Two weeks ago I visited Pizza Hut in Arena Plaza and wrote an article about it. In my eyes they serve some of the best pizzas in Budapest restaurants, but not everyone agrees with me on that. A person commenting the article told me that Monopoli between Oktogon and Nyugati has much better pizza.
I love pizza so I took the challenge and a few days later I visited Monopoli Bar Pizzera together with a buddy of mine and my little son. We ordered two pizzas; one traditional with corn and ham and another with mozzarella cheese and parma ham. The service was great and while waiting I noticed how someone came complaining because of a pizza they had bought. The man in charge did his uttermost to satisfy his customers and even offered them a new pizza if they wanted… after all he did not want anyone to live Monopoli unsatisfied. That is great service!
How did we enjoy Monopoli?
It is important to understand that Monopoli is not a restaurant like Pizza Hut or other Italian restaurants in Budapest. This is a mix between a kebab place and a restaurant, so it doesn’t give you the ultimate restaurant feeling. But, to sit down a place with friends to grab a pizza this is great and ideal. It is especially nice to sit by the windows and enjoy the view of the trams, traffic and trespassers.
- Pizza toast in Monopoli
The pizzas were typical Italian, a bit too Italian for me. That is probably my problem, but I like the thicker bottom better, but I can absolutely bear over with a thin bottom, if it doesn’t taste to much tomatoes. Unfortunately the pizza in Monopoli was a bit to tomato like to me, so the ingredients didn’t help what I call the „foundational” problem.
In addition to the pizzas we ordered a pizza sandwich and a kind of calzone. They were both okay, but not a place I would return to for further eating and to taste the same pizzas again.
Final Monopoli conclusion
Pizza is a difficult subject, because there are so many ways to make them and we all like them prepared in different ways. If you like those typical Italian pizzas, go check out on Monopoli. We paid for the two pizzas, the pizza toast and the calzone kind of thing and two drinks about 6000 HUF. The service is great so you will be taken good care of and this is ideal if you want to eat Italian without visiting one of those expensive Italian restaurants in Budapest.
If you disagree with me, please write a comment and let me know. If you know about a place in Budapest where they serve fantastic pizzas, please write and I will visit those places and review them (as soon as possible).
Thank you for your excellent question. It is well known that smaller shops and at stands in the Great Market Hall the sellers do not enjoy big notes. The biggest note in Hungary is the 20,000 HUF, then comes the 10,000 HUF note, followed by the 5,000 HUF, the 2000HUF, the 1000HUF and the 500HUF. If you got a mixture of 10,000HUF and 2000HUF notes you have been very lucky because both work very well at most places. Lots of other people only get 20,000HUF notes and those are too big for many smaller stores, taxi drivers and similar. But, in your case you should not need to worry at all!