We went on a ‘pizza crawl’ up Cotham Hill

With The Hill now no longer in existence, millions of Bristol’s students (potentially exaggerating) have been left lost and confused as to where they can satisfy their lunchtime pizza cravings.

Cotham Hill is a honeypot site for ravenous students around lunchtime, and with The Hill gone, The Tab decided to road-test the road’s remaining pizza establishments. Surely one of them can fill the Hill-shaped void in our hearts.

Each establishment was rated on the quality of the pizza, restaurant ambience, and customer service.

We do this so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.

Dominos

Dominos. It’s everyone’s go to pizza after a night out or when the effort of making your own food isn’t worth getting of the couch. But should it be?

It’s true, the taste of Dominos pizza is frankly mouthwatering. The gooey cheese combined with arguably the finest garlic and herb dip known to man makes for happy students.

Dominos have a great recipe. And they know it.

Clearly the heavyweights of fast food pizza, Dominos can offer sweet deals and succulent combinations.

The Cotham Hill restaurant, however, is not without its drawbacks. For starters, there’s nowhere to sit.

Admittedly, a big draw of Dominos is that it conveniently comes to you. But what about if you want to go on a romantic date? You can’t sit, or even perch, and there aren’t any romantic candles in sight. Sad times.

The service was also the slowest of the three restaurants we visited. It’s true that good things come to those who wait, but we’re at uni, we’re obviously incredibly busy all the time and don’t have a moment to spare. Shame on you Dominos.

Dominos obviously has it’s positives, but there are rival outlets just up the Hill…

Tops Pizza

 

While not as revered as Dominos, Tops has crafted out a niche among pizza-goers (is that a thing? I’m not sure that’s a thing). With its cheap, personal-sized lunchtime pizzas, Tops is a cracking little alternative.

Unlike Dominos, Tops provides seating, quick service, and it even recycles.

I’ll admit, the pizza isn’t Dominos. It’s very stodgy and you feel a bit like you’re eating a pie, but for £2.50 it’s hard to complain.

At this point of the bar crawl, we passed the derelict Hill. A quick tribute to the memories you may or may not have had there.

Planet Pizza

The final stop on our epic voyage was the little-known Planet Pizza.

 

It’s extremely different to both Tops and Dominos as it’s more of a sit-down restaurant. With a menu inspired by astronomy and waiters who come and take your order, it has a very different vibe to its competitors.

The pizza was delicious, with toppings that certainly topped those at Tops (wahey). We had haloumi on ours, which was surprisingly great.

They even brought out some Jelly beans with the bill. Is there anything they can’t do?

If none of these catch your fancy, there is still one other option: make your own pizza.

Really, it couldn’t be simpler. All you need is flour, yeast, salt and oil for the base, and then lather them with whatever you fancy.

It takes about 10 minutes to cook and looked, well, not great.

In short, you should really have no fear over the closure of the Hill. I’m starting to think it may in fact have been the competition that drove it out of business.

The alternatives have every sort of taste covered, and are good. And at the end of the day, pizza is nice, and they serve pizza, and thats nice.