Three Joe’s Sourdough Pizza is quite new to the Cambridge food scene. Having only just opened at the end of last year, I had not yet had the chance to visit. Luckily, the team at Three Joe’s reached out and invited me and see what they are all about!

Three Joe’s offers Neapolitan pizzas made fresh to order. All of which are cooked fresh in their very own woodfired oven.

Three Joe’s all started back in 2017, in the city of Winchester. Since then, they have been going from strength to strength and already have six locations across the UK. Clearly they must be doing something right and I was keen to find out what!

I was joined by Cambridge Foodies moderator, Kate to give me a helping hand with the tasting. Our first impression of the restaurant was how big it is! It is open, spacious, and has a lovely bar along the side.

♿ Wheelchair access is available and highchairs stacked in the corner for families.

Three Joe’s has a very polished chain-restaurant feel…and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The restaurant is incredibly warm and welcoming with walls that are covered in modern art, giving it a quirky personality. There were a couple of fun looking swing chairs next to our table which looked quite flimsy (and an accident waiting to happen 🤣) but were actually strong enough to hold my weight. Being 6’4 and 17 stone myself, that’s reassuring for the rest of you lot!

The menu is small but concise with a selection of 11 pizzas and the option to add a wide choice of toppings. There are a couple of starters and a choice of 6 desserts. If you aren’t big on pizza then don’t worry, as the Three Joe’s have you covered with a handful of dishes, like meatball pasta bake and macaroni and cheese.

I immediately noticed a selection of milkshakes available in the bottom corner of the menu. Flavours included vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, salted caramel, and Oreo cookie. I am a big vanilla fan, so I opted for that.

Shakes come to just under £6 and I thought they did a fine job.

Craft beer is available. I noticed a few cans of Linton based ‘Wylde Sky Brewery’ in the fridge. I thought this was a nice nod to the local community. They also had Camden Hells lager on tap but this had run out during our visit 😢

Starters

We started with a camembert sharer plate from the starter menu. This came with olive oil, flatbread, and pickles. This was, without a doubt, the highlight of the evening and was a beautiful example of how camembert should be. It was delicious, fun to share and most of all, warm and gooey. The portions of flatbread were really generous and they held up really well when scooping the soft cheese. The pickles were rather ordinary but served their purpose true enough.

Pizzas

Looking at the menu, we naturally wanted to try their pizza. After all, it is what the Three Joe’s is all about. I ordered the Pepperoni Pizza and Kate had the Serrano Mushroom & Rocket.

One thing that stood out for us was the great value on the pizza menu. Three Joe’s were in the midst of a “price slice” with margarita pizzas starting at a mere £7 and my pepperoni costing only £8.50. That’s nearly 50% cheaper than a lot of other restaurants in the city. Considering this is bang in the centre of tourist trap Cambridge, I thought that was pretty good going!

The staff here are excellent. They are friendly, fun, and full of positive energy. Exactly the kind of people you want serving your table when out of your friends or family. The food took quite a while to come out but the surroundings were pleasant and the atmosphere was good, so it didn’t feel like a long time (well, maybe a little). 🕑

All pizzas at Three Joe’s Sourdough Pizza are made with Caputo “00” flour – the highest grade flour you can get from Italy. This stuff is almost as fine as baby powder! It is fermented for 24 hours for extra flavour and topped with Fior Di Latte cheese. This didn’t equate to a superior pizza however, with the pizza base being quite tough to cut. Thank goodness we had our pizza cutters as it was nearly impossible to cut with a knife and fork.

Our pizzas came out whole and unsliced (hence the pizza cutters). They looked fantastic and the pizza cutters made things a little more fun. I ordered extra chillies…and boy did I get it! Unfortunately, they were quite mild but they added a satisfying crunch none the less.

Kate was in agreement about the issue I had with the pizza bases. She also felt that her pizza lacked mushrooms and that the caramelised onions dominated the flavour of the pizza. The pepperoni on my pizza was also lifeless and plain, which was a real tease, as everything looked great by eye. It just goes to show that presentation with pizza can be deceptive (something I learned from Pizza Pilgrim down the road).

Dessert

We finished off the evening with a chocolate brownie. The sauce and the vanilla bean ice cream were impossible to fault but the brownie itself was hard and flakey. Pure sugar is tough to get wrong, so it was still a sweet treat that hit a spot but it failed to impress.

Conclusion

Both Kate and I enjoyed our evening at Three Joe’s. The staff were great and the restaurant itself had a comfortable and warm atmosphere. The camembert cheese was the stand out favourite for us and it is great to see beers from Wylde Sky Brewery beers available.

With that said, despite pizza being the crowning jewel of the Three Joe’s restaurant business model, it unfortunately failed to hit the mark of what I consider quality pizza. The base was tough and flakey, making it hard to eat. The toppings were lacking any real flavour and despite the high quality flour and Fior Di Latte cheese, it all amounted to nothing.

One thing I will say is that the pizza is superb value, making it great for families and students, which may very well be their target market, but I know most people reading this would likely pay an extra few pounds for something better.

It’s going to be hard to decide where to put it on my Cambridge pizza ranking 🤷‍♂️

Thanks for reading