LaScala’s Italian Restaurant Pizza Review

LaScala’s Italian American Homestyle Restaurant is located at 615 Chestnut, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Established in 2005, LaScala’s is actually the seventh location of Apollo Pizza. This is their only full scale restaurant and is their biggest representation of their company here in Philadelphia. Apollo pizza originated in 1969 with the birth of their family’s pizza recipe. The true history of this company began over 80 years ago when Frank Rocchino and Charles LaScala arrived in Philadelphia from Italy. This new location was named after these relatives to honor them.

LaScala’s Italian Restaurant in Center City Philadelphia is a beautiful place. The details inside there are amazing from the brick walls cleaned and pointed all around to the big bar. They also have giant windows for you to view the Philadelphia Center City passer bys while enjoying your meal. There is also a very big room in the back that I believe is reserved for catering.

The menu at Lascala’s is very diverse. You can order basically any type of Italian food there from pasta to pizza. They are famous for their pizzas though as they have won several awards. Their pizza is gourmet fine dining style pizza. They have many different types of pizza too and you can customize it based off what kind of toppings that you would like.

I ordered one of their specialty pizzas that had clams, bacon, tomato sauce, pepper flakes, and parmesan. Their pies were really good. Their thin crust crust was slightly charred and had a harder crust the closer you went towards the handle of the pie. Actually the edge had a semi irregular shape from the effects of the hardening of the crust.

The sweet tomato sauce had semi large chunks of tomato underneath all of the other toppings. The tomato sauce definitely stood out even though there were plenty of other toppings on there. The top of the pie had thin long slices of parmesan cheese spread throughout the pie. There were small slices of clams mixed well with small bits of bacon on top. The pizza had a nice spicy kick to it as the pepper flakes were used well. The final effect was a very good pizza.

There was one catch – the waitress. My waitress was nice but very airheaded. Her lack of attention to my group’s order caused a bit of a problem. I had order several items for our group and she forgot the main entrée. So everybody waited for about a half hour until finally we asked her for our food and she showed an expression of “I don’t remember you ordering that.” Thus, the meal was incomplete and my group was not happy.

Another problem that I had was when I presented a large dollar bill and asked for change the cents were not given (just the dollars). I don’t want to sound thrifty but a customer deserves to have their full change back not partial. It doesn’t matter if it is a penny. The common courtesy approach would be to ask if they want the small change not simply just to exclude it.

I really am having a hard time putting LaScala’s into the Best Philadelphia Pizza Club because of the bad service. However, there pizza and the atmosphere were really good. The price wasn’t bad either. The pizza only cost $12 and it is the type of gourmet pizza that is worth every penny. So I will give them the benefit of the doubt that maybe they only have one airheaded waitress and hope that next time I will be served a little better.

LaScala’s Italian Restaurant – Welcome to the Best Philadelphia Pizza Club!

Criniti’s Ristorante Italiano Pizza Review

Criniti’s Ristorante Italiano Cucina Mediterranea Review

Criniti’s Ristorante Italiano Cucina Mediterranea (or Criniti’s Italian Restaurant) is located at 2611 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148 (a few blocks north of the Sports Complex on the corner near Broad and Oregon). Established in 1985 by Benito Criniti, Criniti’s Restaurant is now run by his son Massimo Criniti in a larger converted church just a few steps from its old location.

Criniti’s Italian Restaurant is in a big room with stain glass windows. This building once was a church so there are many extra touches that add character to this restaurant. This particular restaurant is known for many good Italian dishes including their pastas and pizzas. Criniti’s is a great place for a couple to go on a romantic night out for dinner. However, their lunch buffet that was just started this year has been quite a success. For approximately $10 per person you have a wide variety of Italian foods to choose from including chicken parmigiana, meatballs, Italian sausage, roasted peppers, tilapia, eggplant, mussels in red gravy (Italian sauce), soup, salad, and more. Their buffet is excellent and the value brings the meal home. For the price, you know that you are getting a quality traditional Southern Italian home cooked meal for every item on the menu. This is real South Philly Little Italy food owned and operated by Philly Italians that go the extra mile for their customers.

