RUDY'S on Castle Street is a great space to meet, talk and eat great pizza.

This is the third Neapolitan Pizzeria in the North West from Rudy's, with the first opening at the heart of Ancoats, Manchester then Peter Street and now Liverpool.

A Birmingham branch is also in the making.

We headed over to Liverpool after work on a Thursday to try some of their very best pizza.

The space is bright, light and warm - not to mention huge - looks are very deceiving from the outside.

There's a large selection of items including a starters and sharers section.

Here you can choose from the likes of burrata - mozzarella with cherry tomatoes, wild rocket and house-baked bread - a caprese salad, mixed olives and a campana and/or veggie camapana - a sharer of mixed meats or vegetables with cheese, salad and Rudy's famous house bread.

But, we ended up skipping straight to our main objective - pizza.

Wirral Globe:

Portobello and calabrese pizza from Rudy's

With options for all, we were pointed to the specials board, which boasted a tasty looking vegan pizza, by the very helpful and welcoming staff.

Although tempted, I opted for the portobello pizza, priced at £7.50, - consisting of tomato, fior de latte, portobello mushroom, basil, oregano, sea salt, parmesan and garlic oil - plus an additional request for olives, this option is great as a white pizza.

For my friend, it was calabrese at £8.20 - tomato, fior de latte, basil and spicy n'duja sausage - the sausage was so soft, it melted into the pizza. This came with a hot warning but it was definitely incredible.

We sat and chat, sipping on Sanpellegrino and soaked in the surroundings - it was literally around 10/15 minutes until our plates arrived from the pizza oven.

One word - huge.

Maybe two words - huge and wow.

The pizza crust was airy and light, charred a little from the oven, it added a rustic home-cooked vibe you desperately miss from take-outs.

Evenly spread sauce and a good topping-to-base ratio.

Rudy's pizza truly is a slice above the rest.

We were then offered dessert - does anyone ever say no to dessert?

Wirral Globe:

Tiramisu and chocolate torte with malt vanilla ice cream

After looking at the specials board we opted for Rudy's tiramisu - made fresh every day this dessert boasts amaretto and amaretti biscuits - all for £4 plus a chocolate torte accompanied by Ginger's malt vanilla ice-cream. YUM.

We shared both the desserts and we honestly thought the meal could not get any better, oh but it could.

If you want a quiet night, a place to party or to arrange a family get-together, Rudy's is the place to go.

What is even better is Rudy's Castle Street is now taking bookings and is the first branch to do so.

4 stars.

So what are you waiting for?

Book your table via https://www.rudyspizza.co.uk/liverpool/