Il Casolare

I take all my friends who visit here for a taste of italy :) Authentic pizza and tiramisu - so happy to find this delicious place with very affordable prices!! Always order the pizza for takeaway, buy beers at the späti nearby and then chill at the bridge or grassy areas. A great way to spend a summer night after work :) They slightly messed up my order once and they quickly whipped up the correct pizza without any problems - very friendly and sweet

The food was truly delicious, but unfortunately, our experience was overshadowed by the service. We were attended by an older man with glasses who was far from pleasant. When he took our order and we mentioned we didn’t want any drinks, he pointed toward the door as if suggesting we should leave. He quickly added “just kidding,” but it didn’t feel friendly at all. His way of interacting was passive-aggressive and made us uncomfortable. Later, he came out of the kitchen and shouted a name so loudly that everyone turned around. It turned out he was yelling at one of the people who walk around with magazines asking for support, telling them to leave in a very harsh way that embarrassed the person in front of everyone. It was extremely uncomfortable and completely unnecessary. I’ve been living in Berlin for years and I’ve often seen people asking for solidarity in restaurants, but I had never witnessed someone being thrown out, especially in such a disrespectful manner. When you go out to eat, you’re not only paying for the food but also for the service and the way you are treated. A lack of respect like this is simply unacceptable.

Authentic Italian food, personnel and atmosphere inside the heart of Berlin. Pasta, pizza, wine and dessert TOP! Definitely going again.

I meet family and friends here every time I visit Berlin. The food and staff and service are always amazing. The specials rotate so you always have something new and interesting to try. I miss this place when I’m not in Berlin, which is most of the time.

The pizza is tasty. Thin dough and crisp from the oven. We ordered with a bigger crowd but the food came quickly once ordered which took a while but still alright. Keep in mind that you can only pay by cash here. In terms of atmosphere the interior features many marker tags and posters. Could be cosy in a smaller group but there is a little echo in the room which makes it a bit harder to talk if you would talk to someone across the table. Service was alright. Overall friendly but sometimes a bit too casual: making a joke that they only have two types of wine red or white. Overall I like the food and would come back in summer to enjoy the pizza outside.

Best meal we’ve had in Berlin! Amazing fresh food and a lovely atmosphere!

Very lively place. English Friendly. Authentic Italian Pizza and desserts. The location of the restaurant was also really great. Only negative thing was that we had to wait in line for 15 mins to get a place for two people. Many people ordered the pizza for takeaway. Bought beers in the neighbouring kiosk and went to nearby grass area where they can have food looking at the canal. It was a very lovely view too.

So it's well known that the service in this place is awful. I ordered an apfelschorle which came totally lukewarm, and asking for ice seemed akin to asking the waitress for her right arm. BUT the pizza is the best. Delicious, always. Large, fresh, hot, perfect. Totally recommend!

Probably the best pizza in town and generally good, efficient service considering the crowds. This place does Italian style (thin) pizza, with crusts so fine you'll wonder if you can ever eat another pizza again. I order the Veneta, a pizza with gorgonzola and smoked ham (like prosciutto, but not actually prosciutto in this pizza), slice it into 6 pieces, and eat them by hand, although you can eat them however you want. We won't judge. This place is usually packed, so plan on waiting for a while or come off peak hours. After 8:30 on weekdays seems to be good in the winter, but it'll need to be even later in the summer. Pizzas range from €6-11 and large beers from €3.50-5.

Really tasty Italian - fresh ingredients and big portions. The menu is limited in that it has pizza and a few pasta dishes, but the range of pizzas is pretty wide. The decor is simple, the staff are fast and friendly. we were in a room towards the back beside the toilets but the main restaurant area seemed nicer. Chili oil on every table (not bottles of brandy as we initially thought), it's hot!!

