A while back I was in a queue for a very fancy hotdog at a food festival. In front of me was a man ordering six hotdogs, all of which he was requesting be tweaked from the original menu options available. I despised this man and I believe the person taking his order did too because they exchanged a glance with me that said so. Even if it’s just a hotdog, I want to trust the vision of its creator. If I don’t like the sound of an ingredient I won’t ask for a substitution, I’ll just order something else.

So when I got to Radio Alice and they told me in a ‘this is a very important piece of information about our restaurant that you must retain‘ kind of way that if I wanted extra toppings on my pizza, they would come in a bowl, on the side and I would place them onto the pizza myself with my own hands. Number one, I had not indicated and did not intend to order additional toppings. Number two, I cannot tell if I love or hate this policy. Are they trying to shame people who want to tweak their food? Or are they saying tweak away, we don’t really care about our vision and flavour combinations and we want you to feel like this is your house but with olive trees.

So yes, there’s olive trees and strings of white bare bulbs and if you squint on a balmy evening maybe you’re in Italy and not Clapham? There’s plenty of outdoor seating which is not without charm. But there’s a but coming. Aside from the wonderfully pillowy based pizzas which I greatly enjoyed, a side salad and a chocolate tart seemed to have been presented without much care.

What’s good? The white base pizzas – the pizzas are the focus here, everything else is an afterthought.

Kid friendly? Very. The outdoor seating makes it easy for buggies and there were plenty of families eating at Radio Alice when I visited.

✓baby change facilities

✓highchairs available

✓cool with breastfeeding

✓loads of other parents

✓space for buggies

✓children’s menu

✗toys/play area

Rating ????