The waitresses and staff at this Italian restaurant are by far superior as their hospitality is very warm and receptive. They may be a little slow but that is because they have to be warm and receptive to all of their customers (so bring your patience as they are nice people).

If you want to have an occasion catered, Criniti’s Italian Restaurant also does catering as well. They have a second floor that is dedicated especially for their catering business.

Let’s get to their pizza. Their pizzas are thin crust American style (cheese on top) served personal size (about 10 inches). If you would like anything other than cheese than you need to make a special order. They can accommodate you with any toppings but you have to let them know exactly what you are looking for. Their thin crust pizza is very basic but it has old world Italian charm built into it. They use a wood fired brick oven to cook their pies. The price is $7.95 for a personal pizza with $1.50 for each extra topping.

The pizza that I ordered was a plain cheese pie. The crust was thin yet not too far from traditional pizza as it had a little weight to it. The pizza crust was foldable, not crackly, and had a nice handle on it to hold the slices. It also did not have any signs of charring yet it was cooked well. The pizza was very cheesy with signs of oregano and/or parsley showing through the cheese. The tomato sauce was sweet but there was a very thin coat below the cheese to make it barely noticeable. The dish that the pizza was served on was not flat but slightly high at the edges (a bowl form). This created an effect of the pizza to be dipping towards the center of the bowl due to the edges being higher than the center of the pie. This wasn’t a problem just an observation.

Overall, I was very impressed with the pizza and the total package at Criniti’s Italian Restaurant. This is the type of gourmet Italian pizza/food restaurant that you can eat as many courses as you need (Italian style) for a reasonable price.

Criniti’s Italian Restaurant – Welcome to the Best Philadelphia Pizza Club!

Lazaro’s Pizzeria | Grill Largest Pizza Pie

Established in 1999, Lazaro’s Pizzeria and Grill is located at 1743 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146. This place has an interesting set up. There are actually 2 buildings. The first building is where you order and get drinks. If you would like to dine in then you walk outside and through the doors of the building next door. In this building there are several tables to eat and a TV to be entertained with.

Lazaro’s Pizzeria and Grill has very good thin crust pizza, their specialty. The also sell a wide variety of other fast foods like cheese steaks, strombolis, calzones, salads, wraps, Italian subs, wings, cheeseburgers, and club sandwiches.

Lazaro’s Pizzeria and Grill has character. Their pizzas are all thin crust (American style) and they have pizza sizes up to 26 inches in diameter. This is almost as big as Lorenzo’s and Sons pizza on South Street. This would establish them as having one of the largest pizzas in Philly.

They also sell by the slice. I bought a slice of pepperoni pizza for $3. This is generally high for South Philly until you consider the size of their slices. Their slices are thin crust but they are made from much bigger pies (if I had to guess I would say 20 inch pies). The slices were very charred on the bottom so they have an oven flavor. The edge of the crust was very small as well, which gives you more room for the toppings.

There were plenty of pepperoni whole slices on the pie. This may be a reason for the extra layers of oil on top. I think that is their biggest weakness. They need to watch how much oil comes to the top of their pies when they cook with meat toppings like pepperoni. There was a sufficient amount of cheese and a thin layer of tomato sauce on the pie. The size of the slice was so large that you definitely have to fold it to get a better grip. I try not to fold my slices but with Lazaro’s, this is inevitable.

Overall, I like Lazaro’s Pizzeria and Grill as it has value, size, good taste, and character. I would recommend that they watch their oil count on top of their pies. Lazaro’s Pizzeria and Grill – welcome to the Best Philadelphia Pizza Club!

Joe’s Brick Oven Pizza Review

Joe’s Brick Oven Pizza or Joe’s Pizza is located at 122 South 16th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102. From my understanding they have been open for many years (I have no idea how they have remained in business with their lack of quality customer service).

Joe’s Pizza is located in a very bustling area of Philadelphia so there is constant foot traffic into their business. They have a very beautiful building that has two floors of seating. There are plenty of tables on both floors so not to worry about finding a place to sit and eat.

Joe’s Pizza claims to have a brick oven but their oven is in no way a pure “brick oven.” It is more of a small high tech metal oven with a fake marble tile façade.

