During his 40 years running the Pizza House, in London Road, Giuseppe made a name for himself in the city – for his lovable eccentric ways serving pizza and pasta, as well as raising money for charity and serving celebrities including former Pompey manager and King of the Jungle Harry Redknapp, former Prime Minister David Cameron, TV host Fred Dinenage and many more.
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00:00 Hi, it's Fred Dynage here. I'm in Giuseppe's with Auntie Eileen, who's fantastic, and also
00:08 with my wife Beverly. And we're having the most amazing meal here because this is the
00:13 finest Italian restaurant, not only in Britain, but anywhere probably in the world. So there,
00:19 and that is the old broadcaster used to say, is how fantastic.
00:24 I'm Giuseppe Maggia. I'm 73 years old. I come in England in 1974, 50 years now. I only come
00:35 four weeks. I stay in love with the city, the seafront, particularly, you know, and
00:41 the people from England. You know, after Switzerland is a very strict country, I work in Switzerland,
00:50 Italy, France, all over. When I come in England, I say, "Sigh, my place, I don't move anymore."
00:57 I'm here for 50 years. I have a pizza house, everybody know of it, 1977. Close, five years
01:06 ago. After, I don't want to retire. I start to be retired, it's too boring for me. I like
01:13 to be with the customers, people, you know, acting, you know, Joseph, you know, playing
01:21 with the peppers, you know, the big size pepper. And I know all my customers by name, personality.
01:29 I see the people grow up, you know, now. It's come some families say, "Oh, say my daughter,
01:36 or say my granddaughter." He used to give me the ice cream. He talking about two generations,
01:42 so it's a time to fly, you know. But I'm very pleased. The restaurant is very busy, restaurant.
01:49 It's different than the old restaurant I used to have because my old restaurant used to be
01:56 very big. Outside, it's called the Portsmouth. Everybody come for the restaurant, you know.
02:02 I used to have a lot of footballers, you know, from the Premier Minister Cameron, and George
02:09 Best, and Mr. Mandaric football, Fred Danich, Derrick Bell, the Formula One, Ferrari, you
02:17 know, Kruzineski, Mr. Mandaric, Arjen Naap. You know, I used to have so many, many, many
02:24 good customers, good memories. Excellent. And so tell us a little bit more about this
02:30 place. I mean, it's quite unique, even in regards to the atmosphere. Yeah, the atmosphere,
02:35 I like old, I mean, brass, copper. If you notice, there's a lot of brass, copper around.
02:42 You know, I want to do a little bit Italian atmosphere, you know. I have the brass, the
02:51 copper, the light, you know, it's mixed the English, Italian here. I mean, the food is
02:59 very formal, a win formula, because I have special meat, fish, pasta, pizzas. You know,
03:07 it's varied, you know, it's over a hundred dishes. It's not one small menu. The kitchen
03:13 is very small for the menu I have. But I used to have the same menu in the pizza house.
03:19 I made the copia because it's a win, and everybody said, "Oh, I love this menu." I said, "Okay."
03:26 I, you know, it is, you know, very win formula because I sell for both, for family, people
03:36 like the pizza, but the pizza is so big, it's 14 inches. When the people say, "Oh, my God,"
03:42 for all the family, it's only for one people. And some people manage, some people not. People
03:48 don't manage, it's every takeaway. I provide the box, takeaway, everybody enjoy it. Say,
03:53 "Oh, I have the pizza for tomorrow. I have the meal for tomorrow."
03:57 Lots of restaurants.
03:58 Yeah, easy. I buy a lot of fresh fish, lovely fresh meat. All the pasta is fresh. The sauce
04:08 is all fresh made. Each dish is made when you want. It's not been cooked before. You
04:15 know, it's, you know, from a restaurant, I do the win. I'm the only restaurant that do
04:23 rabbit.
04:24 Oh, you're the only, okay.
04:25 Yeah, because it's traditional Sardinian. And people love, you know, people book for
04:31 the rabbit. You know, because sometimes I run out because it's not one dish. You cook in
04:36 four minutes. If you have four and a half hours, cook very slow cook. You put, you know, terracotta
04:42 in the oven. And it's very good. Veal is very popular, the veal. The veal is Dutch veal,
04:50 baby veal. Very young, it's only eight months, seven months old. You know, very young. And
04:57 very pink color, very tender. And lovely scotch beef, you know, steaks. It's very good, big
05:04 steaks. I think the way I look after the customers, you know, is very important. You know, very
05:11 important. The way you approach the customers, the way you make the customer live happy. You
05:18 know, I'm kind of person, I give a hundred percent to customer be happy. If he was not
05:26 happy, I'm not happy myself. And you try always to make the customers very, very happy. You
05:34 know, customers happy, customers come back. Customers not happy, don't come back. Not
05:41 retirement, I want to be here with all the customers, you know. I say joke to the customers,
05:48 I maybe dining at your table, number 42, number 24, 27. No, no, no, don't say that. I say
05:54 no, I want to work to the end, you know. I don't see myself in retirement, you know.
05:59 I love to stay with the customers to the end of my life, you know.
06:04 Very, very committed.
06:06 Yes. Why not? It's so nice being with so nice people. If you are in the house, you see the
06:14 news, everything is bad. It depress you. With the customers, you know, his problem, the
06:22 customer know my problem. It's nice, look like family, you know, people come here, they
06:26 tell me everything. It's very, very lovely to be here with the customers, you know.
06:33 Would you like to give a message to your customers?
06:36 Thank you very much for every time you come to eat here. Thank you for my support for
06:43 my last 50 years, you know. And welcome back here. I'm so pleased to serve with you again,
06:52 again, again. I do all my best to make you happy. Please, to have my restaurant, any
07:00 meal you like. Thank you again.
07:03 Excellent.
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