2003), Bar Italia on Ormond Quay (estd. 2004), Bottega Toffoli at 34 Castle Street (estd. 2005), Taverna in the Italian Quarter (est. 2005), Paulie’s Pizza at 58 Upper Grand Canal Street (estd. 2010), Credo at 19 Montague Street (estd. 2010), Da Mimmo in Fairview (est.d 2010), Al Vesuvio at 73 Mespil Road and Manifesto at 208 Rathmines Road Lower.
Di Fontaines at 22 Parliament Street (estd. 2011 but based in Crow Alley for many years before that) deserves a mention for offering New York style slices until the wee hours.
2013 is the year I hope to try all the (great) pizzerias that I haven’t visited yet.
Questions for readers:
What was your first experiences of eating pizza in Dublin?
What’s your favourite pizzeria at the moment?
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Click on the book for more.
Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 
I miss Da Pino 😦
My first pizza experience in Dublin was probably in Pizza Hut on Suffolk Street back in 1997!
At the moment I’m quite fond of Steps of Rome, Wallaces – La Taverna and also D’Vine on Bachelors Walk.
Love the Steps of Rome. Heard great stuff about La Taverna but haven’t got there myself yet.
What was your first experiences of eating pizza in Dublin?
Probably the Bad Ass in ’84 or so.
What’s your favourite pizzeria at the moment?
Bar Italia on the quays maybe.
Pizza Stop is still very good. Had my first date there with my now wife of 20 years.
Steps of Rome does very nice pizza slices.
The Bad Ass was woeful last time I was there a year or two ago, huge disappointment. It had been redecorated and looked to be under new management.
Gutted to hear that Chew’n’Chat in Ranelagh has closed.
Cheers for the comment. Have yet to get to Bar Italia. It’s on my list!!
Love the square slices from the Steps of Rome.
Yeah, Bad Ass definitely closed and then was reopened under new management a couple of years ago.
I ate pizza at Bad Ass in 1984, too!!!! I recall it being quite good, although I was esentially a child at the time:)
Chicago Pizza Pie factory on Stephen’s Green, where TGI Friday’s is now. I used to go there for all of my birthdays in the mid-late-80s, the staff were nearly all Americans and they made a big fuss of occasions, getting you to stand on your chair as the restaurant (it seemed) sang happy birthday.
Don’t really remember much about the pizzas, but it was different to anything else that I’d experienced in Dublin at the time – although, given I was only young it’s not surprising.
Chicago Pizza Pie Factory? Never heard of it. Cheers! Will add something into the article about it now.
Can’t quite remember my first, but the best is definitely Ciao Bella Roma on Parliament Street. Their lunch deal is incredible value, less than a tenner for a starter main (pizzas and pastas) and a glass of wine.
+1
Always a nice atmosphere as well.
Da Vincenzo, Leeson Street, where Farm is now, opened in the 1990s, but I can’t remember what year or how it fits in with this chronology. As a kid, I remember them as being the best pizzas around – real Italian flat-base pizza from a stone oven (or so it seemed).
Good shout. Forgot about Da Vincenzos even though I was there quite a few times. It was actually opened in 1988. Previously mentioned here:
https://comeheretome.com/2010/01/09/dublin-citys-oldest-restaurant/
Hi, yep we had one of the only wood fired pizza ovens in Dublin for a long time. I know as I had to in to it to take out the soot regularly! Cathal. Ex owner.
Hi Thomas, we had a wood fired oven, and thank you for the comment. I owned this restaurant from 1996 till 2002 and I loved every minute, the people I worked with and lovely clientele. Hope yo are well.
Bits & Pizza in Dun Laoghaire has been around since the mid 80s too.. Pizzas n Cream in Bray (technically Wicklow but Dub at heart!)
First Pizza?
Not sure – I remember going into the Independent in Drumcondra soon after they opened ‘cos I knew the owner slightly: he’d worked in a pizza place in NY on his J1 and wanted to recreate it here. I’m sure I’d eaten a pizza in Dublin before that though – I think the Coffee Inn used to serve an approximation back in the ’70s? First great pizza in Dublin was Hugo’s/ Pizzeria Italia in Temple Bar.
Best now?
You’ve reminded me that it’s too long since I was in Pizza Stop – always reliable. Otherwise Romano’s though i don’t often have the pizza because the rest of the menu is too tempting: surely it predates the 2000s? We used to go there when our daughter was very young, so must be before the turn of the century?
