D.O.C. Pizza & Mozzarella Bar: Say “cheese”!

I don’t usually hang about Lygon St. Not since my uni days, anyway – there are just too many substandard Italian restaurants around, you can’t walk down the street without being accosted and coerced into a restaurant, and I had come to realize that maybe pizza is not one of my favourite foods in the world (I used to eat it A LOT). Unless it’s very thin and crispy and cheesy...in which case...gimme...!

Having been to D.O.C Pizza & Mozzarella Bar once before, I knew that their pizzas do meet this criteria. Once again, we wanted to have dinner on Friday night after work, but had left it to the last minute to book a place. Lygon St is close by and convenient, since we were able to avoid the hustle and bustle of the CBD. Plus, I was keen to try the mozzarella this time around – last time we’d stuck to pizza only.

We decided on the mozzarella tasting plate, a salad, and 5 pizzas to share between 6 people.

Degustation of 3 mozzarelle – Australian Fior Di Latte, D.O.P. Italian buffalo mozzarella, and Australian Scamorza (lightly smoked Fior Di Latte)

Insalatona Di Rucola – rocket, pear, honey & Sardinian pecorino salad

Pizza Porchini w/ wild mushrooms, truffle oil & mozzarella in bianco with grated D.O.P. pecorino

Specials – Pizza with fig, San Daniele prosciutto, gorgonzola & buffalo mozzarella

Pizza D.O.C. w/ San Marzano tomato, fresh D.O.P. buffalo mozzarella & fresh basil

Pizza Capriocciosa Nuova w/ tomato, mozzarella, leg ham, mushroom, artichoke & olive

Pizza 2002 w/ chicory, mozzarella, gorgonzola D.O.P. & lemon

They were VERY busy that night, so service wasn’t fantastic – it always took a lot of effort to get the waitress’ attention. Our waitress (and the majority of the staff as well, from what I could gather) had a very thick Italian accent, so I had trouble understanding at times – we had to make a few queries as to which pizzas were vegetarian friendly. She also stopped right in the middle of taking our order to go and deliver a pizza to an adjacent table, which was definitely very odd...I didn’t know what to think...that’s never happened anywhere before! Anyway, it’s a very casual affair here, so I’m not too fussed about the service.

The cheese platter was very good; a definite must if you haven’t tried it before. Of the pizzas, my favourite (same favourite as last time!) was the pizza D.O.C. – this was a prime example of a very basic pizza with simple ingredients, prepared beautifully. I also immensely enjoyed the fig pizza – it’s an unusual combination, but absolutely delicious. The pizza 2002 was also surprisingly good, despite being so...green. I thought the salad was quite boring.

I have been meaning to try the dessert pizza, but once again we were beyond stuffed after eating all that. I think the only way I’ll ever get to have my dessert pizza would be to come there after dinner one day JUST for the dessert pizza.

Overall, this is one of the better places on Lygon St, and definitely the best pizza in this area.

Ratings (based on my own experience, on this occasion):

Food – 8 ½/ 10

Service – 6 / 10

Value for money – 7 / 10

OVERALL CONSENSUS: 3 bags (out of 5)