La Pergola (Harlton)

Venue

What we thought

Watching over La Pergola hangs a giant portrait of Italian chef Giulio de Simone. Tanned, moustachioed and brandishing a giant knife (naughty children beware!) his smile radiates decades of experience to the diners at this family run restaurant found just south of Cambridge.

When you visit this former pub in Harlton you may not meet Giulio in person as he works in the kitchen.

The sausage proved playfully spicy upon the crispy pizza base whilst the grill satisfied with its endless little chunks of tender meat and baby potatoes.

You might spot him through the kitchen's glass partition, plunging pizzas into the depths of a giant wood burning oven. You may also encounter his softly spoken son-in-law Domenico, with his neatly trimmed beard, who looks after customers as he glides around the spacious white-walled dining area.

The De Sorrento clan took over in 2007 keeping the bar area open for the locals whilst building up the restaurant side and adding plenty of little reminders of the home country, such straw-bottomed chianti bottles.

Speaking of wine, whilst the wine list is modest, it comes by the carafe as well as full bottles, allowing drinkers to order the amount they actually want.The menu itself features all the usual Italian staples, such as pasta and pizza, along with a slowly increasing range of home-made dishes, including the bread, pickle, a spicy sausage made with fennel, and of late the vegetables and herbs are grown in a plastic polytunnel round the back. La Pergola runs an English-style Sunday Lunch menu at the weekend, so we stopped by on a weekday evening to try out more of the Italian cuisine.

A mixed antipasto starter with Parma ham, coppa and salami warmed our appetites nicely before we tucked into our main courses of the piccante pizza and the 'Misto Di Carne', the Italian equivalent of a mixed grill. The sausage proved playfully spicy upon the crispy pizza base whilst the grill satisfied with its endless little chunks of tender meat and baby potatoes. So filling were the dishes that we planned to go easy with dessert, an aim that went awry when the lemon sorbet arrived in a massive sundae glass. Portions here come in one size: large.

La Pergola prices seem reasonable for the cuisine style and quality. No doubt this is why despite occupying a lonely spot the restaurant seems busy particularly on weekend evenings. Although we dined inside, as we left we spied some empty espresso cups lying on a wall in the terracotta brick-lined patio area outside, which seemed just the spot for our next visit.

  Reviews from Other Sources
Awarded 4/5 stars for hygiene

What you said

Very enjoyable evening. Pizza was lovely.

Karen…17 Apr 2010

They are fantastic people and fantastic food. Really homemade cooking and really good ingredients. Next visit again.

Maria…29 Mar 2010

Very friendly welcome! Excellent capricioss a much better than any in pizza xpress made in woodburning pizza over, reminds me of summer and holidays in Italy.

Lesley…25 Mar 2010

I wish I could echo the other reviews but unfortunately our experience was disappointing. The service was slow, and the food was okay at best. The olives we ordered never arrived, my tuna pizza was lacking topping and the prawns were more like shrimps.

Glenn…03 Mar 2010

I visited for the first time to meet friends for lunch. On walking into the restaurant I was indeed very pleasantly surprised. Very friendly, very clean and welcoming. I was shown through to the bar to meet with my friends, after we had a drink and natter in the bar we then made our way to our table by the window looking out onto the car park. I was told by one of my friends that the polytunnel just beyond the car park was full of herbs the family grow themselves. I guess the herbs are used in the food that is served to customers. Our food was ordered, we didn't have to wait too long to be treated to a delight of smells when it was brought over to our table. I had a main dish which was beef; wrapped in parma ham filled with goats cheese. Must add it was much better described on the menu and by our very friendly waiter. It came with a selection seasonal veg. and the most wonderful roasted potatoes. The food was excellent. Everything was so tasty. A total explosion of wonderful flavours. No need for any extra seasoning. Our waiter allowed us to enjoy the food and chat with each other without been constantly disturbed like in some establishments asking if everything is ok every 5 minutes. Lunch was over, we all said how delicious everything was. The waitier came to clear and asked if we would like any 'puds' I wasn't sure if we would fit it in, the portions were indeed generous. Some of us decided to have pud. the rest opted for tea/coffee. For pud I had the most amazing panetonne bread and butter pudding, instead of having the cream that it came with , as cannot tolerate it, I was offered ice cream. Was totally delicious. Again, the serving was indeed very generous. I will be definately be visiting again taking my 2 daughters to give them an opportunity to judge for themselves how nice this place is.

Carole…04 Sep 2009


Address

Cambridge Road ,
Harlton
CB23 1HA
Tel: (01223) 902148
Full disabled access,
parking on site

Opening Times

Sun: 09:30-17:00
Mon: Closed
Tue - Sat: 09:30-14:30, 17:00-23:00

Serving Times

Sun: 09:30-14:30
Mon: N/A
Tue Sat: 09:30-14:30, 18:00-21:30

Ratings

User rating:
(8 members voted)

Offers & News
La Pergola

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Buy-one-get-one free on lunchtime mains, Tue - Fri

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We grow it, You eat it! Home-grown produce at La Pergola in Harlton

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