They make good pizza here, and the prices are relatively cheap for what you get. My friend took me here on a crowded Wednesday night, and we even had reservations to boot. However they told us that the table was only for an hour because there was a reservation after us so we felt somewhat rushed given the cooking time of the pizza. I had the quatro pizza while my vegetarian buddy had one that had grilled potatoes on it. One thing I found bizarre was that I saw people making their own salads. I don't mean like a salad bar, but the restaurant gave people a bowl of lettuce and then gave them the vegetables to slice and dice to add to the salad. If I wanted to make my own salad, I would have made it at home.

I like his place but have had mixed experiences there. It's a casual eatery, which I like, but service is sometimes too casual. Often very crowded, and so they crunch you in with other tables which doesn't make a pleasant experience sharing your conversation with strangers. Pizza is pretty standard, not as good as Zola down the road. Good for a Saturday afternoon casual pizza and beer or house wine from the barrel.

Location: great. Pizza: average and inconsistent. I end up at this place more often than I would like to, because it is very popular among people who have never been to Italy. The punk posters on the wall and attitude of the servers (which don't seem different to me than most other Berlin establishments) often get played up, but I don't understand why. Furthermore, these things do not detract from the fact that the pizzas are often not cooked correctly. Neapolitan pizza should not be soggy, it should be crisp and light all the way through to the center. This is not the case at Il Casolare or any of their other identical establishments in the city. Sometimes they are cooked well, sometimes not. For what they charge, I expect better. If this is the 'best pizza in Berlin', I don't want to know what's second best.

I, like fellow reviewer Jessie M., am surprised to read negative reviews for Il Casolare. First of all, it is crowded for a reason; at the heart of Kreuzberg, if you have great pizza and low prices, then you are destined to be a sensation. Second, they have a great outdoor patio on a quieter street. Need I say more? I went here with two guy friends to satisfy undying pizza cravings. Little did we know that we probably should have made a reservation, but luckily a table opened up a few seconds after we arrived. I ordered the margherita pizza and sprinkled it with chili oil - beware it is SPIII-CYY. We were all thoroughly pleased with our meals and our waiter was friendly despite being swamped with customers. And for just 7 Euro? Shooot I will eat there any day. Bottom line - there is a reason this place is always bustling. **TIP: get Eis from the shop across the street. I forgot the name but you won't regret it!

Il casolare is located in a very busy and high traffic area, therefore it is always packed! The best thing to do is to make a reservation. The restaurant is very big, and contain about 250 people when is completely full, so consider this when you go there and be ready for a little waiting time. Have a glass of wine and enjoy your company. I ordered the pizza with Schinken, rocula leaves, Parmesan and mushrooms. Best pizza I had in my life!!! Very cheap in comparison to other Italian restaurants, with a range of between 6.50 to 9.50 for the pizzas depending on the toppings. Also the drinks are very cheap, either wine, beer or soft drinks. I would give it a prefect score if it wasn't for the staff, which was very professional but not nice at all, I wouldn't want to hassle them too much. If you come to Berlin you have to try this place, you won't regret it for sure!!

Shocking how poorly reviewed this place is. It's a very fun and hip place in Kreuzberg and was recommended to me by several people. I had low expectations, but it was definitely one of the most memorable meals I had in Germany. Excellent Italian food, all house made noodles with fresh ingredients. Pasta dishes change every night, but I got a tagliatelle with a very light cream sauce and spinach. One of the best pasta dishes I've ever had. Light and packed with flavor even with it's simple ingredients. Tried a couple other pastas including one with eggplant and a regular pasta with marinara, all of which were good. Service isn't great, but is it ever in Europe?

I love this place because the food is pretty stellar, and it has been consistent like that for at least 10 years. That's basically for how long I've been going to this place. Yes, point taken, sometimes the service folks are stressed but on the one hand, that's almost always the case wherever you go in Berlin. The reward is great pasta, great pizza and even better deserts. We come here every so often for lunch also and that's the only time when the place is not as packed. If you go in the evenings and mind waiting or come with a larger group, you should better do a reservation (in person). Also, don't whine about everything. :-) If you treat those people with respect, they'll treat you with respect also. They just don't take anyone's sh!t like some people think service people are supposed to. This might be different in Munich or in Hamburg, or wherever you come from. ;-)

Berlin's unrivaled and best place for Pizza. The pizza is so huge it doesn't even fit on the plate and the variety is as diverse as it is yummy. The atmosphere of the restaurant is great, it's a typical Kreuzberg location with a somewhat run-down look and posters all over the walls. Thanks to the restaurant's excellent reputation, it is always jam-packed. Reserve a table or you'll have to wait (or sit with other people). The service is pretty good, but due to the high amount of customers the waiters are naturally a bit stressed.

