It's cheap, but not perfect

Pizza Maxx,
Splaiul Independenteiu,
tel 0724 473369
Michael Barclay

So for a month Blondie was nagging and moaning that we should go to Pizza Maxx, because it was, in her opinion, such good value. However, it must be said that to her, “good value” simply means cheap. I was curious to see if the House could combine quality with cheap prices. So let’s go and see.

To get there, drive along the river, past the Opera House, and you will see a huge complex overlooking the river. It houses the Disco Maxx and Pizza Maxx. Parking on their small lot is a problem, so you would be advised to block another diner in, and leave your phone number on your screen.

The terrace is huge, with seating for 300 people. There is no décor to speak of, just plain, dark, all-weather tables and chairs. But on a positive note the service was prompt. The menu arrived, revealing just as many grilled dishes as pizzas. And the prices… yes they really were cheap; for every dish, whether it be a grill or a pizza, had an average price of RON 13. Beat that!

As there was no bread or oil on the table, I asked for the usual cruet of olive oil and vinegar. Our girl brought the cruet, but it contained a flavorless yellow oil which was absolutely not olive oil! Clearly the House was exercising some cost saving methods, and as you will see, this was not the last of them.
I also asked for a side of freshly shaved Parmesan. But no! What I was given was the inedible, cheap, stale, tinned Parmesan dust. Awful.

At these prices, we decided to go for a wide spread of the menu. So off to a salami pizza. I am used to waiting for 15 minutes for a pizza to bake, but incredibly it arrived in five minutes. It soon became apparent why, as the base was as thin as a razor blade. So too was the topping. It was correctly baked in a wood fired oven, and it tasted fine, but I needed more substance.

So I ordered a pizza Calzone. Again, it arrived in a record five minutes. It should contain Mozzarella and ham (it did) and be accompanied by a side of red-hot chili olive oil (it was not) and a further side of herb infused tomato sauce (it was not, but I did get a spoonful of tinned tomato instead). It tasted fine, and at RON 14 can I really complain about the omissions? That matter is open to debate.

Blondie ordered her favorite spaghetti carbonara at RON 13. This simple dish has a sauce made from egg yokes, bacon, optional cream and grated Parmesan. Since we have already established
that they don’t have real Parmesan, the dish was imperfect – nonetheless she loved it.

Being a hot day, we were gasping for an ice cold beer. Again they were well priced with a large draught Cuic at RON 4 and a large Heineken at RON 6. No problem here. Acceptable wines were priced around RON 35, and there was a choice of five cocktails at RON 10 each.
Too full to eat any more pastas, we passed on their focaccia (bread baked in olive oil and flavored with oregano) at RON 5 and we further examined the menu.

So off to their grills. If you know Romanian food, you can correctly anticipate the contents of the menu. For example, there was tochitura at RON 14, chopped chicken in cream and mushroom sauce at RON 12, two pork cutlets at RON 13, three pieces of mititei at RON 11… and so on. In most cases each dish was accompanied by either a mountain of mamaliga or chips (cartofi prajiti). In the case of chips they even list their weight on the menu. What is the point of that?

So we had a chicken ‘saramura’ (salted chicken) at RON 13, which although this is a crude peasant dish with salt traditionally used as a preservative, was grilled to perfection and arrived moist, tender and full of flavor.

So the question remains as to whether you can expect perfection at these low prices. Certainly you can, but reality states that you cannot, certainly not in Bucharest. So this means I fully recommend it, albeit with all its numerous imperfections.
michaelbarclay32@gmail.com

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