This glass-walled eatery tucked under a new residential warehouse conversion has had 'Pizza e Birra' scrawled across the darkened, under-construction windows for months. The pizza was obvious, but the birra? Pizza e Birra have their own trademarked brand of beer, brewed for them at Hopping Mad Brewery in Orange. The airy dining room has simple wooden chairs and tables, with a bar lining one side of the room. Co-owner/chef Donato Toce (ex-Termini in Melbourne) has devised a pretty comprehensive menu, covering the obligatory woodfired pizzas (plus the less-anticipated dessert pizzas), entrees such as chargrilled calamari and beef carpaccio, and mains that include a rich brodetto of fish and fennel and an aged rib-eye. Of course, there is also a decent array of pastas, salads and sides. There is a no-bookings policy, but then the Clock's only a few doors up if there appears to be a wait.
Erin Clare
Open
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Breakfast
Lunch
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Dinner
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Late
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Mon-Wed 5.30pm-11pm Thu-Sat noon-midnight Sun noon-11pm
Italian and Pizza
Entree: $16-$20
Mains: $19-$35
Dessert: $10-$12
Payment accepted: MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club and American Express
Licensed with bar. Wine is available by the glass.
This venue does not accept bookings.
Seats 80
Outside dining area
Wheelchair access
and wheelchair-accessible toilets
All reviews and ratings are the expressed opinions of our users, and in no way reflects the opinions of yourRestaurants, its staff and its affiliates.
Posted by:
tomWilsom
|
22 April 2010, 10.59am
Consistently very good
My wife and I dine here about once a week. One of the best pizzas around. The no bookings policy can be a bummer at times but the food is worth the wait, the tagliatelle with duck ragu is a standout! Place has a great buzz and staff are dynamic. Definitely a fave!
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Visit: Thu 22 April 2010
Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by:
mm_sydney
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9 April 2009, 10.09pm
Decent food, horrible attitude
Thin crust Italian style pizza done fairly well, good atmosphere and always popular. But really horrible service, they want you seated, to eat and then to leave ASAP. I have never been asked to leave my table and finish my remaining wine at the bar (also with one lady table being 35 weeks pregnant) in any restaurant in any country in the world. This happened about 20 seconds after signing the bill. If I want decent but not excellent pizza I can go to many other places and not ever get treated like this.
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Visit: Thu 9 April 2009
Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by:
avondale
|
10 February 2009, 9.30am
Fantastic
We have been coming here for the last year ( at least twice a month ) and every time the food has been great. The staff are fantastic and coming from an Italian background, I have been able to converse with the staff to keep my Italian fluent. It's busy, buzzing and fun. We are happy to drive the 1.5hrs it takes us to have a meal at Pizza e Birra.
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Visit: Mon 26 January 2009
Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by:
aymessmith
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21 August 2008, 3.27pm
The food is good, however I went there 20 minutes before my friends to grab a table as you can't book. I was told that I couldn't have a table until everyone in my party arrived (even though there were plenty of tables available at the time I arrived). Two minutes before they arrived, I was told that the tables had now gone and there would be a wait! Everyone arrived (party of 6) and we were finally given a table. One person didn't turn up so we had one spare chair. We were enjoying wine and olives and then we were ordered to move over to a table for 5. I don't believe the restaurant would have suffered unduly if one person in our group didn't turn up. The way people are herded in and herded out of the place as soon as the desert spoon touches an empty plate, would guarantee pleasing profits! Drop the attitude guys.
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Visit: Sat 16 August 2008
Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by:
Love_Good_Food
|
20 January 2007, 8.20pm
I was really looking forward to eating here- heard great reviews - we were, however, bitterly disapointed. I ordered a steak, $36, does not come with vegetables or salad. My steak was blue in parts, asked for it to be cooked a little longer, my plate was brought back 15 mins later. The meat was very very fatty. My friend's pizza was very ordinary also. To top the night off the head waiter approached us at the completion of our meal and said "Ya done?" Will NEVER eat there again.
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Visit: Thu 18 January 2007
Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by:
josieBalen
|
16 November 2006, 10.04pm
Cardboard Pizza
Possibly the worst pizza and pasta I've ever eaten in my life, not to mention the rude superior arrogant and demeaning staff who made us wait for a table for over 30 minutes with their Italian/Surry Hills attitude. All style no substance.