Rome, Napoli, Bologna, Paris, London - Berlin. I've set my heels on so many places around this awful globe. Yet I've never tasted a pizza as good as this. It is A M A Z I N G and still cheap and priceful. The staff is really charming and supersweet. Thank you!!

Really really good pizza. Fresh ingredients and always super tasty. Location is great too, esp during the summer when you can get take away and eat next to the canal. Unfortunately the staff is always super rude and arrogant. Don't expect to be treated nice :-(

I love it! Since I am Italian I know how a good pizza must taste like: just like the one I ate tonight in this place! Loved also the service, not pretentious but gentle! Since I stepped into il Casolare i was feeling like I was in Italy, but even better because it's in Berlin!

I've heard some really good things about this place, and it always seems to be packed with customers. I've tried to get in before and the queue was just too long, which only added to the appeal So I finally ate here this week, and now I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. Yes there is an atmosphere of detached cool; the graffiti on the walls, the nice Italian punk band posters, the rustic wooden tables. The staff aren't exactly rude just nonchalant and frosty. The pizza is authentic Italian style, but there is still better pizza to be found in Kreuzberg. One of our pizzas was seriously burnt, and our mixed salad was a bowl of lettuce accompanied by two whole tomatoes and half a fennel. I've had rustic food in Italy, but this was a little too rustic ;) So an interesting, different experience, but I won't bother going back. If the concept of being served pizza by a grumpy guy with a red mohawk excites you, you'll have some fun here.

You can't go wrong with this place, their pizzas are huge and delicious and they come for a small price. Make sure to make a reservation place is always crowded. Female Italian server looks hot.

Great pizza but no english menu. The pasta is not so good and the service is awful, especially if you do not speak german.

Love, love, love the four cheese pizza at Casolare. This popular pizzaria features a shabby, Italian anarchist theme and won't win any awards for decor, but the pizza is excellent, served fast and reasonably priced. Outdoor dining during the summertime affords great people watching.

There are plenty posts on Casolare. It is well known among Berliners and tourist. So I find it more appropriate to write in English ;) There ist not much to say. Maybe two things: 1. go eat there. this is a very fine and affordable Italian pizza and the quality doens't decrease allthough the number of visitors increased as the years pass. If you worry about calories share a pizza with your friend (what I personally never do, after many years of training and need the entire portion in my stomach as if it were fresh air in my lungs). 2. forget your expectations and eating out standards: be absorbed by the Italian culture. Yes, it is loud, not comfy, tight, chaotic, authentic (or some would say "unfriendly service"), italian, multicultural, across all social strata.. It smells and screams in there, the oven is hot, the register busy, the lines long and tenacious. Babies play and dogs bark, hipsters chat here and granny's birthday dinner there... Memorize this place while you chew the melting in your mouth warm pizza, made from thinnest dough and covered with fresh vegetables, cheeses, rare meat or what your heart might desire when you enter this place. For vegans: yes, they put on your pizza all the components you wish to eat except for cheese and meat/fish/frutti di mare. Just make sure to say it and please be not intimidated by rolling eyes and pitful looks ;) The dough is milk and egg free (I asked once and insulted the waiter a bit).

Still great after many years! All Italian. Margherita only - wonderful, pure, simple. Wonderful fresh toppings. Good crust but could be even chewier and more flavorful. Now if we could only get them to take plastic. :-(

This pizza is insanely delicious. Usually I take half my pizza home. No such self-restraint was possible here. Reasonable prices, lovely patio. The waiters are totally overworked and still pleasant.