You’re definitely right re: Romano’s. Checked back through my notes and the earliest mention I’ve found so far is 1992. Stuck it in the wrong paragraph.
Di Fontaines pizza on Parliments street is perfect NY pizza. I often travel across town just to eat there.
i’ve eaten loads of pizza in NY and nothing in Ireland comes close except this Fun Lovin Criminals slices. And you can buy it by the slice.
Macari’s 66 in Churchtown is, surprisingly, good too.
Love Di Fontaines myself. Only went there a handful of times while it was in Eamon Dorans but am a regular visitor to their place on Parliament Street.
Di Fontaines is no good no more. Not worth the obnoxious attitude from staff. Antithesis of a local NY pizzaria. I dont need that twisted look & comments about my 5 Boroughs background.
I now go to Ray Pizza on Fownes St beside Foggy Dew. They do good pizza by the slice.
Best I had in Dublin was Bistro Banconni in Ranelagh. Sadly it is no more 😦
You find anywhere as good to replace it yet Dunster?
Chew’n’ Chat is sadly missed alright! Maybe it was just the college night of pizza, chips, coke (a cola) and chat, but it always won me over!
Second the Bits and Pizzas suggestion, it’s damn fine pizza.
Chicago Pizza Pie was awesome, and as I recall they had a bell for those birthdays! Also they had liberal “happy hour” interpretations too!
Was only in Chew ’n’ Chat once but liked the place. Have yet to make it to Bits and Pizza yet (great name!)
Great post, there’s a few places I have to visit now! I think my first pizza was probably from a supermarket freezer, but my eating out it was in Bistro Bianconi in Sligo, and I’d order from the Ranelagh branch when I lived in Dublin. Disappointed to learn it has since closed, or moved?
Yeah, heard Bistro Bianconi in Ranelagh closed up early 2010.
First pizza I sliced up was a Margerita in Bad Ass around 1988, washed down with vino. Thought we were fierce continental altogether.
Really disappointed then with the deep-based offerings from Chicago Pizza Pie Factory, despite going there a lot for the happy hour beer pitchers.
Given a whole pizza can be a tad monotonous to get through, I now go for Milano’s Leggera range where they hollow out the middle and fill it with a rocket salad. Bellissimo!
“Milano’s Leggera range where they hollow out the middle and fill it with a rocket salad ”
Wow, that sounds good! Will have to try it sometime.
Chicago pizza pie did those deep dish American pizzas, I remember the spinocolli , being my favourite I was a veggie at the time. Though my first pizza memory would be the pizza parlour at the back of Blakes restaurant in Stillorgan across from the Bowling Alley,great big pizzas and all those classic sundae desserts like knickerbocker glory and banana split. My sister worked in both restaurants. I think it was 1983?
I was in Blakes a few times but don’t remember a pizza parlour. Thanks for the info!
Not a pizzeria, but my first pizza experience was the ones my mum brought home from Superquinn as a kid in the 1980s. Choose your own toppings. Revolutionary. Missing Da Vincenzo’s, Chicago Pizza Pie Factory and Da Pino.
Da Vincenzo’s and Da Pino were both great. Missed out on the Chicago Pizza Pie Factory. Thanks for the comment!
I first tasted pizza in the Coffee Inn, South Anne Street, in the autumn of 1962. It was a favourite haunt of art students and teenage would-be bohemians. The proprietor was a very patient Italian called Mario who allowed his young clients to congregate without let for the price of a coffee. You could have any pizza topping you desired as long as it was mozzerella and anchovies! It was also the first café I remember ever to put tables and chairs outside in the contintal manner. This was during the warm and sunny May of 1963. I think the innovation was short lived, I guess due to the intervention of the Gardai.
Fantastic comment Tex Browne. Thanks so much. So it’s obvious that the Coffee Inn had pizzas on the menu before Peacock are mentioned in 1965. Thanks for clarifying.
First pizza? Sometime in the mid-to-late 1970’s (74-78) on Grafton Street. I don’t remember the name (perhaps it was TJ’s?) but it was on the east side of the street. I distinctly remember a notable absence of cheese (shocking!).
A bunch of us from UCD (mostly Physics) invaded the place.
It could well have been TJs. It was apparently situated down by the Molly Malone side of the street. Thanks for the comment.