Pizza was below ordinary and almost cardboard-like, no flavour, no topping with major attitude. Coming from an Italian background, I would be embarrassed to call this pizza and a pizzeria. Among the entrees, zucchini flowers were a joke! Then they couldn't wait for us to leave.
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Visit: Thu 16 November 2006
Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by:
srprod
|
2 October 2006, 12.08pm
always fabulous
After six visits to Pizza E Birra, I am hooked. Delicious authentic pizzas, pastas, salads, desserts - the lot. The warmest staff you could encounter in Sydney that make you feel like you've come home whenever you come. Sure, it's loud and buzzy when full, but it's all part of the charm. The prices are fine for the outstanding quality of the food. This has become our local and it makes me very happy indeed.
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Visit: Fri 22 September 2006
Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by:
KMc
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27 April 2006, 12.10pm
The pizzas were scrumptious, salad very fresh and the total meal reasonably priced for Sydney. However the service wasn't anything special, after a wait of an hour (yes, we probably should have gone somewhere else) due to the "wrong mobile number being written down" we still had to wait another 20 mins for a table. Will I go back? Definitely, but not for a while; think that I will wait for the crowds to subside a little and next time make sure they take down the correct mobile number.
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Visit: Thu 27 April 2006
Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by:
isabella
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20 April 2006, 11.42am
Fabulous
Everyone in Sydney needs to do themselves a favour and dine at Pizza e Birra. It was one of the greatest meals I've had in Sydney for a very long time. It's great to see Sydney getting some great Melbourne chefs serving top quality food. You must try the signature duck, I'd love to know what the secret is because it is simply divine to eat. The pizzas are great and an amazing selection to chose from, it’s hard to know which one to pick! I can't wait for my next visit. Kudos to the Chef Donato, you're the man!
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Visit: Thu 20 April 2006
Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by:
Unregistered user
|
2 April 2006, 4.43pm
Pizza e Birra - Surry Hills
My experience of this restaurant was disappointingly average. Apart from the tables being right on top of each other, the food wasn't anything special. The pizza base was overcooked so very hard to cut and the topping was draped right across the pizza so when you took a slice, all of the topping came with it.
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Visit: Sun 2 April 2006
Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by:
Unregistered user
|
8 March 2006, 5.55pm
Best pasta in a very long time
We tried Pizza e Birra for lunch on the first Sunday they were open. Most menu choices were pizza, with a couple of pasta / risotto options, plus a delicious sounding fish stew, steak etc. My husband had the duck papardelle. Really generous amounts of duck in a fantastic, subtle tomato sauce. I had macheroni with salted ricotta.....which was a lot better than it sounds. It was absolutely the best pasta sauce I've had in a long time, you could taste garlic and basic in the sauce and the tomato bit wasn't acidic. It was heavenly. This is my new fave. Sensational bread is complimentary, with Italian olive oil. We had gorgeous service by a very Italian waiter. I loved the whole thing and will be back, soon.
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Visit: Wed 8 March 2006
Mealtime: lunch
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Posted by:
Registered user - name withheld
|
2 March 2006, 9.13pm
A fairly expensive option for fine pizza dining in Sydney if you choose to drink - there were no wines under $35, and the house beer is not available at the time of writing.
The pizzas are better than average in an area that's lacking in good pizza restaurants. The one pasta dish that was tried was good (the one with the squid ink).
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Visit: Thu 2 March 2006
Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by:
jamessh
|
2 March 2006, 1.18pm
Pizza e Birra had only been open for a couple of nights on our visit. All in all it was a solid experience. We had two pizzas between the two of us (which was really too much). The pizza choice is quite small; we had a margherita and a mushroom one. I would rate them in the same zone as Pizza Mario in Darlinghurst.
The panna cotta for dessert was unusual but pleasant - a sheet of panna cotta (not your standard round shape), with a fresh berry sauce. There is a good selection of wines by the glass from about $7.50 up.
The non-pizza entrees and mains looked interesting: we saw some nice seafood salads wander by, and other classic Italian dishes. The menu also had some cool-sounding dessert pizzas. Service was good. The other tables were a mix of Surry Hills people and glam-looking Italians [maybe friends of the owners at this early stage?]. It's quite loud inside, which gives it a relaxed feel.
With two glasses of wine, two pizzas, one dessert it cost us $60. I'll definitely be going back.
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Visit: Wed 1 March 2006
Mealtime: dinner
Service:
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