Pizza By Goli, Lichfield - food review

You never truly know what's going on behind closed doors.

Most restaurants shut their kitchens off from diners' prying eyes, and keep service and cooking as separate entities. But if often leaves you thinking just how clean is it back there? And what are the cooks doing to your food?

There's something re-assuring about seeing your food being prepared from scratch, and Pizza by Goli's open kitchen offers just that. You can watch as the cooks – dressed in traditional chef uniform – roll out and shape fresh dough, pop on sauces and toppings and slide it into the huge oval pizza oven on a pizza peel. The aroma is mouth-watering and makes the meal somehow so much more satisfying than just watching a waitress appear from a closed door with your finished dish.

The chefs at Pizza by Goli take their Italian cooking seriously. I watched as skilled hands poured milk into pans of homemade Carbonara sauce on the hob, vegetables were meticulously chopped up and flour sprinkled over dough before kneading.

We'd gone out for a midweek meal on a cold December evening, too tired to cook and seeking something scrumptious to fill our hungry stomachs. I'd passed Pizza by Goli numerous times on my trips to Lichfield and it always seemed packed, always a good sign.

The Italian is located in the city centre, by all the shops and a five-minute walk from the stunning cathedral, while inexpensive parking is located opposite the venue. In fact it was free when we parked up at around 7:30pm and walked the few feet over to the eatery.

On arrival, a smiling waitress greeted us at the door and showed us to our seats. We got a table closest to the open-plan kitchen, which was a delight. The place was packed, even though it was a Wednesday evening and every table stayed full until we left. Luckily we'd booked ahead and it seems making reservations is definitely advisable here.

Inside is well-lit, bright and clean with white-tiled flooring and white walls. Canvases offer scenic views of boats mooring, cottages, forests and autumnal leaves, bringing a touch of warmth to the pristine surroundings, along with fairy light trees and exposed brickwork on the arches between the kitchen and dining areas. A beautiful waist-high exposed brick wall also lines the open plan kitchen.

The only minor reproof would be the choice of tables – they looked efficient for cleaning, but the marble effect tops and cast iron legs did remind us a little of being in a garden centre or seated outdoors. However, we were very comfortable and not packed in like sardines despite every table being full.

A waitress promptly provided us with menus and took our drinks order. There's ample pickings with almost 20 starters to choose from, lots of side dishes and three pages worth of mains. Fellow vegetarians will be pleased with the choice on offer, with at least 10 mains to pick from (trust me, I counted).

About five minutes on, the waitress returned to take our order and the starters punctually arrived around another 10 minutes later.

Served on square white plates, both starters got top marks for presentation. I went with the Avocado Caprese – the avocados had been diced and fanned out on top of three thinly sliced, but whopping in size, tomatoes. Three large pieces of Mozzarella were placed delicately atop along with scattered basil and olives and a drizzle of sauce. Altogether it was absolutely superb.

I've had my fair share of Caprese salads – sometimes the Mozzarella is a little chewy or doesn't taste quite as fresh as it ought to, or they ruin the dish with too much dressing.

However, Pizza by Goli had everything spot on. The avocados were faultless – ripe but firm with a creamy, smooth texture that paired sublimely with the more tender tomatoes and deliciously soft mozzarella. While the green and black olives scattered around the edge provided a welcome tart contrast to the sweeter elements.

The dish was topped off with a vinaigrette-based dressing, which was wonderfully sweet, yet with a slight – and very welcome – tang. The chefs had also not covered the starter in dressing, making it more enjoyable, just enough but not drowning in the stuff either.

My other half had Avocado Con Gamberetti – avocado served with prawns and Marie rose sauce. Again, another dish with simple ingredients that some restaurants can struggle to get right. Not however for the experienced chefs at Pizza by Goli. Fanned avocado was topped with large prawns, a thick sauce and a sprinkling of paprika, with a fresh salad on the side of the plate. A sliced lemon was placed on as well.

Everything went well together. They'd given a retro classic a swish, modern makeover and it worked. There were no soggy, barely thawed prawns, only thick well-cooked pink beauties coated in a satisfying sauce.

The mains followed promptly around 10 to 15 minutes after the starters – in my view the right amount of time to let your starters go down. My other half had opted for an Italian classic – spaghetti Bolognaise with garlic bread on the side. I went for the fungi pizza.

I'd watched as the chef had rolled out the dough from scratch, kneaded it with his hands, spread the sauce and toppings on and placed it in the pizza oven. You couldn't have got fresher if you'd been sitting in Naples waiting for Gino D'Acampo to ring the kitchen bell for the waitress to come and collect it.

The thin-crusted base was soft and pliable and slightly chewy around the edge – the perfect texture. They certainly didn't skimp on the mushrooms, plenty of the juicy fungi gave me a taste of the outdoors and well-chosen herbs enhanced the more basic tomato and bread base. The whole thing was topped off with a drizzling of olive oil.

Meanwhile my other half scooped up moist, warm pasta strings coated in rich meat and full-flavoured tomato sauce. The bolognaise had a thick consistency and no water was left running at the bottom of the bowl.

Now here comes the one – and only – criticism of the food. The chefs did an excellent job, but they were a little too keen with the use of olive oil.

The garlic bread we shared on the side, though very garlicky and delicious, was incredibly oily. It was presented in the shape of a pizza, with the same delicious thin base and slight crispness. However, it would have been much better with less oil – there was practically a swimming pool of oil left on the plate afterwards. But in fairness we did polish off the entire side, so it didn't deter us that much.

The same went for my pizza – it was delicious but could have done with a little less oil.

Once we'd finished our plates were promptly removed for us to continue talking without any clutter. We were offered more drinks and asked how our meals were going on several occasions by the attentive staff.

As much as I wish I had two stomachs, the starters and mains were ample in size and we were full to the brim and had to opt out of desserts – even though I watched with hawk eyes as a large slab of rich chocolate cake went past and took a longing stare at a tempting tiramisu on the table opposite ours.

The bill totted up to just over £40, which for two starters, two mains, a side dish and drinks, wasn't bad at all.

The waitresses seemed genuinely pleased that we'd enjoyed our meal and had made our dining experience a priority throughout.

Pizza by Goli has nothing to hide, from the open-plan kitchen to the honest waitresses, it's a little gem in Lichfield that everyone should delight in discovering.

By Louise Rouvray