Hell in Invercargill (11 February 2009)

Hopefully I'm not going to be labelled a one trick pony by writing another pizza review, and to be honest, I set out deliberately not wanting to have to write another pizza review, but some things just weren't meant to be.

We had arrived in Invercargill at about 2pm, and after booking into our accommodation, decided we wanted to get something to eat. During our South Island holiday, we had decided to avoid any franchise or chain restaurants, and try to eat in small, locally owned restaurants.

Heading out of our backpackers, passing Hell's Pizza a few doors down, we wandered down one of the main roads, looking for somewhere to eat.

Admiring the town's 80's style Christmas decorations, we came across a Chinese restaurant, and had a quick look at the menu... it looked promising, a handfull of vegetarian options, but we decided to keep walking, and see what else was available. It was still pretty early, so we thought we'd have plenty of options.

Crossing the road, we came across a typical Kiwi High Street cafe, full of meat pies, steak and chips and sausages. We decided to pass, and walked towards a Korean restaurant nearby. It was closed. Crap.

We tried another street... Every restaurant or fast food restaurant we passed was either closed or closing... Crap... so we quickly double backed to the Chinese restaurant we first saw... closed... Crap.

By this time, it was about 4 pm, and it seemed like the town was closing for the day, and we were getting hungrier and hungrier...

So it came down to Hell's Pizza...

I was surprised that the restaurant was empty, considering that there was nowhere else to eat. The restaurant was large, compared tot he other Hell's outlets I've been to, and there was even a small number of seats and tables available. We ordered a double size Underworld ($16.90) and a snack size Underworld ($8.90).

The pizzas arrived after about 15 minutes, and they were okay... a little lower in standard compared to the one's I'm used to getting in Wellington, but tasty enough... nowhere near as good as Pepe's Pizza, but pretty much what we expected.

So... ratings...

• How long would I walk to eat there: We had walked about for at least 90 minutes, but it wasn't really worth that sort of investment, time wise... it was a one minute walk from our backpacker's, so that's about right. Rating: 1 minute
  
• Free water: None, as is normal at a takeaway, so it's not fair that I rate this aspect.
• Decor: The largest Hell's Pizza I've been into, with some comfy sofas and a small number of seats available. Rating for Hell's Pizza: 8/10 Rating for Invercargill: 5/10 (The five points for having the great 80's style Christmas decorations up in mid-February!)
  
• Vegetarian options: Okay, nothing special, nothing unique (the same as other Hell's franchises) Rating: 7/10 Rating for Invercargill: 2/10
• Quick service: Pretty good, pretty friendly. No complaints. Rating: 8/10 Rating for Invercargill: 3/10 (Very rude staff at the backpacker's)

Three word summary: Saved the day.

How much?:
Total cost for one gourmet double and one gourmet snack, about $26.

Details:

Hell's Pizza
10 Dee Street
Invercargill
Telephone: 03 215 0666
website: https://hellpizza.co.nz/#i=12

Delivery, takeaway and limited dine in.
Open from 11 am until at least 11 pm, 7 days a week. Thankfully.