Crisp Pizza - Mayfair, London
Our Rating: ★★★ | ££££ - Despite the Insta hype, it’s good, but not the best pizza in London (How we rate restaurants)
“Which is the one that’s going viral on social media? That’s the one we want” - The table next to us ordering their pizza
We’ve been meaning to get to Crisp for a long, long time… but with the original location being in Hammersmith, we never quite made it. That’s the other side of London for us and usually we don’t mind travelling for food; it felt like a real trek given there was no guarantee we’d even get a pizza with all that crazy demand.
To our delight, after some investment from the team behind The Devonshire (somewhere we’ve still not managed to get a booking for), Crisp has moved to a far more central location and now operates out of a pub The Marlborough in Mayfair.
We visited during its opening weekend (November 2025), and here is our fully honest review of what has quickly become one of the most talked-about pizza spots in London but is it really worth the hype?
The New Venue
The Marlborough Head has been rebranded as The Marlborough and now runs as a buzzy pub at street level, while Crisp operates from a speakeasy-style dining room downstairs.
Currently, they are offering a mixture of bookings and walk-ins, and for the remainder of 2025, the pizzas will be served exclusively in the basement space. The plan is to introduce pizzas to the upstairs pub in the future.
Long before the hype, Carl McCluskey had been running The Chancellors in Hammersmith, the pub his nan once ran, where he first introduced Crisp Pizza. For this next chapter, Carl is now joined by the heavyweight team behind The Devonshire, with Charlie Carroll, Ashley Palmer Watts and Oisín Rogers lending their support.
New Haven Style Pizza
Crisp serves New Haven style pizza, which is known for its thin, crisp base, crunchy bite and absolutely no flop. The pizzas are cooked at a high heat for longer than you would expect, which gives that smoky, blistered char that New Haven is famous for.
New Haven pizza, often called ‘apizza’, traces its roots back to 1925 at Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana. The style has since become a hallmark of the region, with places like Sally's Apizza and Modern Apizza helping to define its reputation. Crisp takes inspiration from that tradition and brings it to London with its own spin.
We enjoyed the speakeasy vibe downstairs
The Experience
As they were operating walk ins only, we knew it would be busy and there would be a wait, and there certainly was. On entering the bar our names were taken and we were told we would get a text once added to the list, then another about fifteen minutes before our table was ready, which atleast meant we could head off and do other things. For us this meant lunch, yes lunch, as we arrived hungry, and a bit of shopping. The system was not perfect though. We never received a text, and with the five hour mark fast approaching we thought we should check we had not been missed. One, two, skip a few and it turned out we had, so it was back upstairs to enjoy a drink while we waited.
We weren’t complaining. Opening week always comes with teething problems. The bar manager, whose name we have sadly forgotten, was very charming and we had a great chat with him in the meantime.
The Pizza
Okay, so lets finally talk about the pizza. It is a very good pizza, and if you manage to get a table without waiting over five hours like we did, you will love it.
The base is as crispy as promised, the San Marzano sauce is tangy and bright, seasoned in the way you would expect from a modern-style pizza, and there is a solid range of toppings to choose from.
We ordered the Crisp W6 Pie and the Tie Dye pie.
The Tye-Dye Pie
Crisp W6 Pie
The pesto on the Tie Dye did not feel strong enough in flavour to carry the pizza (in our opinion you can’t taste the pesto at all), and once it cooled a little, it really dried out. The Crisp W6, on the other hand, was excellent.
We also tried the hot honey and chilli dips for the crust. Both were brilliant and paired perfectly with the crispy edges.
So, our plan is to come back (hopefully with a booking or at least when the queue is more manageable) and we hope to try the Vecna Pie (with halal beef pepperoni; yes they have alternatives to pork.. big yes to this) and the New Haven Bar Pie.
Our Bill was £66.42 for two pizzas, two dips and two glasses of wine.
So, is it worth the hype?
The short answer is no, but bear with us …
It is a great spot and the pizzas are brilliant, but when a pizza place reaches this level of hype, constant social media coverage and a stream of influencer and celebrity endorsements, it becomes impossible not to walk in with sky-high expectations.
Absolutely no flop from the base as promised
The reviews being thrown around include phrases like “the best pizza in London”, “I would travel across the pond to eat here”, and “if this opened in New York, there would be queues around the block”. It sets a standard that is incredibly hard for any restaurant to meet.
And although it is very good, it is not quite at that level. And trust us we’ve ate ALOT of pizza, all across the world; it really is one of our favourite things.
In our view, it is no better than places like Dough Hands (our favourite spot for crispy pizza) in South East London or Alley Cats. Both deliver pizzas of a very similar standard without the frenzy or wait list. You also have Florencio serving crispy pies just a stone’s throw away that barely gets the coverage Crisp does.
Crisp makes our list of the best pizza places in London … so this is by no means a bad review. But we don’t think it is that much better than other offerings across the city which would satisfy our pizza cravings any day.
Crisp’s pizzas are brilliant, but the hype could use a little calming down. What do you think? Does it deserve all the attention it gets? Let us know in the comments.
Details
Website: www.crispmayfair.com
Instagram: @crisppizzaw6
Opening Hours:
Mon—Thu: 12.00—23.00
Fri—Sat: 12.00—12.00
Sun: 12.00—22.30
(Pizza orders 12.00—21.00, No Pizzas on Mondays)
Adults only after 7 pm
Some space left for walk-ins but expect long waiting lists as it has just opened
Map
24 N. Audley St, London W1
