Col’cacchio is a casual, kid-friendly pizzeria chain that has more flair than this description lets on. The Italian chic décor runs to mahogany chairs, modern art on the walls, and artfully done interior lighting. On the other hand, instead of tablecloths there are brown paper table covers which kids can color on, and flat screen TVs showing rugby and soccer. But Colcacchio doesn’t seem childlike or fast food-ish: this is definitely not Chuck E. Cheese’s.

The menu is strictly salads, pizzas and pastas. It’s got everything from margherita to make-your-own, and everything in between. Some standouts include the brie, spring onion and peppadew pizza, and the “smokey babe,” which comes with Asian smoked ribs, rosso onion, corn, spring onion, mint and coriander. There’s also a whole page of vegetarian pizzas, and for those on special diets Col’cacchio offers a low-carb “Banting” crust as an alternative, which caters to those on the diet of the same name (it’s similar to the Atkins diet).

Some very creative salads on the menu caught my eye, and I ended up getting the “sorriso,” which consisted of quinoa, sunflower seeds, baby spinach, pickled red onion, baby marrow, roasted butternut, chili, mint, spring onion and green yoghurt dressing. Wow! It was an explosion of flavor…but more of an acquired taste, I’d say. A little heavy on the mint and yoghurt, but otherwise OK.

I also tried the margherita pizza with the Banting crust, which was about as good as could be expected for a pizza that did not have much substance. It was a little thin and there was not much cheese, but it did the trick.

Even though there were lots of kids the night I went (including a baby in a stroller), it wasn’t noisy or chaotic. In fact it’s a great place for parents to bring the kids – both the youngsters and the oldsters can have a fun evening out here.