News / Restaurants
Pizzeria bringing a slice of Sardinia to Bristol
Dozens of wine bottles from Italy and beyond are neatly arranged on the shelves of Back Garden Pizzeria’s new premises in the city centre.
The new site within a former opticians on St Stephen’s Street is a successor to the restaurant’s former home within the Art Club Market, which unexpectedly closed before Christmas 2024.
While loyal customers keep returning and the response has been overall positive, seeing pizza chain Rudy’s open up a few feet away came as “quite a shock” for owner and chef Danny Saville.
“When we took on the lease here, that was not in existence. And then it was suddenly like, okay, a massive pizzeria has opened,” Danny said when speaking to Bristol24/7.
When Danny Saville founded Back Garden Pizzeria during the lockdown, he was still working as a chef at Italian restaurant Prego in Westbury Park – photo: Karen Johnson
Danny started the pizza business from his back garden during the lockdown, primarily catering to orders from friends and family. Soon, they started slinging freshly made sourdough pizzas for a wider crowd in Bristol and had a home within the independent market on Bond Street.
With an “element of rebuilding” required to integrate themselves into Bristol’s increasingly competitive pizza scene, Danny sees this as a chance to bring a slice of his Sardinian roots to the city.
He recalled: “I spent a lot of time in Italy, spending summers there growing up, and my mum’s family is all from there.
“We’re trying to bring some Sardinian twists to things, which are slightly different to some of our other offerings.
“I feel like there’s a bit more of a niche.”
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Danny’s favourite pizza on the menu is the Sarda, a classic he grew up eating in pizzerias when visiting the Italian island.
Lathered with tomato sauce on the base, topped with housemade fennel sausages, gorgonzola dolce, fior di latte, basil and more, the Sarda is one of the many classic offerings on the restaurant’s new menu.
Traditional Sardinian dishes like Seadas and other Back Garden Pizzeria favourites like arancinis will hopefully soon be on the menu, with Danny hoping to add regional specialities to the restaurant’s fold.
He said: “We’re looking at some starters, desserts, and other menu items that we can bring in that are just a little different.
“A little bit of regional specialities from the island of Sardinia, bringing those into the menu, which is also my background.
“It’s like bringing my culture into the restaurant a bit more.”
Main photo: Danny Saville
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