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Vice review: Fresh loaded pizza and outstanding chicken wings

The wings here are great – you don’t often come across free-range wings on menus

Vice
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Address: 5 Merrion Street Lower, Dublin, D02 DR94
Telephone: 01-561 0095
Cuisine: Italian
Cost: €€

What’s on offer?

The name says it all. Two vices are brought together: pizza and chicken wings. There are 12 New York/Neapolitan-style pizza options, cooked in a PizzaMaster oven, the same kit as is used in Bambino and Pala Pizza. The chicken is free-range, a huge plus point, and comes with buffalo, barbecue, lemon pepper or Gochujang sauce. It’s not often you see free-range chicken on menus; the wings here are great.

What did we order?

We ordered online. In the restaurant, the menu is projected on to the wall. We went for Korean Gochujang wings and two pizzas – the White Vice and the Hot Sausage.

How was the service?

Very friendly. Our pies were just coming out of the oven as we arrived. Everything travelled well in the packaging, and our food was still plenty hot by the time we got home 20 minutes later. “Embrace your vice” is emblazoned inside the lid of the pizza box, as if I needed further encouragement. Have your oven preheated so that you can ramp up the temperature of the pizza, slice by slice.

Was the food nice?

The Korean Gochujang wings were tasty and crispy. They had a nice bit of heat and a touch of sweetness, and were good dipped in the garlic sauce (there are a few options, we also ordered an extra blue cheese one). The sourdough pizza bases were quite bready and nicely blistered. The white-based pizza had plenty of organic mozzarella, and the broccoli rabe and chopped Italian sausage made for quite a fresh-tasting combination. The hot sausage pizza was more robust; there was plenty of flavour from the crushed tomato and spicy sausage, and the pickled jalapenos brought a nice touch of acidity.

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What did it cost?

€48.50 for dinner for three people – 10 Korean wings €13; 12″ White Vice pizza €16.50; 12″ Hot Sausage pizza €16; and blue cheese dip €2.50.

Where does it deliver?

Delivery within 3km radius by Vice drivers, Just Eat, Deliveroo and Flipdish.

Would I order it again?

Yes, especially for the free-range chicken wings.

Corinna Hardgrave

Corinna Hardgrave

Corinna Hardgrave, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes a weekly restaurant column