Order pizza or leave my restaurant

The boss of an Italian restaurant is defiantly telling customers that they have to eat pizza - or leave.

The Santa Maria Pizzeria in Ealing has other items on the menu, such as salad, but every order must be pizza.

Angelo Ambrosio, co-owner of the restaurant which last month received an honourable mention in the BBC's Alternative Restaurant Awards, said it was not about the cost of the dish but simply because he is "passionate about pizza".

He justified his policy after throwing out four friends who ordered an array of items, but two did not want pizza.

One said she was on a diet - to which he retorted that she should go to a different restaurant.

"Our policy is that you should order a pizza rather than a salad or a side," Mr Ambrosio said.

"Four people must order at least three pizzas. If you're not hungry or on a diet why would you go to a busy restaurant that only seats 16 people? I'm selling pizza - that's what people come here for."

Last week the group of four friends waited for almost an hour to be seated at the Pizzeria but were then told that they could only stay if they each ordered a whole pizza.

Sevan Kouyoumjian, 25, tried to order a salad rather than a calorific pizza as she is on a diet.

But Mr Ambrosio told them: "If you go to a pizzeria, you should eat pizza." Fellow diner Sophie Baker, pointed out that the cost of their order was equivalent to four pizzas, to which he replied: "It's not about the money, it's about the pizza." He then said that they would have to leave. Miss Baker, a 25-year-old teacher, said: "It was outrageous.

"We ordered two pizzas, two salads, a side, a bottle of wine, a separate glass of wine and two soft drinks and we were told 'everyone has to have a pizza'.

"I felt really let down. If we had ordered any more pizzas they wouldn't have been eaten so we had to leave."

The tiny restaurant in St Mary's Road has a no-booking policy so diners often face a queue, or can leave their mobile phone number and wait in the nearest pub until seats become free.