I have many complaints about Joe’s. First, the pizza…it sucks. Just horrible…no other critic can put it any better. The food was sitting there for how long on the counter. After being reheated it still came out bad.

I ordered a broccoli pizza…how can you mess that up (there is no sauce)? There was a good amount of broccoli (not a significant amount) but they definitely weren’t anything called fresh. There wasn’t any sauce on this pie as it was just a broccoli and cheese. The cheese was sitting under the broccoli and was very dry. The crust had zero signs of char. Matter of fact, the pizza was barely warm. The cashier/cook forgot to put my pizza in the oven. That leads me to the service.

The service at Joe’s Pizza was worse than the pizza. For starters, no one behind the counter cracked a smile to me or the thirty other customers the whole time I was there. I felt like the staff was talking down to its customers too with each interaction. Second, I ordered a slice of pizza and had to wait ten minutes before realizing the guy never put my slice in the so called brick oven. The second guy picked up on his mistake and put it in there for like 5 seconds. He gave it to me just barely warm. All this for $3.25 a slice. What a rip off!

What I don’t understand is how can you have such a nice place in one of the busiest areas in Philly and have lousy pizza and service. Where is the passion for your pizza? Pizza is an art and not to be treated with the disrespect that I felt me and every other customer in this joint was given.

Joe’s Pizza is NOT recommended by the Best Philadelphia Pizza Blog!

Top Tomato Pizza Kitchen Review

Top Tomato Pizza Kitchen is located at 1107 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. This is another typical Center City Philadelphia pizzeria. They have been established now for several years and are open seven days a week.

Top Tomato Pizza Kitchen has a very colorful place and has a nice layout inside. It is not a fancy place the way the name makes it sound but it is not a hole in the wall either. It is a nice laid back yet attractive open space pizzeria/restaurant. They serve a wide variety of foods but pizza is their specialty.

The reason that I say that this is another typical Center City pizzeria is because their pizza was average. I didn’t form a bad impression about the Top Tomato Pizza Kitchen but I wasn’t positively impressed either. The counter pizza that they had also appeared to be sitting there for a long time. This includes the slice of plain cheese that I ordered. They reheated it for me but I felt like I was eating leftovers because the slice didn’t look fresh.

The cashier was polite unlike the other pizza places in Center City that I have recently been to but that is just one element worth considering when looking at the big picture. The slice of the pizza was $2.15, which is actually cheap by Center City standards but not by Philly standards as a whole.

The crust neither was charred one bit nor was it crunchy or crispy. The pizza that I ate was American style with the cheese on top. There was a good amount of cheese but the problem was the slice was too small compared to many other slice shops throughout Philly. The slice was cut from a 14-16 inch pie instead of an 18-20 inch pie. Thus, it was narrower and shorter. The crust at the edge was about 2 inches long before you hit the cheese. I don’t agree that this style of pizza should have an edge like that as it takes away from the space you could be using for more cheese and sauce. The sauce used was your standard bland tomato sauce and spread very thin. There was definitely more cheese used, which made the sauce a very miniscule background flavor.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the Top Tomato Pizza Kitchen into the Best Philadelphia Pizza Club now. But I thought the place was nice, the staff was friendly, and the price was reasonable for Center City Philadelphia. They need to work on their pizza though to stand out from the competitors. For these reasons, I give Top Tomato Pizza Kitchen a yellow light (proceed with caution) for their pizza.

New York Pizza Department Review | NYPD

New York Pizza Department (NYPD) is located at 140 South 11th Street (11th & Walnut), Philadelphia, PA 19107. NYPD Pizza is family operated and is not affiliated with the pizza franchise with the same name. To me this is your typical Center City Philadelphia pizza, bad to horrible. Center City Philadelphia pizza joints are the reason that Philadelphia has a bad name for pizza (or just isn’t credited with good pizza). The tourists come here, stay in Center City, and then are forced to eat the high end, low quality, convenient to tourist crap they call pizza.

This pizzeria doesn’t come close to representing New York pizza either. Many New York pizza enthusiasts probably would agree. Fortunately, I have been all over New York and come to their defense that this is not New York pizza. New York pizza is much much better. This pizza barely had any char on its crust – that is not New York pizza. New Yorkers will attest that they love a nice black char mark throughout the pie. They also like them crispy, which was not found here.

