HAVING eaten far too much Christmas food in the past few days I desperately didn’t want a big, rich meal for lunch. And I really didn’t want any more meat.

What is entirely different from a rich, sometimes greasy, meal eaten slowly? I thought some sort of healthy fast food would provide a nice contrast.

However my original choice of eatery in The Crossing was unexpectedly closed. An interesting business decision at the height of the post-Christmas sales.

But I was drawn to Broccoli Pizza & Pasta. An establishment with a vegetable in its name might possibly give me what I was after.

Swindon Advertiser:

Expectations were initially high. The place seemed a sort of Subway for pasta. Tasty smells wafted from sizzling pans where the customers ahead of me were having their dishes made up.

But I really just wanted something simple, so opted for one of the set pizzas – a medium 10 inch veggie supreme with a side order of mozzarella sticks and an orange and passion fruit J20.

It became apparent that only having three members of staff at lunchtime on the Friday after Christmas wasn’t perhaps the best managerial decision. The staff didn’t seem quite on top of things and were extremely busy.

It was cool to see the food being prepared in front of me, and I was finally able to watch someone toss pizza dough. It’s something I’m not confident to do at home in case it falls in my face. And that spoils everyone’s dinner.

Swindon Advertiser:

The pizza and cheese sticks weren’t ready at the same time, so I was left standing by the till as the heat from my tasty looking pizza sadly ebbed away.

Once I sat down my expectations began to dwindle too.

The pizza itself was covered in jalapeños, which was unfortunate because I am not good with anything like that. I simply don’t like spicy food and I wouldn’t have ordered the veggie supreme pizza if I had known.

But I think even for someone who did like jalapeños there were too many on the pizza. I hadn’t got halfway through before I picked them all off – and then it was much nicer.

Swindon Advertiser:

The rest of the ingredients were fresh and the tomato sauce for the base was certainly tasty.

I was quite surprised given the name of the establishment and my order that there wasn’t any broccoli on my pizza. But perhaps that wouldn’t be nice anyway.

The base was pretty doughy and for those who like a thin and crispy pizza, this isn’t the eatery for you. Fortunately I prefer a thicker base, but this actually could have done with a few more minutes in the oven.

Swindon Advertiser:

The mozzarella sticks were also a bit of a let-down. While the herbs in the crumb coating were a nice addition, the sticks weren’t particularly golden or sizzling.

They too could have done with longer in the oven and seemed more like fast food that had been left out on the side for too long.

As they got colder they became less and less appealing and in the end I left the last two.

While you can’t expect fine dining when you go to a fast food joint, I thought for the price (£14.48) the quality should have been better. The J20 was the only part of the meal predictably tasty throughout.

I definitely didn’t eat anything resembling Christmas food, which was what I had set out for, but perhaps my original instincts were spot-on.

Swindon Advertiser:

Without having anything to draw me back again over other eateries in The Crossing, this place is more of a second choice.

FACT FILE

Broccoli Pizza & Pasta, Unit J – The Crossing

Canal Walk

The Brunel Shopping Centre,

Swindon

SN1 1AG

Tel: 01793 432046

Open: Mon-Sat – 10am-9.30pm

Sunday – 10am-9pm

Our rating

Food: 5/10

Service: 4/10

Ambience: 6/10

TripAdvisor rating: 3.5/5

Disabled access: Yes

Parking: Brunel North Car Park