Review: 500 Restaurant

In Prague, there's a pizzeria of some sort on nearly every block. The quality of the majority of these, however, is pretty substandard, with quantity clearly being taken as a preference. One of the best by-the-slice providers, Giallo Rossa - which has a stand and restaurant next to the bar Chateau in Old Town and one at Jiřího z Poděbrad - also works out of a new Italian restaurant behind Hradčanská metro, called 500, which pairs Giallo Rossa's thin, crispy, winning pies with some decent pasta and meat dishes, all in a cozy bar atmosphere that even features a suspended Fiat hanging over the bar.

The space was previously a popular pub, where it was difficult to get a table. The same sort of buzz seems to surround 500, where patrons on a recent visit were split between diners and those just out for evening drinks. A balcony for smokers takes up the top half of the vaulted, window-walled room, and rough-hewn wood tables lend a comfortable pub feel. There's also a delivery menu, which features most of 500's pasta dishes and its pizzas, available in two sizes: 30-centimeter (or "normal") or the whopping 45-centimeter, which is ample for sharing or a welcome challenge for pizza addicts who need increasing amounts to get the same pizza high.

The pizzas are sturdy, carrying substantial toppings well despite being so thin. The crusts were crispy and bubbly, and the sweet tomato sauce shone nicely on the Margherita.

These aren't gourmet pies, but they are exceedingly good; the one fault is the quality of some of the toppings: On the Meseri pizza, clumps of mushrooms verged on rubbery, and the pieces of artichoke, while well-distributed and bite-sized, were tough and slightly gritty, resulting in unpleasant bites that were soon picked off, along with the unsliced whole green olives. But the ham was of decent quality and had crisped up well in the oven, and the toppings didn't overwhelm the tasty sauce and cheese.

The menu at 500 is vast and includes intriguing pasta combinations, salads, ribs, wings and a burger, flank and chicken steaks with a multitude of sauce or side-order options, many with jestful, if baffling, names, such as Lady Gaga. The flank steak, which the menu proudly states is "U.S. beef," also features on one of the salads, called simply the "Big Mix."

The menu states the beef is served medium-rare, and it was perfectly so, as well as being a pretty substantial cut for a 149 Kč salad. Roasted zucchini and tomatoes added more heat to the bowl, and big shavings of Parmesan helped make this what should have been a very satisfying meal salad, except for the heavy presence of coral-like endive, which doesn't taste particularly pleasant. There was a good amount of rucola, which was fresh and went well with the balsamic-vinegar dressing, but the endive was ultimately overwhelming, making the salad just too hard to tackle.

One of the starter plates, the Italian mixed platter, also failed to live up to hopes. It looked appealing enough: a big messy pile of various meats and mozzarella and grilled vegetables. But the meats were of the ho-hum supermarket variety, a combination of prosciutto, salami and mortadella. The watery mozzarella had little taste, and the drizzle of balsamic over the lot managed to soak through several of the eggplant slices completely. Bread, also, did not come automatically with the platter, and the stuff that did arrive once requested was tasty but seemed to be slices of an incongruous fruit loaf.

All of the pasta dishes are available with penne, spaghetti, tagliatelle or gnocchi. The one sampled, the Merques, was slightly disappointing. The description in the menu had promised a "mildly hot" tomato sauce, but there was no hint of chili or spice, and large slices of garlic made a threatening presence. The penne was nicely al dente if forgettable, and the lamb sausage was good, but overall the dish underwhelmed.

500 Restaurant has some solid aspects, and it has a casual, comfortable pub vibe that makes it a good place to tuck into a pizza with friends. It may not be amazing, but it could become a regular destination.

Fiona Gaze can be reached at
fgaze@praguepost.com