Chez Lorenzo Review--More than Pizza

Chez Lorenzo Review

Update 1MAR15: Pretty sure the owners have switched again--no update yet on who they are.

My darling wife and I took our deux petite anges to Chez Lorenzo to celebrate the new year.  It has spacious outdoor seating in the grassy courtyard that makes it a perfect spot to take your little tater tots.

Perhaps we are getting more lacksadaisical as we grow accustomed to 'island life' but our favorite places in Tana tend to be those with space for our two girls to run around (in the States, we had embraced a more draconian dining approach--remanding our babes to their booster seats with the vehemance of a third world dictator).

Their current favorite activity involves taking everything out of their mother's purse or diaper bag and strewing across the ground and then walking away disinterested--UNLESS they find a tide or clorox bleach pen--in which they case they MUST be allowed to chew and suck on the cap of said pen at risk of a colossal meltdown (see evidence below).

How could you deprive me of my inalienable right to chew on a Clorox Bleach pen?!

The menu here is much more than pizza (although this seems to be what they are known for--their website has an entire page devoted to the process of building an outdoor pizza oven--evidently they have someone you can hire to have one built at your home).  It runs the gambit from escargot to calamari to chicken, zebu (biensur) and pasta dishes--all with an italian-ish flair.

The food was great but there was some confusion with our order--we thought we were ordering a margherita pizza but it emerged with olives--I suspect, however, this may have been due to my own deficiencies in french rather than those of our server.  I also had a rotisserie chicken with roasted potatoes and sautéed green beans--a marvelous combination prepared perfectly.

Other than that the service was good--we were never quite sure who our server was though--one of the owners walked around and checked on us frequently but there were two other people whom we were unsure of their role.  We asked one of them for another bottle of water at one point and he never brought it. These are minor things--you can come here and expect quick and efficient service--better than you will get in Paris.

The original owners recently passed on the management of the restaurant (to another French couple je crois). These original owners evidently also started (and maybe still run) the pizza au stade place (link forthcoming)--this is a little strange because I found the pizza to be much better at chez Lorenzo.

BONUS: 

*They do takeout for everything on the menu (except for the escargot--dommage?).  For our friends in the States, alot of places here do NOT do takeout.  And some will do takeout if you bring your own tupperware for them to put the food in.

*Here's a link to their menu.

RFP (room for improvement): like most restaurants here in Madagascar their lists of wine by the glass is lackluster and barely there. 

Close Up Map

 


Address (whatever that means here):
 Lot II M35 N Androhibe
101 Antananarivo
Phone: 20 22 427 76
Takes Credit Cards: Not sure
Delivery: No.
Take Out:  YES
Parking Lot:  Yes.
Parking Attendant: No.
Outdoor Seating: Yes, ample shade.
High Chairs:  No.
Clean Bathrooms: Yes. But unisex and small. 
Languages: French and Malagasy with some English Translation on the Menu.
Email:  lorenzo@moov.mg/lorenzoguesthouse@yahoo.fr
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chez-Lorenzo-Antananarivo/124082740958204
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lorenzoguesthouse/