Prezzo at The School Yard in Harborne

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Once a run-down disused Victorian schoolhouse, new life has been leased into the red brick building at the heart of Harborne High Street. Among its new occupiers is Prezzo Italian restaurant.



The School Yard, an award-winning development in Harborne, is the converted Grade II Listed building, which has remnants of its past inside alongside a modern transformation.

Under its historic clock tower are Harborne Food School and restaurants including Prezzo , where I paid a visit to sample its Summer menu.

Prezzo may be a chain but each restaurant has its own individual style and this one in Harborne is amongst the classiest I have seen. Stylish chandeliers in a large open plan room with feature brick walls and a view into the kitchen.

The summer menu is good value for money as you can get two courses for £15.95 or three courses for £18.95, both including a drink. Choices reach out to vegetarians and vegans too with a new crisp Vegan Garlic Mushroom pizza. While for £1.50 on top of the deal, you can also includes cocktails like a Pink Gin or Pimm's Spritz, or if you want to feel as though you are on the shores of Italy's Lake Como, an Aperol Spritz.



There's a range of starters from calamari to Italian hummus with grilled flatbread, baked dough pizza bits, bruschetta, a Caprese Salad with tomato and mozzarella or king prawns.

I opted for the king prawns which came in a spicy sauce made with chilli and pomodoro and was accompanied with garlic bread. It was pretty large in size and very filling. My guest had the calamari, which had a good crunch and came with a basil pesto mayonnaise. Again, it was a plentiful plate of food.



Moving on to the mains, there's a wide range of options - 10 to be exact - that includes pizzas, a burger, pasta dishes and a salad.

The only drawback was that all three of the four pasta dishes came with the tomato pomodoro sauce that the king prawn starter had come in, which limited the options somewhat if you wanted something different. These were a spaghetti with king prawns, the aubergine penne and penne alla rusticana. There was also a pesto ad pea penne with burrata mozzarella, suitable for vegetarians too though.

The calabrese burger offered an Italian twist with proscuitto, cheese, red onion and tomato on top of two 4oz patties, with fries alongside; while a chicken, bacon and avocado salad was by far the healthiest choice that came with crispy proscuitto in a honey and mustard dressing.

With the aroma of large, thin crust pizzas around us it seemed too good to pass so I opted for the goat's cheese and red pepper pizza, which was also topped with spinach, olives and a red pepper tapenade.

For vegans, there is also a new garlic mushroom pizza made with vegan pizza bread and no cheese, but brushed with garlic oil.



My guest had the vesuvio pizza; a spicy double pepperoni number with roquito chillis that melted in the mouth.

Another bonus is that all of Prezzo's pizzas have a light, gluten-free pizza base that make them crunchy and not so heavily bread based, which can often overpower the flavours.

The pizzas, like the starters, were large as Prezzo certainly doesn't skimp on size when it comes to its servings.



The large servings may make it hard to reach three courses for this special deal, but with choices like honeycomb smash cheesecake, and salted caramel chocolate tart, it's going to be hard to resist.

The chocolate tart was sublime and thankfully balanced the flavours well so it was not too sweet. Instead the rich chocolate was a perfect combination with buttery, crumbly pastry and the layer of delicious salted caramel hidden within. It also was beautifully presented, as shown in the picture.

Even more stunning was the appearance of the cheesecake that was striped with melted chocolate. It looked too good to eat, but was so scrumptious that it didn't last long.



Prezzo's summer menu has plenty to offer with good quality food and plenty of it. With sophisticated surroundings too in Harborne, this is one of the better special deals on offer across the market.

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