Cafe Gia Pizza Medford, Long Island
Medford is a town in Long Island that I really never spent much time in. I probably couldn’t point it out on the map, even after growing up about 30-40 minutes away. When my friend Richie asked if I wanted to try some new pizza places out those ways, I agreed and we made a stop to try Cafe Gia Pizza, which is a very popular pizzeria in Medford.
Cafe Gia Pizza was a pretty sizeable place. When you first walk in you are greeted with a huge glass display of the pizzas they have available for slices. You order and move down towards the cashier, pay, and wait for your pizza to come out. Yes, Cafe Gia unlike the idiotic pizza places down here, allows you to carry your slice and pick out your own booth, without the interference of a server.
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Pompei Restaurant and Pizzeria Rocky Point, NY
It takes a lot lately to get me to give my opinion about a pizza place when it is bad since I really do not want to hurt their business in any way, shape or form. So in order for me to give my opinion negatively about a place, it really must have tasted a bit wrong. In my opinion Pompei Pizza in Rocky Point was below par and it was hard for me to find many redeeming qualities. Well one quality I should immediately point out was that the staff there was very nice, and extremely welcoming. That is something I look for before I eat.
What can I say about Pompei Restaurant and Pizzeria in Rocky Point except just as they spell the word Pompei incorrectly (maybe they did this on purpose, but the correct spelling is Pompeii, at least for the old town) the pizza in my opinion is just as incorrect.
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Rocco’s Pizza Mt Sinai, Long Island
While visiting my parents the other week, they agreed to just take a long ride out towards eastern Long Island and just stop at some random pizzeria we had never been to. We didn’t get far when we pulled into a King Kullen shopping center in Mt. Sinai or Mount Sinai (not sure how they really spell it) which had Rocco’s Pizza in it. Since it looked clean enough and smelled decently when we opened the doors, we decided to give Rocco’s Pizza a try. Rocco’s Pizza in Mt. Sinai has been opened approximately six months, and seems to be gaining traction in this part of Long Island.
I ordered a regular and Sicilian slice from the kid behind the counter and some garlic knots. My mother found us a seat, and we waited a few minutes for the slices to get heated up. The kid who handed us the slices looked just like the other who took our order initially, but had a different haircut. After confusion subsided, and the other one came out from the back I realized that they were identical twins. And in their young twenties, the brothers owned this pizzeria together, with a little seed funding from their supportive parents.
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San Marzano Pizza Merrick, NY
Although I have posted many reviews since the last pizza tour we did on the South Shore of Long Island, it is time to catch up. Our next stop brought us to San Marzano Pizza in Merrick. I have always liked the town of Merrick and San Marzano sits at the corner of Benson and Merrick Ave. right in the heart of the town.We were surprised to find a Wood Oven Pizzeria located in a town like this, since most of the places around here are your typical mom and pop pizza joints.
Upon walking into San Marzano Pizza, the delicious smell hit us immediately. It reminded me of the scent that Tucci’s Pizza has in Boca Raton. It is delightful and alluring, like the smoke out of the oven turns into a finger and motions you to come on in.
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Cherrywood Pizza Wantagh, Long Island
During the previous excursion throughout the South Shore of Long Island, we ended up in Wantagh, trying out Cherrywood Pizza, which I have received many emails about. Many said it was one of the best pizza places in Long Island, so I had to try for myself. Each time I go back to where I was raised, which happens to be Long Island, I am finding it more difficult to trust people when they say “you have to try xxxxx since it is the best pizza in Long Island“.
What I have discovered is that every single pizza loving person thinks the pizza in their neighborhood is the best, and will almost physically fight you over it. It would be sacrilegious to even think that the pizza in the adjoining town could be better than the one served at your local pizzeria. This type of view is understandable, since you always love and remember the pizza places from your childhood, which you ate all the time and naturally thought were better than the rest.
