Al Reef Italian Pizza, Old City, Damascus

Straight Street, Old City, Damascus | Tel: +963 (0) 11 543 5079

Tucked away on the south side of Straight St in the Old City, between Az Zeitoun and Al Abbara Lanes, this outdoor place serves only pizza and salad, but it does them very well. You are more likely to notice the big English sign, 'Italian Pizza' than the official name. The pizzas are freshly baked in a wood-burning oven.

Two medium pizzas cost 425 SYP, and they were more than enough for two. The vegetarian was particularly good, with a combination of mushrooms (I don’t know where they get them from, but ‘Italian Pizza’ uses fresh ones), cheese and olives supplemented with thinly slice courgette and green pepper. The tuna pizza was also good, and the base was thin and crispy.

The salads are tasty and good value. A tomato, cucumber and mushroom salad came in at 50 SYP and was large. The ingredients were fresh and it was well dressed. Beer and wine are not on the menu, but are available on request.

Altogether, ‘Italian Pizza’ would probably do well in Italy. The only apparent downside is that the seats are uncomfortable. However, this need not be a problem given that they do takeaway and delivery.