I Know I Said I’d Never Go Back – But I Did
In my previous writeup about Assaggio Del Forno in Boca Raton I said “Assaggio del Forno I’ve got news for you. I am not coming back“. And I truly meant this statement since the extremely poor attitude of the manager and hostess made it a terrible experience for me, and one which I would never want to endure again. Most people who read this review site regularly know I am not that forgiving of a person. If you manage to turn me off once, I seldom will give you a second try, unless the food warranted it. In the case of Assaggio del Forno, I never got to try the food and my comments were based solely on the fact that I was mistreated by the manager and hostess.
All this changed when one of my dearest friends father asked me to please reconsider and to give it another try, since he loved the place and thought it would be worth the dining experience. Even another friend and reviewer here Herb told me this food was pretty darn good, and that I should give it a second chance. It is hard to say no to someone you hold with such high respect and regard, when they are offering to treat you for lunch just to try a place out that you never tasted and only disliked because of the staff the owners hired.
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OIP Original Italian Pizza Boca Raton, FL
On a dead back street just east of Federal Highway in Boca Raton sits a pizza location that can never seem to stay in business. We have seen several pizza places make a valiant attempt to remain open on SE 1st ave here, but since there is no signage on Federal Highway, and since the location is not so close to walk to from the buildings on Palmetto, outside of delivery it is hard to attract people to come. This didn’t stop OIP Original Italian Pizza from opening at this spot in Boca Raton. Prior to OIP Original Italian Pizza, it was Fatso’s Pizza, and Amato’s Pizza (which was good) and I forget the previous names before them.
Andy and I decided to go try it out since neither of us had been there before, and both wanted the taste of something new around town. Not much had changed inside OIP since the new owners bought the location about 5-6 months ago. One of my favorite things about the previous pizza owners in this location was that none of them made me go through the stupid, moronic process of having a server bring me my pizza slices. Luckily enough Original Italian Pizza chose to continue with this policy.
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Mizner Plaza Pizzeria Boca Raton, FL
Across the South entrance to Mizner Park in Boca Raton lies a strip mall that has seen plenty of businesses come and go. At the eastern end of the plaza in a corner that is very hard to see, lies a new pizza place called Mizner Pizzeria. Mizner Pizzeria in Boca Raton took the place of Jonathan’s Corner which seemed to be put up for sale, soon after opening. After our first dining experience there, it was quite evident that Jonathan’s didn’t really have the pizza prowess necessary to remain opened for long.
People sent in emails soon after Jonathan’s Corner opened to advise me that the location was for sale. My normal reaction to those that were interested and were looking for advice was that the location seemed doomed, since nothing lasts there, and no matter how good you are, some locations are empty or for sale for a reason.
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Assaggio del Forno Boca Raton Florida
ASSAGGIO DEL FORNO HAS CLOSED!!
So another restaurant has decided to try to succeed in the Regency Shops by Woodfield Country Club. Assaggio del Forno recently finished their build out and opened their doors to the public, at least that is what it seemed. We will get to that in a bit. Anyways, many places before Assaggio del Forno tried to survive with the discriminating clientele that tends to frequent the establishments in the Regency Shops. If you haven’t been shopping in this part of Boca Raton, in the Regency Shops, it might be worth visiting just to see how much plastic surgery could be found in one shopping center.
Once I saw the signs up for Assaggio del Forno, which is a new casual dining restaurant that will serve Neapolitan pizzas with some “artisanal” flare, as well as other Italian dishes that can be described with some chic trendy terms, I was excited to go in and try it. This was the latest restaurant to open around here from restauranteur Dennis Max.
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PieZano’s Pizza Boca Raton, FL
Those in Boca Raton, are in for a treat. A new pizza place opened up in the eastern part of Boca Raton named PieZano’s and it definitely a place worth trying. After trying it once, I went back a second time and third time just to make sure I tried all the varieties of pizza that PieZano’s serves. Initially I got a Brooklyn Mozz Sicilian Slice, so I needed to make sure that I tried the plain regular and Sicilian offers here as well. The first visit was great, and I was hopeful the follow up visits would be equally as impressive.
On my second journey to PieZano’s in Boca Raton, I got a regular slice and a Sicilian slice, so although I also tried many other slices, I will focus on these two, and leave out the Brooklyn Mozz slice which is made with cooking sauce from the kitchen, the Paper Thin Pizza (which is a like a Long Island bar pie) that comes in whole wheat crust and tasted amazing, the spaghetti pizza (made purely of spaghetti and no crust), the BBQ Chicken pie, and a couple of others. Needless to say, I enjoyed PieZano’s and think it is worth trying all the pies that grace their glass display of slices to choose from.
