Ali's Cafe and pizzeria

Rahul Prabhakar

1 month ago

5.0

Roman Soul, Indian Heart: Ali's Pizzeria Comes to Gurugram I have eaten at more pizzerias in this city than I care to count, and if there is one thing that unites almost all of them, it is a kind of restlessness. The lighting is engineered for Instagram. The music is a decibel too loud for actual conversation. The menu changes every few months because someone in a boardroom decided the concept needed "refreshing." Everything about these places seems designed to be photographed rather than lived in. So it was a small, quiet pleasure to walk into Ali's Pizzeria at AIPL Joy Central Mall last week and find none of that. Ali's Pizzeria is not, strictly speaking, new to India — it opened its first outlet in Kanpur, where by all accounts it built a loyal following before its founders decided the capital region deserved a taste of what they were doing. Gurugram is its second address in the country, and if the brand's own instincts are anything to go by, it will not be its last. But what struck me on this visit wasn't the fact of expansion. It was the philosophy behind it — one that runs quite deliberately against the grain of everything Gurugram's food scene has taught us to expect. The Menu Beyond the Pizza The name suggests a one-trick pony, but that would be a disservice to what is, in fact, a fairly complete Italian café experience. The menu is organised the way an Italian day might unfold — a Barista section for the coffee ritual, a Pizza section for the wood-fired centrepiece, a Kitchen section for pastas and mains, and a Bake section for the sourdoughs, croissants and cookies that any serious Italian bakery would insist on getting right before anything else. This last point matters more than it might seem. Anyone who has spent time in Rome knows that the city's food culture doesn't really begin with dinner — it begins with the morning cornetto and the standing espresso, continues through a leisurely lunch, and only arrives at pizza as one part of a much larger, slower rhythm. Ali's Pizzeria has clearly understood this. It isn't trying to be a pizza chain with a coffee counter bolted on. It is trying, with evident sincerity, to recreate an entire way of eating. What's Actually in the Kitchen I am always suspicious of restaurants that talk about "authenticity" without being able to back it up on a spreadsheet, so I asked a few questions about sourcing, and the answers were more specific than I expected. The extra virgin olive oil alone runs to about ten thousand rupees for five litres — not a number a restaurant flaunts unless it actually means something for the food. The croissant butter comes from France. The flour is milled in Switzerland. The tomatoes and, more surprisingly, the strawberries are sourced from specific farms in Italy. By some estimates, nearly ninety per cent of what goes into the bakery and pizza sections is imported. This is the kind of detail that either sounds like marketing or actually shows up on the plate. Having eaten there, I can say it is the latter. The dough has that faint, sour depth that only comes from proper natural fermentation, not the flat sweetness of commercial yeast. The bakes taste like something made by someone who cares whether the butter is right, not just whether the croissant looks right. What I Ate I began, as any sensible visit to an Italian café should, with coffee — a Classic Cold Coffee that was properly balanced rather than oversweetened, and later a Caramel Frappe that managed to be indulgent without tipping into dessert-masquerading-as-coffee territory. From the Pizza section, the Vegetarian Loaded was generous without being chaotic — each vegetable still tasted of itself, which is rarer than it should be. The Kitchen section produced two of the meal's real highlights: a Cheese Garlic Bread that avoided the usual trap of being all cheese and no bread, and a Red Sauce Chicken Spaghetti with a sauce that had clearly been reduced properly rather than doctored with sugar and ketchup, as so many "Italian" restaurants in India still do. And from the Bake section, the Chocolate Nutella Croissant was the kind of thing you order once out of curiosity and then quietly order again before you leave — laminated properly, not too sweet, the chocolate more a presence than a flood. A Café Without Nightlife Ambitions The detail I found most interesting, though, has nothing to do with the food. Ali's Pizzeria has made a deliberate decision to stay away from alcohol and the nightlife culture that so many new-generation cafés in Gurugram eventually drift toward once footfall demands it. Instead, it is positioning itself around family time, coffee culture, and what I can only describe as unhurried evenings — the sort of place where a grandparent, a toddler and a couple on a first date could all plausibly be comfortable at adjacent tables. In a city where so much of the food conversation is driven by influencers chasing the next visually striking plate, this is almost a contrarian stance. Ali's Pizzeria seems to be betting that there is still an audience — a substantial one — that is tired of dining rooms engineered for content and would simply like somewhere warm to sit, talk, and eat something that took real time and real ingredients to make. The Hospitality Question The other thing worth mentioning is service — not because it was flawless in some theatrical way, but because it had the unforced warmth of a neighbourhood establishment rather than the scripted politeness of a corporate rollout. Nobody hovered. Nobody rushed the table. It felt, in the best sense, old-school — the kind of hospitality built on people remembering people, rather than transactions ticked off efficiently and forgotten. Whether Ali's Pizzeria can hold on to that quality as it scales beyond Kanpur and Gurugram remains to be seen; consistency across outlets is where most promising food concepts in India eventually falter. But on this first Gurugram visit, at least, the intent was unmistakable — and rather more convincing than most. Gurugram does not lack for cafés that look good in photographs. What it has lacked, for a while now, is somewhere that feels like it wants you to stay a little longer, talk a little more, and leave without having thought about your phone even once. Ali's Pizzeria, on this evidence, might just be that place.

hayley

1 month ago

5.0

The food is very delicious. I especially recommend the pizza. The special Margherita pizza has an excellent taste and is definitely worth trying. The environment is very comfortable and it is very suitable for having a meal with friends and chatting. The service is great. The staff are all professional, enthusiastic and polite. It was an unforgettable and wonderful dining experience.

+4

Hemang

2 months ago

5.0

We had a great time. Nice tasty food, comfi place. The lasagna and pizza were just great. We will be back for sure

SunshiRoutes

1 month ago

4.0

Had a wonderful dine-in experience at Ali's Cafe. The ambiance is perfect for a relaxed afternoon. Tried their Black Coffee, Hot Lemon Tea, and a Brownie—everything was fresh, well-served, and delicious. Clean seating, quick service, and a very straightforward billing experience. A solid choice for coffee and dessert lovers in Gurgaon!

+1