New York Pizza Department won best of Philly in 2006 and has sparked up some popularity. They are a small little hole in the wall pizzeria with various pictures around for display. There are several small tables to sit or you can pick up your food and go. They also have delivery service available too.

It is not that I have anything against this place but I was just all around not impressed. First, the service was lousy. The cashier/janitor/cook never cracked a smile once. I ordered a slice of reheated counter pizza that looked like it was sitting there since the grand opening of this joint.

The pizza that I ordered was a tomato pizza with no sauce. The pizza was traditional crust served with tomato slices on top. The size was a smaller type of slice as it was cut from about a 16 inch pie instead of an 18 or 20 inch pie. The tomato slices were plentiful on the slice and were thinly cut. The cheese under the tomatoes was an appropriate amount but the pizza was a little stale. Even though I am aware that it was reheated the question was how long was its sitting there before being reheated? All this for $3.25 – so not worth it!

I cannot make a recommendation for NYPD Pizza Department as they do not meet my pizza standards to be considered the Best Philadelphia Pizza.

Soho Pizza Buffalo Chicken Review

Soho Pizza is located at 218 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106 (Old City). Established over 10 years ago, Soho Pizza is a very narrow pizzeria just a few steps away from several of its competitors. They have a very nice wood burning oven (somehow it manages to fit in this small place). The staff could have been a little friendlier as they greeted me with lack of smiles. This is a sit in pizzeria with several tables along the side wall.

Soho Pizza serves American style pizza and they do sell by the slice. They were very quick in warming up my pizza. The pies that they had on their counter top all looked fresh. The large amount of customers in there would create a high turnover of new counter pizza available. Thus, their popularity helped confirm the freshness of the slice.

I do have to say that I was extremely impressed with the aesthetics of their pizza pies. This is not your typical American style pizza joint. They have a wide variety of pizza options and their pizzas all look very appealing. Whatever the major sauce is that goes on each pie; they created concentric circles on top of the pie with it. The illusion is a very appealing and interesting looking pie. Eat and be entertained at the same time – what a concept!

I ordered a slice of the buffalo ranch chicken pizza for $3.25, a bit pricy. However, I did feel like I got my money worth. The slice is very big and loaded with toppings. There were plenty of chicken slices throughout the slice. There was also a good amount of cheese as well. But the highlight was the ranch dressing that was swirled around the whole pie, which created a good distribution for each slice. The final effect was plenty of taste in the pizza.

The crust was slightly charred with traditional American style thickness (also triangular shaped). Although it didn’t have much char, the crust was still very crispy as you bite into it.

I only ate one type of pizza at Soho but all of the pizzas on their counter looked appetizing, which is a rare quality for a pizzeria. The other thing I like is that they make the pies fresh right in front of you so that you can ensure that their cooking is up to the highest quality standards – your standards. This includes the time that they make the dough until they pull the pie out of the oven.

Soho Pizza – Welcome to the Best Philadelphia Pizza Club!

Gianfranco Pizza Rustica Old City Pizza

Gianfranco Pizza Rustica is a major player in the Philadelphia pizza market with 3 locations throughout the city. Established in 1994, Gianfranco runs their pizzeria like a true business. They are open seven days a week, they have catering services, they deliver, and they have online pizza ordering available. Gianfranco Pizza Rustica’s three locations are: 248 South 11th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 (Center City); 6 North 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106 (Old City); and 2124 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19145 (South Philly).

Gianfranco Pizza Rustica has won many awards including 7 years Best of Philly Pizza award. They were also featured on our friend JAB’s website, LA Pizza.

Gianfranco Pizza Rustica’s location in Old City is the subject of this review (the same location that LA Pizza went to). The Old City location is very small but still holds several tables for the customers to sit. What I like about this place is the options. They have so many different types of pizza to choose from in addition to a wide sandwich selection.

You can order almost any kind of pizza here. If they don’t have it on their menu they appear to have the type of operation that will try to accommodate you by making a personalized pizza for you. They have all kinds of interesting pizzas besides your normal pie, including: taco pizza, Mexican pizza, meatball, pizza, and artichoke pizza.