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Alfeo’s Pizza Boca Raton
Update 12/21: went back to try again and the attitude of the owners was remarkably improved! No issues on this visit with them at all.
Recently I discovered the Boca Pizza and Sandwiches by the beach on A1A and Palmetto sold to some new owners, and I couldn’t wait to go in and see if they cleaned the place up, while lowering the prices and continuing to give the same quality as the previous owner. Many things can be said about the previous guy who owned the place, including how small the slices were, how expensive they were, how dirty the place always seemed to be, how unsanitary the pizza display was, but the taste was unique and good. You can read our previous review of the place here.
The new owners bought the place about 10 months ago, as of the date of this pizza review. They renamed it Alfeo’s Cucina & Pizzeria and did some minor remodeling.
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Boca Grove Country Club Pizza in Boca Raton
Recently flew back down to Boca Raton for a wedding at the Boca Grove Country Club. This is a beautiful area, with some amazing houses spread around a magnificent golf course, that looks like it was recently redone. Prior to the wedding we were invited for dinner at the Country Club restaurant, on what I think was Italian Night, or at least they had a bunch of things that seemed Italian. After making my way past many of the people who were mingling, and about my parents age, I spotted some pizza on a beautiful granite stone. Although I normally try to eat plain slices, they didn’t have any, and I was hungry. Obviously I am not as picky as Pizza Expert when it comes to pizza. Sometimes you gotta try other things, and expand your palette.
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Jonathan’s Corner Pizza Boca Raton, FL
I kept getting requests to review a new pizza place that opened many months ago in Boca Raton named Jonathan’s Corner. It replaced the former La Pizza (which was good), which sold to some other guy who closed after what seems to be only a couple of weeks in this dead corner of a shopping center near Mizner Park. Sometimes I wonder why business owners choose to open up pizza places, where others have failed. Speranza, Amato’s, Big Louie’s, and some others I am probably forgetting have all tried to open pizza places in this corridor of Boca Raton, and have been unsuccessful. Why bother opening yet another.
Jimbo and I decided to meet at Jonathan’s Corner to try some pizza, which was difficult, since Tucci’s Pizza is in walking distance. I always know I will get some of the best pizza in Boca Raton there, but I knew I had to venture out a little bit to try Jonathan’s Corner (before/if they closed like the others).
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Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Boca Raton – For My Kids
Recently, Chuck E. Cheese’s announced a new improved pizza. This wasn’t only for their Boca Raton location, but all across the country. I know many of you will say, well its about time they stopped serving us dog crap like pizza, the way Domino’s does, but is better crap still crap? Now, secretly,I liked their pizza and enjoyed many afternoons with my son playing games and eating pizza. I know this could completely negate any pizza advice I give in the future, but there was something about Chuck E. Cheese pizza growing up that made me think of happy and fun times, and I took this all the way into my adult life. Now, don’t get me wrong, as an adult, I realized this pizza was maybe a little bit better than some of the worst pizza out there like Domino’s, but I still liked going there anyways, as the experience of the place added a bit to the taste. For any parents out there who have to sometimes sacrifice fine dining for a childlike atmosphere, you will know the compromises you make when it comes to taste. Sometimes excitement makes things just taste better.
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Davito’s Pizza Boca Raton
A new pizza place just opened in Boca Raton named Davito’s Pizza, in the Boca Greens shopping center, where Anna’s Kitchen used to be. Anna’s Kitchen wasn’t around very long, and it was easy to tell they would close their doors or sell one day. They had a strong opening and eventually started to go down hill. Even their garlic knots started to suck. The family who owned it seemed nice enough, but sometimes nice guys don’t finish first. I never thought another pizza place would take its location. Seems odd that there are two pizza places in the same shopping center out there. Stella’s Pizza is also located within steps to this pizza place.
Andy and I decided to go check it out to see if it had potential. The ambiance seemed relatively the same as Anna’s used to. Seriously, I do not think they changed almost anything, but then again I didn’t really pay attention when I first ate there to notice if they did, in fact, make any changes. I ordered a center Sicilian Slice and then a Regular Slice once done. Andy ordered a Grandma Slice. Hopefully we will see the results of Andy’s slice in another review here, for just the Grandma Slice. Right now I will only focus on the Sicilian Slice and save the regular slice review for another time.
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