Went there on a Saturday and a Sunday, both times I waited for my pizza for 2 hours. The pizza itself was very good, nearly extraordinary yummy. You can taste the fresh ingredients and the wooden stove! The red wine was pretty cheap, but tasty! Overall value for money is pretty good.

As a vegan Pizzerias are usually not my first choice. As expected even at this place a Pizza without cheese was not too exciting but I liked the restaurant both inside and outside area. The minus is that the atmosphere is a bit stressed since it is a very popular place, this might stand as a plus for home-sick Italians as this is how it usually is back in Italy though. All and all I liked the place but I think they should expand their very extensive menu to have one good vegan-pizza option since pasta with tomatosauce is something I can cook at home without a stone oven.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. Very busy place, but we are early birds so found a table pretty easily. Servers were a bit curt. It was pretty cheap and the pizzas were huge. The ingredients were fresh and the crust was crispy. Definitely not the best pizza I've ever had but still decent. Seemed like a nice mix of locals and New Yorkers, like everywhere in Kreuzberg.

If i were to be totally critical, i would give it 3.5 stars, with all the stars going towards the pizza. It was really good, by far the best I've had in Berlin. And I have had some pretty sub-par restaurant experiences in the time I've been here. I also hate these places that pretend to be "Neapolitan" style but don't know the first thing about making Neapolitan pizza and the delicate balance of topping to crust, and think it's nothing more than having a very hot oven. But back to Il Casalore: This place doesn't try to be something it's not. The pizza is totally solid and delicious. If the waitstaff were more friendly, it would be a 4 star place. But they aren't, so it's not, and with that said, you should totally still go here and enjoy a great pie with a pilsner.

Same as Il Ritrovo (great pizza, real italians, loud, peculiar service), plus the location close to the canal is amazing and they have a nice terrace outside in summer. Without reservation is almost impossible to find a place but usually if you are stubborn and ask to wait you get a table in 10-15 min.

Went here a few times while on a trip to Berlin. We were all trying to keep things fairly cheap and for our money Il Caolare was a delicious, inexpensive treat every time we went. I tried a few different vegetarian options and was never disappointed.

We really enjoyed our stay here although we had to wait a while to order and the staff did not seem very friendly. But afterall the pizza was great and we had a good wine too. Good neighbourhood to stroll around and go to a bar afterwards.

Best pizza I've had in Berlin. It's hard to come by good pizza in Berlin but I will travel for this one. Service can be a bit sharp but I think this is a natural side effect of under pressure staff catering to a rammed house.

I agree with almost everything people say here about the service. But the pizza is so good! I am willing to be humiliated to eat a pizza that is even moderately authentic. Italiani: si, è vero, il servizio non è sempre molto gentile al Casolare (e com'è lento!), ma la pizza è quasi italiana, e sono pronto di soffrire per averla a Berlino.

Found average , tried vegeterian pizza and found to be ok. We had tried vegeterian pizza at "Pizza Express" at Osloer Str. U8 more tasty and cheaper as well.

A friend of mine recommend me this s restaurant as a "must go" if I wanted an Italian one in Berlin. Following his advice I finally go with my friend for diner. First, it's a little restaurant surrounded by a quiet residential area which decrease the number of tourist but are still really friendly even if staff doesn't speak English (well base on the two waiter present that night). We both ordered pizza. I received mine but waited his one before starting. After waiting for about 8-10min, we found out that the waiter never order his pizza. However the quality of the food is pretty good. It's a good place to try if you want a good Italian restaurant outside the tourist area.

Bad pizza, bad service, bad vibe! The waiters are rude, always in a rush, they don't speak English nor German and prices are expensive. Moreover, pizza is a germanized version of the delicious Italian dish, better go somewhere else!

The waitors were rude and drunk. We also waited for our pizza for about 50 minutes. While the food was good, the experience was not.

A wonderful little place off of the canal. The pizzas are large and made with fresh ingredients. Be prepared to wait if you come during peak hours.