When I went to Gianfranco Pizza Rustica they were extremely quick. There were about five people in front of me in line and I still managed to order and receive a hot pizza in less than 5 minutes. That is quality speed.

Let’s take a look at the pie review: I ordered a slice of what they call the traditional tomato pie for $2.25. The size of the slice was rather large so there was value to the price. This tomato pie was served American traditional crust style with average thickness (triangular shape). I would say that most of their pizzas are served with this type of crust except for their Sicilian pies, which are fresh to order. The crust was very slightly charred but crispy.

Their tomato pie was made from pesto and romano cheese. Their slice consisted of about 90% sweet tasting thick tomato sauce (a nice red slice). There were also small thin slices of cheese strategically placed on top of the sauce. A nice slice of pizza for $2.50. This place has some good turnaround time with its customers. This is good to know if you like ordering by the slice because this will ensure that your pizza wasn’t sitting on their counter to long.

Gianfranco Pizza Rustica – Welcome to the Best Philadelphia Pizza Club!

Lorenzo’s Pizza Italian Market Style

For many years, Lorenzo’s Pizza has been faithfully serving pizza in one of the most tasteful areas in Philadelphia, The Philadelphian Italian Market. Located at 900 Christian Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, Lorenzo’s pizza complements the other fine ethnic cuisines along 9th street.

Lorenzo’s Pizza sits at the corner of a very touristy area in Philly but are staffed but very local people. The final effect is to feel like you are truly immersed in the Philadelphian culture. The inside of Lorenzo’s has several tables as well as the counter for those who would like to dine in. The place looks and feels like a place from several decades ago (I can’t really tell which decade though). It is a bit run down in appearance but very laid back. They have a TV in there that complements my former point about the pizzeria’s age. The staff was very nice and the food was served super quick. What more can you want... well…quality and price…so let’s take a look.

The price was $1.50 for a large size American style plain cheese pizza slice. This a great deal as these are prices from 10 plus years ago. The size of the slice is very big and the crust is traditional crust but very thin at the end of the slice.

The cheese covered the top of the pie and was a very thin layer. The sauce underneath had a nice undertone of oregano, which can be seen through the cheese in sporadic patches. There weren’t any signs of charring on the pie but it still tasted good.

Overall, Lorenzo’s Pizza has very good American style pizza in the heart of the Italian Market. The place is a little run down but you are not eating the place just the pizza. The price of the slice was a tremendous deal for the size given. When you’re done your pie you can walk outside and get some coffee and dessert from the local shops around the way.

Lorenzo’s Pizza welcome to the Best Philadelphia Pizza Club!

Philadelphia Pine Street Pizza Review

Pine Street Pizza is located at 1138 Pine Street, Philadelphia, PA (corner of 12th Pine, hence the name). Established at some point in the late 1970’s (about 30 years ago), this pizzeria is still serving Center City Philadelphia residents. They are open 7 days a week and have a very extensive menu.

Pine Street Pizza is a pick up or delivery operation but if you would like you can also sit and eat inside (they have several tables). They staff is very pleasant and if you like arcades they have them too in the other room.

Pine Street pizza mainly serves American style pizza with the cheese on top. I ordered a slice of pepperoni pizza for $2.25, a little high. The highlight of this slice was the shape. The shape was a traditional triangle slice shape but the length was shorter and the width was much wider. The crust was traditional style thickness but very crispy. However, there weren’t any signs of charring. There was a slight residual of oil on top but this may be due to the massive amounts of pepperoni that they packed on top (all of which were very big slices).

The cheese was packed nice on top of the sauce. The sauce was barely tasted from the overpowering of the cheese and pepperoni.

I enjoyed this pizza but I think the slice price could have been a tad cheaper. Then again, they are located in Center City Philadelphia and this is the premium the customers must pay to buy there. If you were to buy a large pepperoni pie the price would be $8.95, which becomes much more reasonable.

Pine Street Pizza welcome to the Best Philadelphia Pizza Club!

