I remember the excitement at the office when we received the invitations to Pizza Marzano's opening party. Free pizza and champagne! What a combo! I mean, what is there not to be excited about?!

Situated in Xintiandi across from the big shopping complex, Pizza Marzano glows electric blue. My colleagues and I were beckoned like moths. Upon first glance, Pizza Marzano's modern blue, orange and white d¨¦cor instantly triggered thoughts of another pizza place whose name rhymes with "uzzi". Mental note. Though plenty of food and alcohol circulated the room and everyone got fed decently, I have to say that Marzano didn't really make an impression. Our initial excitement slowly faded away. The food was nice. The space was nice. Just... nice. Nice is boring. But then again, we can't judge a restaurant solely on the grand opening now can we?

Two weeks later I return to Pizza Marzano with my boyfriend to sample real, regular Marzano fare. We are greeted by friendly smiles at the door and for the first time I get a good look at the interior. It looks a lot different minus 300 people. I like it. Even though it still reminds me a bit of the restaurant whose name rhymes with "uzzi", the space is relaxing, clean and welcoming, and the glass kitchen makes for good culinary visuals. The BF orders the American pizza (pepperoni pizza) and the baked dough balls with garlic butter, pesto rosso and pesto Genovese. I get a Margherita Pizza and the mixed leaf salad with Pizza Marzano dressing. Whenever I visit an Italian restaurant for the first time, I always order a pizza Margherita. I figure that this makes a good measuring stick. I mean, how hard can it be to mess up a Margherita pizza?

Our pizzas were delightful. The first thing we noticed about them was how good they smelled. That super fresh, piping-hot, smokey, just-out-of-the- oven smell. A big bite into my Margherita revealed that the crust tasted just as delicious as it smelled. Crispy around the edges, soft in the middle and most importantly, it had that smokey oven flavor. Fantastic. The tomato sauce was fresh and tangy and the cheese was stringy goodness. The problem was that there wasn't enough of it. A bit skimpy on the toppings. The BF sent his American pizza back for more cheese. The attentive staff took care of the problem pronto. Boyfriend gave me the thumbs up while he chomped away on his pizza. I was initially a little bit suspicious of the Pizza Marzano dressing that covered my mixed leaf salad. It looked like a glob of cream. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the dressing was actually quite light. Hard to describe the exact taste. Imagine what it would be like if mayonnaise and vinaigrette had a kid together, and then add black pepper. It is also worth pointing out that the mixed leaf salad actually was a mixed leaf salad, unlike the bland mounds of iceberg lettuce that some other places serve around town. The doughballs had a crispy skin and a fluffy warm center. Yum. Pesto rosso, good. Garlic butter, better. Pesto Genovese, not so good. The bill came to about 180rmb each. A little pricey for the average Jane Doe like me, but well worth it.

I've also ordered Pizza Marzano through Sherpa's a couple of times and I was not let down. The pizza arrived in almost the same great condition that it did in the restaurant. Remember that you have to factor in distance, cold weather and Sherpa's scooter movement. Perhaps the good people at Pizza Marzano had thought about this in advance and therefore created the spend-200rmb-and-receive-a-piece-of-chocolate-fudge-cake deal.

Pizza Marzano's chocolate fudge cake is mouthgasm delicious. A big chunk of moist, fluffy, chocolatey sin covered in gooey, creamy heaven. Nothing fancy shmancy here, but oh-so delectable in that simple straightforward way. Two days ago I ordered Marzano through Sherpa's again and they gave me the cheesecake this time. MOUTHGASM!! (Twice in a rown... damn..) You just have to try it for yourself. Don't know what their secret is, but Pizza Marzano does dessert right! Now just add more topping to the pizza, team!

For those of you who like numbers and figures:
Two weekends ago, we celebrated my friend's 27th birthday at Marzano. There were 19 of us. 16 out of 19 thoroughly enjoyed the food. 5 women had their brains blown out by the chocolate cake. 7 people said that the kitchen could have laid on more toppings. All 15 pizzas arrived together, all with the correct combination of toppings, all served to the correct person. 187rmb was how much each person paid (this included two bottles of wine, dessert and coffee).

Pizza Marzano
Address:380 Huangpi Nan Road, Xintiandi South Block near Zi Zhong Lu
Tel: 021-5383 3999