TriBeCa Bar and Pizzeria

The Building that TriBeCa currently resides in, has a varied past, for several years it was Ziba, one of the first quality restaurants to begin the revival of the culinary scene in late 90’s Liverpool. After that restaurant’s closure and reincarnation as the Racquet Club, it was, for some time, Shere Khan indian restaurant, which never achieved anything better than mundane. So a year or so ago, the venue reopened as TriBeCa, named after the fashionable and upmarket district of New York City, it promises a cool friendly atmosphere and great pizza, a combination few can argue with. Pizza, this rustic Italian dish, is a tricky skill to master, influences from far beyond Apennine peninsula have shaped this ubiquitous meal into forms of varying quality. So the real questions here are, does TriBeCa do it justice? Is their pizza worth spending your money on?

I arrived on a Wednesday evening, on another lone foodie reconnaissance mission, quickly seated in a comfy arm-chair near the window, I was able to relax with a briskly served cold beer and watch the social interactions of Berry Street. This initial service was excellent, however the standards slipped during the course of my time there. Although I was seated close to the bar and waitress service area, I gained little attention, I had to call over the waitress to order my food as it appeared as if I’d been forgotten. Later on that evening, when trying to order dessert, I thought I would see how long I would have to wait until my order was taken. I waited 15 minutes, before I started trying catch the waitress’s eye, despite there being three of them it took a further 5 minutes to get them to come over. Was I being intentionally ignored? The restaurant wasn’t particularly busy, thus I couldn’t see any reason for this. I waited 20 minutes to order dessert, that really isn’t good enough.

The food, however, far out stripped the service. I chose the Pollo Portofino pizza, a thin and crisp base arrived, adorned with good tomato and chicken, the little blobs of pesto and pine nuts made for varied texture and flavour. I was very glad to see it turn up pre-cut into wedges, no man should suffer the indignity of eating pizza with a knife and fork, this tactile food should always be shoved willingly into one’s gob.  This was a good pizza, made even better by the excellent price of £5.95, my only concern was the light sprinkling of dried herbs, a rather heavy-handed touch that, at times, masked the other more delicate flavours.

My dessert, when it arrived, was a Bakewell tart, a classic that is so often ruined by industrial kitchens. At TriBeCa, however, they are true to their menu’s word, a healthy sized slice of homemade tart arrived with a generous amount of cream. The pastry was light and crumbly, the filling was soft, sweet and almondy with hint of tang from the jam. This was good home-baked lovelyness, with a nice price of £4.95.

TriBeCa is another independent establishment in Liverpool, that is offering good food at a good prices. This pizza wasn’t the best I’ve ever eaten, but for its price and surroundings its hard to beat. The service still raised some questions in my head, I hope this was a one-off rather than a regular occurrence. I was pleased enough with the food to certainly go back, and at the prices they offer I feel its something I will do regularly. Is TriBeCa’s pizza worth spending your money on? Definitely, yes.

TriBeCa Bar and Pizzaria

15-19 Berry Street

Liverpool

L1 9DF