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Home to Leeds foodie favourites like Sukhothai and House of Koko, Chapel Allerton is rapidly becoming one of Leeds’ most popular areas for dining out. Recently, the city suburb welcomed a new addition to its restaurant scene in the form of Rudy’s Pizza Napoletana and we headed over there last week to see for ourselves why Rudy’s pizzas have such an excellent reputation.
We picked a beautiful, sunny afternoon for our trip over to Chapel Allerton and with it being the school holidays, took our 8-year-old son with us to share the experience. Hot, hungry and eager to sink his teeth into one of the cheese-topped creations I’d shown him on Instagram, he proved to be an enthusiastic dinner date.
For a weekday afternoon, the restaurant was rather busy! Clearly, word had been successfully spread that Rudy’s had arrived in Leeds and the vibrant restaurant was filled with happy diners seated behind enormous pizzas and happily sipping away at glasses of beer and Prosecco. The restaurant itself is bright and airy with relaxed décor and tables quite close together. Definitely the ideal spot to grab a bite of lunch with friends but I’m not sure it would deliver the correct ambience for a romantic dinner date.
To begin, we chose to share a Garlic Pizza Bread with Mozzarella and a bowl of salted crisps. With it being so warm, my husband and I chose cocktails to wash it down with and despite being eager to get the party started by trying a cocktail himself, our child had a Diet Coke.
We’ve had our fair share of Espresso Martinis over the past year and they really do vary in taste quite significantly. The one my husband was served at Rudy’s was one of the strongest we’ve had as regards to coffee and they weren’t stingy with the alcohol in it either.
The garlic bread was a hit with all three of us. The dough, which they make on site every day and ferment for 24 hours, was light, fluffy and delicious. Perfect for eating in the traditional way – folding to make oozing sandwiches of cheesy scrumptiousness.
It was topped with just the right amount of cheese and they had certainly used plenty of garlic. I always find it terribly disappointing when I order garlic bread and can barely taste any garlic. Unless I’m going to have offensive breath and ward off vampires for 24 hours afterwards, I don’t want to know.
They don’t have a separate children’s menu at Rudy’s so, for main course, we ordered our son a simple Margherita from the main menu.
I’ve mentioned in previous articles that I have a tomato intolerance and it can be incredibly frustrating when dining out. Pizza is one of the dishes I struggle to get where I live because none of my local restaurants offer a white sauce base.
Thankfully, Rudy’s do so I ordered the Porchetta pizza which was topped with roasted porchetta, caramelised white onions, sage roasted potato and smoked mozzarella. As I was yet to try a whole buratta, I requested one as an extra topping.
Mr Wilson-Barrett deviated from his usual meat-based choices and ordered the Tonno which was topped with tuna, green chilli, red onions and peppers.
Due to the size of the pizzas at Rudy’s I would say that a group of three would not normally need to order three pizzas. However, with us having very different tastes and dietary requirements, it was a necessity.
Freddie was a little overwhelmed when his mammoth Margherita was placed before him and he only managed a couple of slices. He assured me, however, that he thoroughly enjoyed it and thought the base was “amazing”. He wasn’t wrong. The dough at Rudy’s is absolutely delicious and you can order little dip pots to make the most of your leftover crusts too. We went for the Honey Chilli dip was was obviously very sweet but packed an incredible punch. The perfect way to finish off a pizza!
Still quite full from the starter, I also ate just two of mine as I was conscious that we still had desserts to fit in. It was one of those meals where feeling prematurely full was immensely frustrating. The creaminess of the sauce paired beautifully with the salty Porchetta, caramelised onions and tender cubes of potato. The whole burrata which perched proudly upon its centre took it to a whole new level. As you cut into it, the soft cheese oozed out and offered itself as a tempting pool in which to dip my crusts.
Mr Wilson-Barrett didn’t stop for breath and rapidly devoured his entire pizza. Not wanting to waste mine and Freddie’s, I requested that they be boxed up for us to take home. The staff did this for us quite happily and the boxes they were placed in had instructions for reheating printed on them. Brilliant!
Having left just enough room for something sweet, we gently placed our leftovers to one side and perused the dessert menu. Short in length but featuring traditional Italian favourites like Tiramisu, Gelato and Affogato it was right up our street! Mike chose the cheesecake of the day, which happened to be one of his favourite flavours – Kinder Bueno. Freddie, if you haven’t already guessed, likes to keep things simple so he ordered a scoop of chocolate gelato. I’d heard great things about their Tiramisu so ordered myself one of those.
To drink, I ordered the rather refreshing sounding Blood Orange Mimosa and Mike chose to quench his thirst with water. My Mimosa was ice cold, fruity, refreshing and not too sweet – just how I like them!
Our rather simple looking desserts arrived quite quickly and although not blown away by them, each of us enjoyed what we had ordered. Served in glasses, the cheesecake and the tiramisu were both reasonably tasty but neither were the best we had tried. There wasn’t a great deal of flavour to my Tiramisu and the cheesecake was more like a simple mousse with biscuit crumbs underneath. However, the pizzas are the real stars at Rudy’s so underwhelming desserts didn’t ruin the experience for us.
Overall, we had an enjoyable lunch. We all have different preferences when it comes to pizza and whereas others may prefer a crisper or a thicker base, we loved the authentic Neapolitan pizzas at Rudy’s which are cooked in just 60 seconds and blackened nicely in places.
At an average of £8 for a 16″ pizza it’s really good value for money and the service is super quick. A really chilled out venue serving simple but delicious food at reasonable prices. I would definitely give it a go if you’re in the area, especially as somewhere to grab a casual lunch or as a place to treat the kids on a weekend.
This review was written and published following an invitation to dine at Rudy’s. An invitation does not guarantee coverage on our publication or any other publications owned by Roaring Media Ltd – we only publish reviews following positive experiences, whether we have been invited to dine or made a personal reservation. The brands we work with have no editorial control over our content