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Brooklyn Square Pizza Seaford, NY
On my previous trip to Long Island, we decided to take several days and drive around on another mini pizza tour. During this pizza escapade, 4 of us hopped in the truck and began our journey, not knowing which pizza we would eat. Four brave souls, risking eating where we knew good pizza was, but choosing to try out some random new places we passed. Since we started around Syosset, we jumped on the 135 and headed south to the end, which is in Seaford (hence the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway). Once off the highway we headed west and the first pizza place we noticed was Brooklyn Square Pizza on Merrick Road in Seaford.
Once seeing the name, one of my friends in the truck said he heard this pizza was supposed to be reminiscent of Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn, which for those of you who don’t know, could easily be one of the best pizza slices in the country. I, personally couldn’t wait to try it out and see if it was anything even remotely close to the pizza I have had at Spumoni Gardens.
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Pizza Supreme Garden City Long Island
Some of my pizza contemporaries happen to like Pizza Supreme in Garden City. Usually a place that has been opened since 1958, cannot be too bad, and I’m sure they’ve built up thousands of loyal customers in the process. I’d bet that they would all swear its the best of the best. Why not? We all do so swear about our neighborhood pizzerias. To do otherwise would be a sacrilege. So its hard to argue with 53 years of success. Not me. I don’t care if you’re in business 100 years. You’d better bring your A game when you hand me a slice of pizza.
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Aegean Pizza Restaurant Holbrook, NY
My sister took me to a place that seems to be a winner in a lot of lists of The Best Pizza in Long Island in the Sun Vet Mall out in Holbrook, Long Island. The place is called Aegean Pizza, and it is clear to see that they are in a good part of this otherwise completely dead mall. It was with anticipation that we walked into Aegean Pizza, since I not only received dozens of emails asking me to try this place, but I love to see if the other local Long Island publications could be wrong about another place being the best pizza, like they were about Colosseo’s in Port Jefferson Station.
Personally, I got one Sicilian slice and one regular slice, as well as a dozen garlic knots, which turned into about 7 after 5 of them fell off the flimsy paper plate that the guy behind the counter handed me with 12 oily, and heavy knots on top. One of these days I will start writing on bestgarlicknots.com, but as of now I don’t have the time needed. My sister and her kids each got different kinds of slices which I will display below, even though I didn’t try them, just so you have a visual of the other kinds of pizza choices they have at Aegean Pizza in Holbrook.
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Passione Pizzeria Carle Place, NY
Emilio Branchinelli is a genius. He’s the current patriarch of the Branchinelli name in America. The San Marzano farming family that grows the finest tomatoes in the world and makers of the best pizza sauce… period. Emilio is also one of the nicest and most dedicated epicurians on Long Island. He has inspired the likes of Pasteria, Fanatico, and is the owner of Emilio’s in Commack. Now, his new creation in the corner nook of Carle Place that once held the legacy of 231, is home to Passione Pizzeria. Abbundanza!!! Bone fortuna Emilio. The night started off strangely as I went right on the assault, letting the big man know that Pizza Expert and I had “NOT the time of our lives on Labor Day for lunch at Emilio’s.” I told him that the review was an ice pick to the brain as a result of service and some other oddities.” That just brought out the super classman in Emilio that proves once again how special and dedicated he is to preserving the excellence of the Branchinelli name.
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Renzo’s Pizza East Islip, NY
Long Island pretty much has a pizza place in each shopping center you pass. It is almost impossible to choose a place, especially if you are unfamiliar with the area. Many people tell me to check Yelp or UrbanSpoon, but sometimes I notice that pizza owners have figured out ways to “game” the system and gather up a bunch of fake reviews, while at the same time leaving bad reviews on their competition, so I never really put much hope in what I read there. While out visiting some family in East Islip Long Island, I decided to just pick a random spot and try out a slice or two. After passing by what seemed like dozens of other pizza places in East Islip, I decided to stop and check out Renzo’s Pizza on Main Street.
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