Yesterday I was in Houhai and I saw this place Hutong pizza, and I walked in and it was super cool inside, they had air conditioning and a fish garden thing in the middle.

But also I had one of their Tacos and it was amazing! Maybe should also have chilly because the taco meat was the best chili I had in beijing. also the Qingdaos are only 15 kuai which is cheap for houhai.

Hutong + Pizza is a sure shot, if you ask me. Brilliant idea.
That get's the joint an extra star.
The pizza is great, though square-shaped.
The ambiente is... I don't really care about stuff like that.
Oh. Except that there are no windows. A tiny, tiny downer.

The way there is nice, though. Leads you through a Hutong (surprising, right?).
I guess for tourists or people who are new to Beijing this will cause euphoria.
It still does for me.

Now the important part:
The pizza is nice enough to get 3,5 stars. The cheese is genuine.
The prices are okay (300 something for 4 people... And a bunch of food to take home).
The service is neat - They've been patient although we arrived 20 minutes before they closed.
They get the 0,5 star service-bonus for that.
The toppings are splendid. Except for the seafood pizza.
But that's worldwide, from my experience.
*chuckle*

The menu is colorful. The variations are genuine.
Well... Errr... Except the fruit pizza and meat carnivore, though meat carnivore is delicious.
@ Fruit Pizza *shrug*: I'm aware that a restaurant has to cater to local tastes as well.

The lasagne is proper.
The upper floor is strictly non-smoker. I'm sure they'll applaud that.
They offer veggie pizza & lasagne. (Not that I'm concerned. Meat Carnivore!)

I'm gonna be returning happily.

I've been to this place a few times now, and while it's not my favorite Beijing pizza joint - Pizza Buona is still first in my heart in that regard - it has a great atmosphere and serves up a decent slice.

Having said that, the setting is the main thing that makes me travel across town to eat here. Set just far back enough from Houhai to avoid the tacky neon spruiker vibe of the shoreline bars, the converted courtyard home retains a cosy feel without letting the cheesiness seep out of the pizza toppings and into the decor. The limited number of tables means it can be difficult to get a seat on weekends however.

Service is pretty good, though as in many Beijing restaurants staff can get angsty if you keep them up past their bedtime. Last Friday everyone else had cleared out by 10pm and the staff basically asked us to leave after we lingered over our beers a little too long. Or maybe they were just anxious to go watch the World Cup.

Anyway, a good place to grab a pizza if you're around the Houhai-Gulou area.

In a city where you can get great, fresh local food for a pittance the logic behind going to any pizza place in Beijing (where you’re likely to fork over a good RMB 50-70 at least) just doesn’t add up. That said if you’re craving the Italian classic then you could do a lot worse than going to Hutong Pizza, which is a good but not exceptional little place hidden round the back of Houhai. The atmosphere is perhaps what makes Hutong unique; small and quaint with Chinese-styled furnishings it doesn’t fit the stereotypical Pizza place. Its menu does however and you can get all the ‘traditional’ thin-crust pizzas along with a couple of more interesting variations (tofu anyone?), which if they’re not greasy are among the best in Beijing. Outside the pizza menu, the burgers are great, and the potato skins (salt poisoning aside) are worryingly addictive. On the flip side the service is haphazard at best, and getting your order delivered correctly and at the same time is a hope rather than an expectation. With this in mind, and the fact that I only went to Hutong last because the Kro’s Nest was fenced off, I’d have to say that this place is good but a few slices short of a full serving.

This place is ok, but after reading admin rave about it I expected it to be better.

The pies are cheap and big, but there is very little substance to them and they are not very tasty. The crust is really brittle and hard. If you get the "inside" pieces, it's ok, but the ones on the edge are really blah.

The service was not good, we had to ask for our drinks 3 times.

For a place where you need to wait in line to get a table, I was very, very underwhelmed.

The place gets 2.5 stars from me.