First experience eating pizza in Dublin: Mizzoni 😀
Best pizza in Dublin: Either il Manifesto or Paulie’s Pizza (though I prefer the former).
Paulie’s Pizza is on top of my ‘to do’ list. 🙂 Our Irish – Italian born friend who worked in Google said that most of his Italian workmates said Paulie’s was the best pizza in the city.
I remember looking across at a fellow customer’s pizza in Bernardo’s in the late sixties and thinking “now that does not look very appetizing … and certainly not worth 5 bob!” before ordering some pasta dish. Don’t remember any more pizze until Chunderbird’s starting offering a snazzy version in the mid-seventies. But we preferred the – much cheaper – Coffee Inn offering as it seemed more ‘authentic’.
Alas, no longer living in Dublin so cannot comment on today’s pizza. CHTM is my modern-day Ulysses, mapping out a Dublin that I used to frequent in the 60’s and 70’s.
Thanks for the lovely comment Simon Oliver.
great to see Solomon Grundy’s get a mention. the first place I ever saw a pizza. We used to be brought there as a treat when we were kids. They would take note of kid’s birthdays and send a card from Solomon himself (a large pig) with a voucher for a free meal every year. I’m sure all those free meals were why my parents used to take us there!
Great shouts too for the place in Stillorgan behind Blakes and the Superquinn make yer own ones.
Chicago Pizza Pie factory is the first restaurant I ever remember enjoying. I think I went there after my Confirmation as I’d been treated like a grown up instead of another bawling brat for the first time on a previous visit, and it left a lasting impression. On a recent trip to the US, I insisted on a stop in Chicago to get some pizza. I nearly died, it was so good.
I also have very fond memories of the old Bad Ass. The place that’s opened there now under the same name has exactly none of its personality.
Also, another vote for il Manifesto in Rathmines for the best pizza in Dubli
I remember in the late 80’s/early 90’s, McDonalds on O’Connell Street got in on the pizza craze and actually produced some very nice ones from what I can recall.
Remember going to the Chicago Pizza Pie Factory too and loving it.
Anyone have suggestions for the best Chicago style pizza in the city?
Discussion on that very question colmahhh on Boards.ie recently:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056840631
No where it seems offers Chicago style pizzas in Dublin.
Cheers. Looks like I’ll have to take a trip to Chicago
[…] another history blog, Come Here To Me! It has provided inspiration with their line in blog posts on pizzerias, Chinese restaurants and the like in recent […]
I’d add another vote to Bar Italia being my favourite at the moment. Almost as good as what you get in Italy!
When I was in Naples I was in a restaurant called Brandi which is apparently where pizza was invented. As far as I remember the story was that either the princess or else queen of the time was called Margerita so they invented the pizza for her when she was visiting Naples. Whether true or not I don’t know but it’s certainly a great place if you’re ever in Naples. Very nice pizza and a good buzz around the place too. Was open till well beyond midnight as far as I remember.
There was a Pizzeria beside Blakes in Stillorgan. They did a nice pizza without cheese and an egg on top. Pizzaland also opened in Bray and Dun Laoghaire. Pizza’s & Cream is still going in Bray and celebrated 25 years last year.
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First pizza in Dublin was at The Bad Ass, back in the 80s.
Favourite pizza at the moment is from Al Vesuvio on Mespil Road
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[…] city’s oldest restaurants, the first Chinese restaurants, the first Italian restaurants, the first pizzerias and the first Indian restaurants) This is part two of our article looking at the history of […]
[…] city’s oldest restaurants, the first Chinese restaurants, the first Italian restaurants, the first pizzerias and the first Indian […]
McCambridges (now the bread company) had a deli in Ranelagh that sold pizza slices in the late 1960s – I always presumed cold. I have to stress I was very young then and my parents were less than impressed with this strange bread/tart thing so I never actually tasted it.
Honourable mention should go to “as you like it” which was through the KFC in Rathmines (where Aldi is now). Run by the very impatient Bernie the sauce was slightly spicey and the cheese so stringy it was on the slice and in your stomach at the same time. No really. Fantastic pizza and a great late night spot.