Uncle Tomy’s Original Pizza Review

Uncle Tomy’s Original Pizza is located at 1653 South 27th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19145. Established in 1972, Uncle Tomy’s is a South Philly classic pizzeria. They serve appetizers, calzones, cheese steaks, hoagies, burgers, wings, and hot sandwiches.

Uncle Tomy’s Original Pizza is a takeout/delivery pizzeria only. There aren’t any tables to sit and they don’t want their customers to eat standing up either (as their sign on the wall states). Inside Uncle Tomy’s is a large variety of baseball pictures on the wall including many great Phillies’ players. This place really loves their Philly sports teams.

The service at Uncle Tomy’s Original Pizza is excellent. Since the joint is family operated, you get that warm Philly hospitality.

The pizza is also very good. You can order by the slice for $1.50 a pop or you can buy the pizza as a large box. They have 10, 14, and 16 inch pizzas. Uncle Tomy’s Original Pizza is a classic Philly neighborhood pizzeria that offers a variety of good tasting future heart attack foods.

I ordered pepperoni and plain cheese American style pizza. The crust is not charred at all but it has a crispy texture that is delightful. The crust is also a traditional crust that is really thin at the base of the slice. I would categorize this pizza as traditional and thin crust because it is not thin crust and it is not quite as thick as traditional. You can eat 1 more slice than you usually would with traditional crust because of its thinness (or maybe it’s just me).

The cheese is spread well on top of the sauce as this is the American style. The pepperoni slices were very big and plentiful.

The only problem that I had was that there was a pinch too much of oil on top of the pizza. Yet it was not too much as in Mac’s boardwalk Pizza where the pizza taste was dramatically changed.

Overall, Uncle Tomy’s Original Pizza has been around for many years providing quality pizza to Philadelphia. Their pizza is good quality at a good price.

Uncle Tomy’s Original Pizza – Welcome to the Best Philadelphia Pizza Club!

The Famous Napoli Pizza

The Famous Napoli Pizza Review

The Famous Napoli Pizza in South Philadelphia has been around for over 50 years. It sits at the corner of a small intersection. The place has a big red awning and cannot be missed. There are several booths in there to sit and eat.

Running this blog I am faced to select only the cream of the crop for review here considering that there are over 2000 places in Philly that serve pizza (this is probably an understatement). It is not possible for me to review every single place as this may take about 7 years (assuming that I ate at least one pizza place a day). With this in mind, I visited Napoli pizza to give them a review because they have been there for a long time. If you are in Philly and have been in the pizza business for fifty plus years then I feel obligated to at least give a review.

I was not impressed with Napoli Pizza. Napoli Pizza is located at 944 East Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19147. Napoli Pizza does offer a large menu of items including: buffalo wings, salads, Italian pasta, and sandwiches. Pizza is what they promote themselves for the most.

I tried a regular pizza slice as the margherita pizza is only available in a large. Napoli Pizza serves mostly American style pizza with the cheese on top. Their plain cheese pizza is nothing special. It is prepared with a large amount of cheese on an average sized slice. The sauce was bland and the crust was average. The crust had average thickness and was not cooked until black. The edges were slightly crisp. This was just a plain Jane pizza that did nothing for me.

It is not always just the pizza that can make a pizzeria be considered the best – it is other factors as well. The staff that I encountered at Napoli pizza was not friendly at all. Actually, I didn’t see the cashier smile once the whole time that I was there. This is huge factor for making a pizza place shine. The atmosphere has to be welcoming and if it is not then the business will suffer and never reach its fullest potential.

I do not recommend Napoli Pizza for the Best Philadelphia Pizza Club. If you are looking for a quick bite and don’t care about taste or hospitality then you can visit Napoli Pizza. If you are looking for above average to great pizza then you may want to reconsider something else.

Lorenzo and Sons Pizza

Lorenzo and Sons South Street Pizza Review

My third stop on my pizza tour today was to Lorenzo and Sons on South Street. Lorenzo and Sons was established in 1988 (although their website claims that they ere open for more than 30 years). They are located at 305 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147.

I have ate at Lorenzo’s for a long time and will attest that they are a great late night pizza place after a long stroll down the famous South Street in Philly. On a Friday or Saturday night, you may see lines around the corner waiting for Lorenzo’s slices. Since they are open seven days a week until 3 in the morning, you are bound to have an experience at Lorenzo’s if you are there at the end of their night shift.