Yes, the place is crowded, the staff is stressed as are the guests. It is loud and very cramped. So I could give one star for really bad atmosphere, but I will give 2 more stars for this great pizza. Location: bad Food: very good People: loud Staff: stressed ... ... I hope they will move some day in a bigger location!

Cool, laidback atmosphere (and laidback service too. Sometimes you'll wait 20 minutes for your food/to be served, sometimes 40) and tasty pizzas. I'm not Italian, so I'm not sure how authentic they are, but they're big, crispy and good.

You can eat big pizzas with top ingredients for just 6.5 euros, that´s pretty much it!

We only came for a take away pizza and the pizza's were okayish, however the service, owner and staff do not deserve that it's busy. It's the most rude "service" I ever experienced and a shame for Italy. Real Italians are much more friendly!! We ordered 2 pizza's and as it was loud and hot, we asked if we could sit outside which was okay. We waited for about 30 minutes and when we asked about the status, we found out the pizza's were inside waiting for us: cold. I'm pretty sure the "lady" that served us, Miriam, which is the bitch herself, did this op purpose. We complained and at the end we waited another 10 minutes to get new pizza's. But only after shouting as the owner or boss does not care at all and was just telling us, that we had to wait inside. At the end we got new pizza's and they tasted okayish (NOT great), but I had the impression they only put a few ingredients on the pizza...on purpose and just to irritate us. I will never ever go back and would like to warn as many people as possible. They do not deserve to get customers at all.

I was recommended this place by friends and decided to have a go. It's quite far from main touristy destinations but it's worth a visit. I ate there in a balmy summer evening and all outside tables had been taken so we had to eat inside. There is nothing memorable about the decor, it's essentially a Trattoria, or better an 'Osteria', so wooden tables and basic service. But the food is the type of homemade fare you would good in similar establishments in Italy. I tried had a pasta course and a main course and they were excellent. The only problem is that the place is very busy so it's often difficult to get in (when I tried getting in again they were full up) so the service can be a bit rushed. If you fancy a very informal place, with a lively buzz and simple yet excellent fare, this is the resturant for you. (PS not the sort of place to go on your own though, nor for a romantic evening!!!)

pretty much tops most NY pizza. the texture of that crust is probably the best I've ever had and the multitude of topping options is superb. no frills, real deal amazing food. friendly, authentic, affordable & delicious. it's like walking into sunshine from the grey world!

it's the best place in the kiez

busy and noisy but still a great place to share a pizza with your friends, especially outside.

Gone so downhill in the last year or so, now pretty bad, pizza is a lifeless dry shadow of it's former self, lacking love and toppings. My old review: I like it a lot. Though it can be too busy and quite noisy, so don't come here for a quiet relaxed meal, though do expect a long wait to get a table & get served they are struggling to keep up with demand, this place is extremely popular. Staff are defintaely not over polite but they are very busy & I think they do fine considering. Pizza is pretty damn good, pasta is also though not quite up to the standard of the pizza. Had Osobuco here once, was really nice.

I have never had horse meat on a pizza before and I wouldn't recommend this pie, but I did like this place. The horse meat was more like super shredded beef jerky, which didn't go well on pizza. It had a cool punk atmosphere and people were yelling in Italian. They had a bunch of poison the well posters, a band I remember from when I was younger. There is something about the flour, oven temp or how they leaven their dough that makes the pizza look much different than the pizzas I've had in New York. Taste and texture was pretty similar to a NYC street slice. It's worth the trip and the outdoor seating is really nice.

Good pizza - but the service is appallingly bad. Surely these are the unhappiest wait staff in Berlin? God knows what's up with the management / company culture for the staff to be so rude, but it clearly ain't good. Same goes for their sister restaurants in Friedrichshain and PBerg. Steer clear!

Everything not more than avarage standard....

Delicious! Every pasta or pizza I've ever eaten here was fantastic. Extensive variety of pizza toppings to choose from. Very friendly service. Great atmosphere as well.