My first Dublin pizza was from a small Fusco’s bakery shop somewhere around the top of Grafton St (Duke lane or similar). I remember eating it in Stephens Green, must have been around 1976. I worked in the Coffee Inn in 1979/80 and pizzas were well established on the menu. There were two varieties, the ordinary and the ‘special’, which had anchovies and peppers on. We used the left over milk every day (which came in a big milk churn) to make cheese for the next day’s pizza – it was mixed with acetic acid/vinegar and strained. I think the Coffee Inn was then the only place where you could get a proper espresso or cappuccino – I was a barista without even knowing it!
[…] another history blog, Come Here To Me! It has provided inspiration with their line in blog posts on pizzerias, Chinese restaurants and the like in recent […]
I would like to point out that my father opened his pizza take away on the rathgar rd in 1974 which(mizzonis ) I belive would make it one of the first if not the first and is still open to this day .
Nice article, my parents owned the Pizzaland franchise in Ireland, opening their first restaurant in 1976 on O’Connell Street Dublin, McDonald’s opened their first restaurant the same year a few doors up. Pizzaland set up by United Biscuits in the UK and it was a fancier version Pizza Hut for want of a better description.
There was 10 restaurants nationwide by the 1990’s and my parents eventually bought themselves out of the Franchise and turned the name into LaPizza, adding more to the menus and obtaining a full alcohol license.
Several years later it was sold to Grand Metropolitan, who own Pepsi and Burger King. Today there is only one restaurant left on Upper O’Connell Street next to the Savoy cinema, which still beres the name LaPizza. I do miss the LaPizza Pizza, while maybe not authentic Italian, it was bloody good pan Pizza!
This is the only article I have found on line that mentions Pizzaland, and thank you for writing and sharing it. After over 20+ years in business with staff of up to 150 people, I find it a pity not to find anymore about it.
I worked there myself for many years but when it sold I moved on to a different career, I still make fresh pizza at home from time to time.
Hi,
I was a frequent customer of Pizzaland in Cork and later worked there for two periods 1979/80 and 1980/81 when Alf McCarthy later of RTE Late Date Fame was manager.
I remember your father calling on his inspections.
Pat Fleming
As I recall Pizzaland (and I frequented both the Brighton and Dun Laoghaire branches in the mid to late 70s) provided baked potatoes to go with your pizza. Just in case you weren’t getting enough starch. Tradition carried on with that other classic of Irish cuisine: lasagne and chips.
I loved Pizzaland, they used to do a special , Pizza , Coleslaw and a Baked Potato at a bargain price, I worked on Grafton st and it was a great lunchtime treat.
I had forgotten about the coleslaw! It was always part of the deal. I can’t imagine eating that combination now.
I remember pizza in the Coffee Inn in the late 60s. After a summer spent in the US it was profoundly disappointing! But at least it was available.
Sorry people. The first pizza sold in Ireland was BERNARDO?S RESTAURANT 19 Lincoln place Dublin 2 by Mario Gentile but only to private parties. Mario Gentile along with his brother Bernardino worked for the Italian Embassy in Lucan since the early 1950’s, then opened up Bernardos, Quo Vadis, The Coffee inn La Caverna, Mario went on to train many other Italian establishments how to make Pizzas, La Caprice was Mario and Bernardino’s sister in law.
So the real answer is BERNARDO?S RESTAURANT opened September 1954.
Mario developed the first spaghetteria which was the Coffee Inn, that was the first restaurand/spaghetteria in Ireland to have tables and chairs on the side walk.
Mario also was the first person in Ireland to produce and sell fresh pasta in his restaurant and to other restaurants and hotels, he also was the first importer of Galliano Sambucca Amerato Chianti, Barilla pasta Parma ham the list is endless, Mario was approached by the Italian trade board to help develop Italian products in Ireland. I started a book about the history of Italians and their cuisine in Ireland but paused it for 7 years I will finish it before the new year. this year 2018.
[…] While the Pooh Sticks would be On Tape, ex-Nightingale, Robert Lloyd’s latest musical venture came out on the In Tape label. He was joined by the elusive New Four Seasons as his backing band. Something Nice was released on 7″ and 12″ with the latter containing a mix that went on for nine hypnotic minutes. We get the more concise 7″ edit, a driving almost bouncy stomper which reached #21 on Peel’s Festive 50. Round about that time, pizzas were becoming a thing in Ireland. The Four Star Pizza chain kicked off in 1986 while a fair selection of our capital’s restaurants and cafés had been serving them for some time – read about it in this outstandingly ace recollection called Dublin’s first pizzerias. […]