Lorenzo’s is an interesting place because they have absolutely no variety. As their customer slogan says “the customer is always wrong.” They serve basically one type of pizza by the slice, plain cheese American style pizza. They do not have a place to sit inside so plan on eating your slice on South Street.

Despite these limitations, Lorenzo’s is very unique. They sell probably the biggest pizza in Philadelphia. Their large box is a 28 inch pizza (wicked big). I personally do not know of any pizza in Philly that is larger than this (if you do then let me know so I can pay them a visit). This is similar to what DC pizza has become to be famous for – giant pizzas (actually much bigger than Lorenzo’s)

Lorenzo’s large pizza is so big that they actually have to put it in 2 boxes. If you bought Lorenzo’s by the slice, their pizza is still probably the biggest slice in Philly. It is the widest and the longest. The slice is so long that they serve the pizza with the end of the slice flipped over back on top of the pizza so that it can remain on the paper plate.

Since they don’t have much variety, I just took a regular cheese slice. This is a round crust pie, American style (as American as it can be). There is plenty of cheese on Lorenzo’s pizza as this is what makes there pizza taste unique. If you are into cheese and big then you should be here. Lorenzo’s sauce is of average taste but I will not lie to you: It is very difficult to taste the sauce as the cheese overpowers it. There is a large amount of cheese on this giant of a pizza slice.

The crust is cooked in their pizza oven before any discoloration. There was not a sign of burnt or blackness on my crust. The crust was of a thin to average thickness.

Overall, I think that Lorenzo’s and Sons should join the Best Philly Pizza Club. They make a cool, large, cheesy, American style pizza. This recommendation would drive New York pizza critics crazy as they would disagree. If these same people were to see the amount of business this place gets at night then they might reconsider.

Rustica Pizza

I went on a Philly pizza tour today and made it to 4 key pizza businesses. The first one that is up for review is Rustica.

Established in 2000, Rustica is located at 903 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA, which is the Northern Liberties area. Rustica is a hip pizzeria that serves various types of pizza. There is indoor as well as outdoor seating available. Their name probably comes from their rustic looking, particularly their old style hardwood floors. Rustica has won several awards from various sources and is a very popular pizza spot.

My pizza tour consisted of four spots so I had to make room for at minimum four slices of pizza. With this in mind, please understand that I am making these reviews with the best of my resources. For example, I usually review Margherita pizzas as they are very traditional Italian pizzas. Some of the pizza places today, however, only sell this pizza as a large and not by the slice. Since it wasn’t practical for me to order a whole pizza, I decided to choose what was available by the slice.

Rustica did not serve a Margherita pizza at all so I went a little fancy. I ordered a slice of their spinach and roasted peppers American style pizza (cheese on top). After a few minutes of warming up, round 1 was served. By the way, Rustica pizzas are mostly round. The crust on their pie was lightly darkened, average thickness, and burnt slightly on the edges. The crust was also foldable without much drippage. There sauce was sweet and tasty and did not slide off the crust like some pizzas do. The spinach was ok but nothing to brag about. The roasted peppers were a nice touch on top with the cheese. The sauce was tasty but I think a little more would have made it just right. The cheese melted well on top and was a little darkened in some spots.

I think Rustica pizza overall was very good. I would have just added a tad bit more sauce and spinach. For a fountain drink and a slice the cost was $4, which is a reasonable price considering the fancy location of the pizzeria. I wouldn’t say that Rustica is the best of the best pizzas in Philly but they still deserve a green light.

Rustica has a nice business going for them and would bet that they will be around many more years. I may have to revisit to give them my full attention one day by ordering an entire meal. Well...in a few moments I will post my next review of Cacia’s Bakery so stay tuned…

Mack’s Boardwalk Pizza South Philadelphia Pizzeria

Mack’s Boardwalk Pizza South Philadelphia Review

Mack’s Boardwalk Pizza is located at 10th and Oregon in South Philadelphia, PA. Mack’s is run by Joey Mack, the son of one of the original owner’s of Mack and Manco’s boardwalk pizza. That pizzeria, along with the famous Sam’s pizza, has helped to create what is called boardwalk pizza.

