Column: Meats and Cheats grab a slice of the action at Chesterfield's Pizza Pi

The Chesterfield food scene is one that continues to grow, with more people choosing to dine out, rather than stay home. Once a town full of pub meals and takeaways, Chesterfield now hosts a variety of international cuisines to tickle the tastebuds of even the fussiest eaters.

We recently paid a visit to the purveyors of all things round and cheesy, ‘Pizza Pi’, to grab a SLICE of the action.

Starting in 2014, these pizza slingers experienced a few false starts but eventually found their feet with a modest pizza trailer, before finally settling into their new high street restaurant on Vicar Lane.

The local business vibes run strong with Pizza Pi, which is credited to the support they received in the early years from fellow independent businesses, ‘Chandler’s Bar’ and ‘Qoozies’, demonstrating the heart and soul of a town full of budding entrepreneurs.

We’ve previously visited their smaller restaurant multiple times and during the pandemic, we took advantage of their delivery service, as the thought of cooking in lockdown became tiresome. This gave us big expectations for their new restaurant because we had become accustomed to a certain style of pizza, one that was miles apart from the usual takeaways or pizza stores across this historic market town.

Outside the restaurant, you are greeted by huge windows and the sparkle of fairy lights, which create a welcoming feeling that we associate with restaurants abroad. This doesn’t stop here, as you walk into the restaurant, you’ll find a spacious dining area, surrounded by a rustic design, that feels traditional but contemporary at the same time.

Even with this minimalistic approach, you can tell that everything has had a lot of thought put into it. The star of the show is the open plan kitchen where you can watch the chef’s tossing dough into the air and cooking in their incredible pizza oven, which not only looks impressive but smells amazing and authentic.

The menu was certainly eye-catching as there is a great selection of drinks available, including cocktails inspired by local friends, ‘Chandler’s Bar’, further championing local businesses.

The main menu is packed with good honest food, with a selection of topped fries, salads, sides, garlic bread and of course, tasty, delicious pizza. There’s even a full menu for vegans.

We ordered the ‘Tomato and Mozzarella Garlic Bread’, which is an ample size for sharing and has a rich garlic butter, running throughout the dough, as well as being topped with the Pizza Pi signature sauce.

We also ordered the ‘Three Musketeers Fries’. Perfect for the cheese lovers out there because they are covered in mozzarella, goats’ cheese, and a sprinkle of parmesan, which make for an EPIC cheese pull. After polishing off a frosty craft beer, we moved onto the main event, the star of the show, the reason why people are happy to hand over their hard-earned DOUGH…. the PIZZA!

We opted for two pizzas to get a good scope on flavours (and because we are extremely greedy). The ‘Pizza Rosso’ is topped with rich tomato sauce, melty mozzarella, juicy chorizo and roasted red peppers and onions. The sweetness of the peppers works wonderfully alongside the salty nature of the chorizo, creating a wonderful explosion of flavour.

We also had the ‘Pizza De Presunto’ which has a very rich and tasty profile, thanks to plenty of Parma ham, fresh mushrooms, and a scattering of black olives. Don’t overlook the pizza bases though as these are hand-stretched, cooked to perfection, and have an amazing stone-baked crust that you just can’t get at a regular late-night takeaway.

The atmosphere is relaxed, the staff are friendly and attentive, and you can tell from speaking to them, as well as the owner, there is a real passion and belief in Pizza Pi, which should help cement their place in the Chesterfield food and drink scene.

Finally, depending on your stance…there isn’t a single chunk of pineapple on the menu.

That’s how you know it’s the real deal.

Go and grab a slice of the action for yourself and make every day...a cheat day.

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Check out our video documenting our visit of Pizza Pi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTHNRL-8L9k