The Pizza Factory on Cambridge Street South is Levin's combined eatery — a former customised pizza oven factory whose showroom has been transformed into a lively restaurant where a woodfired pizzeria and café, the Three Amigos Mexican kitchen, Craft Burger's gourmet burgers, Sweet Eats and RSB's Smokey BBQ all cook side by side. The idea is simple: something for everyone, so families and groups with very different cravings can order from every kitchen at one table.
The pizza side is taken seriously. Dough is made with Italian 00 flour — which the team notes costs about four times as much as standard white flour — and baked in a genuine woodfired oven, producing classics like the Pepperoni and the all-year Mediterranean, plus a gluten-free pizza the kitchen describes as pretty satisfying. The signature move is the barbecue crossover: RSB smokes brisket and ribs in-house, and those cuts end up on woodfired pizzas like the Smokey Brisket and BBQ Pork, with single Smokey BBQ meals served Friday and Saturday nights until sold out.
Beyond dinner, the venue hosts private gatherings and make-and-cook-your-own-pizza events, hires out its pizza ovens for backyard parties, corporate events and weddings, and sells 14 x 14 cm woodfired pizza bases through its online shop. Dine in, take away or order the full combined menu online; tables can be reserved, and phone orders are welcome.
On Cambridge Street South in Levin, behind doors that once belonged to a customised pizza oven factory, you'll find one of the Horowhenua's most sociable places to eat. The Pizza Factory is the name on the door — and the name stuck — but this is really Cambridge Lane, a combined restaurant where several kitchens cook side by side: a woodfired pizzeria and café, the Three Amigos Mexican kitchen, Craft Burger's gourmet burgers, Sweet Eats' treats and RSB's Smokey BBQ. One table, one order, and a group with completely different cravings can all head home happy.
The building tells the story. Cambridge Lane began as a factory making customised pizza ovens, and the old showroom has since been transformed into a lively eatery built around the idea of something for everyone. The craft roots remain: the pizza dough is made with Italian 00 flour, which the team notes costs about four times as much as standard white flour, and everything comes out of a genuine woodfired oven. That commitment to good ingredients shows across the menu, from the classic Pepperoni — described simply as a pizza that 'just works' — to the Mediterranean Pizza, an all-year fixture no matter what the Levin weather is doing. There's a gluten-free pizza too, which the kitchen calls 'pretty satisfying'.
The most talked-about cooking happens where the smoker and the wood oven overlap. RSB — Roa Smokey BBQ — smokes brisket and ribs in-house, and those cuts end up on top of genuine woodfired pizzas: the Smokey Brisket Pizza and the BBQ Pork Pizza proved so popular when they launched that they keep returning to the menu, and the team reckons it's a crossover you'd struggle to find anywhere else in New Zealand. On Friday and Saturday nights from 5pm the barbecue steps out on its own, with single Smokey BBQ meals served dine-in or packed for pickup until sold out — preordering is the safe move. The smoke carries into the burger kitchen as well: the Oakfire Ollie stacks low-and-slow smoked brisket with melted cheese, crisp slaw, gherkins, smoky BBQ sauce, creamy aioli and charred burnt mayonnaise on a soft toasted brioche bun.
This is a place designed for gathering. Families are explicitly part of the plan, and the make-and-cook-your-own-pizza events turn dinner into an activity — guests shape and fire their own pizzas, a format that works brilliantly for celebrations and group outings. The space is also available for private gatherings, and the team invites anyone planning a birthday, work do or family occasion to get in touch and talk it through. If you'd rather take the fun elsewhere, the pizza ovens the business grew up with are for hire, ready for backyard parties, corporate events and weddings. Gift vouchers are available online for the pizza and barbecue lovers in your life.
You don't have to dine in to eat here. The full menu from every kitchen can be ordered online for takeaway, and phone orders are welcome on 0220920469. The online shop sells the kitchen's 14 x 14 cm woodfired pizza bases so home cooks can get close to the real thing in their own ovens. The team's approach to service is refreshingly old-fashioned — they talk about giving people 'a little bit of spark for your day', and regulars seem to agree.
The Pizza Factory is at 38 Cambridge Street South, Levin 5510 — open Tuesday to Friday from 5pm to 9pm and Saturday from midday to 9pm, closed Sundays and Mondays. Tables can be reserved in advance, which is worth doing on Friday and Saturday nights when the Smokey BBQ meals are on. Whether you come for a woodfired classic, a plate of Mexican, a stacked burger or a tray of smoked brisket, the premise is the same: one address in Levin where everyone in the group gets what they came for.