Before I give my review of Mack’s I would like to acquaint you with Mack’s pizza history. It all started in 1956 when Anthony Mack and Vincent Manco opened up their first pizzeria called “Mack and Manco’s” at 918 Boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey. A few years later they opened up another store at 7th street and boardwalk. Mr. Mack and his three sons (Dominic, Vince and Joseph) eventually expanded their business onto the boardwalks of Atlantic City and Wildwood, NJ. Vincent Manco continues to operate the original Mack and Manco’s in Ocean City with his son and his wife. Mack’s Boardwalk Pizza is run by Joey Mack, one of the sons of the original owner, Anthony Mack. Joey Mack moved his operation from the Jersey shore to South Philadelphia.

Now that we have the history out of the way, I can release my review. Mack’s Boardwalk pizza is deeply rooted in history with its original pizza recipe. The owner of this South Philly branch is not affiliated with the other Mack’s any more but he still has the family recipe. Joey Mack claims that this family pizza recipe was from 1950 and that his pizza is the best of the best.

Before I start my review I want to make you aware that I think the owner is a nice person but I am here to review the pizza and some things stood out that needs to be addressed. I did not like the pizza at all and I will elaborate on why. I ordered a full 16 (Joey claims they are 17 inch) pie. Joey’s famous pizza is a thin crust recipe American style pizza (cheese on top).

I didn’t like the pizza for several reasons. First, the amount of grease that was on this pizza could have set me up for a future heart attack. I put three napkins on top of a slice and there was still a shiny glitter from all of the grease. This definitely took away from the taste and caused me to have indigestion days later.

The thin crust pizza cracked when folded. This in combination with the gallon of oil on top led to mass spillage and a large mess. The cheese was cooked well. The sauce was not that tasty at all. There was minimal sauce used in proportion to the cheese which appears unbalanced in taste.

The crust was decent for thin crust as it was slightly blackened with a small lip at the edge.

I did not like how the pizza was placed in the box without a wrapper. This is not a good sign of cleanliness as those pizza boxes sit on the floor of the warehouses they are stored at.
Joey Mack’s Boardwalk Pizza is in a small shoebox store. I actually liked the set up of it as it has a small appearance of a boardwalk pizza shop. Mack’s has several patio chairs outside his shop for outdoor seating. This is a one man operation (plus the delivery people). This must be Joey Mack’s retirement job as the operation is very slim lined. There is nothing wrong with that as extra employees are not needed. I am just preparing you for what kind of pizza place this is. It is on the opposite side of a fancy pizzeria.

Eating at Mack’s led me to some questions. First, I can understand why New Yorkers may think Philly pizza is bad. If they base their impressions off of places like Mack’s Boardwalk pizza then that may lead them to believe that Philly doesn’t know pizza. Of course New York is the pizza capital of the world other than Napoli, Italy (read about the history of pizza) but Philly is a very close runner up.

I find it interesting that a place like Mack’s pizza who claims to have the best pizza in Philly would know what a Margherita pizza is. Considering that they are halfway there on the recipe (thin crust) I am not sure if they ever put the other half of the equation together. Let’s face it, most pizza experts will agree that you don’t even stand a chance of being considered the best pizza if you can’t make a thin crust Margherita pizza. Just off that fact alone I am sure that if a New York pizza critic ate one slice of Mack’s pizza they would laugh. If that was the only place they ate in Philly and they were told that this is the best pizza here then they would think this city is a joke.

That is why this pizza blog was created. There are many really good pizza places in Philly but you just have to look a little harder than New York.

I didn’t like Mack’s pizza because it was too oily, too cheesy, no foil paper under the pizza inside the box, the pizza ovens were not good pizza ovens (I doubt they get hotter than 500 degrees (you need about 800 for the best pizzas)), and their lack of variety of pizza. If you tell the public that you have the best pizza in Philly that you better offer options and one of those options should be a thin crust Margherita pizza.

Overall, I do not recommend Mack’s pizzeria to any of my readers, which is a similar conclusion to the Mack’s that I have eaten at on the boardwalk of Atlantic City and Wildwood.