Fiorella Pizzeria E Caffe Washington DC
Recently, buzz has been building for “Fiorella Pizzeria E Caffe” at beautiful National Harbor near Washington, DC so I decided to check it out. Word was that the service was lousy but that the trendy décor and pizza would make me forgive their lapses. I found myself agreeing with the comments about lazy waiters but found the food to be average for an above average price.
As you walk through the front door you can’t help but see an odd statue of an overweight naked greek guy with a leaf covering his (cough) belt buckle. We were quickly seated at what can best be described as a tall night stand with drawers on each side and placemats drawn onto the top of it for each diner.
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Primo’s Pizza Miramar, FL
Ed note: Management has since informed me that they have corrected the below Cheese Shaker issue by getting new ones. I have photos at the end of the story now.
While down in the Miramar area, to do some filming at NBC, we asked the staff in the studio where we could get the best pizza in Miramar from? Almost all said to go to Primo’s Pizza, which was a bit west of the station, and that it would be worth it. So we headed across the highway and began our quest to taste what was described as the best pizza in Miramar. Primo’s Pizza wasn’t that easy to locate, since it is on the west side of the plaza and doesn’t face the main road. We parked and went in hoping it was a grab a slice and seat yourself kind of place, but were quickly altered to the fact that we should seat ourselves and wait for a server.
Everyone who reads this site knows that I HATE HAVING TO BE SERVED MY SLICES. This could be one of the only times I was happy to get a waitress. The girl who served us was awesome. Her name was Daniella. She was friendly, cute, bubbly, and just made us feel like we belonged there. Regardless of how the pizza might have tasted, I would go back for pasta or something else when in the area, just to know I could have her again.
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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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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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Pizza Barn Loxahatchee Florida
As a recovering New Yorker I often view pizza as a quick food staple and one of the frustrations of living in South Florida is the lack of corner pizza joints where you can simply grab a slice. I am almost certain by now that you have read Pizza Expert’s rantings on this topic, and I actually agree completely with him since the whole practice of having to wait for a slice is silly, especially when you can just grab it yourself like they do where I am from.
Yet I am always hopeful that I will find the one place that reminds me of home (just without the snow) and recently while driving around the acreage in Loxahatchee I found myself inexplicably drawn to The Pizza Barn. While the whole Barn theme seemed to fit in this area of the world, it didn’t quite scream pizza to me.
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Hosteria Romana Pizza Espanola Way Miami Beach
While spending the weekend with my family down in South Beach, my wife and I decided to meet up with one of our close friends. She was also in town to attend the Sleepless in Miami event. After watching people dance on the side of a building, we decided to go eat a snack. They also wanted to drink, so we headed towards Espanola Way, which is one of the cutest streets in Miami Beach. While walking down Espanola Way we were accosted by a waiter at a restaurant named Hosteria Romana, who wouldn’t leave us alone until we ate. I hate when places leave people outside their restaurants (unless they are crazy hot girls like on Lincoln) telling you to “come eat come eat, is good, is very good.” Since it was late and there weren’t many other choices if we walked by Hosteria Romana, we decided to give it a shot. What a terrible mistake that was, in my opinion.
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RedRocks Pizza, Old Town Alexandria, VA
If you’re looking for a 93.3% chance of getting one of the best pizzas in the DC area without waiting in that long line at 2 Amys, then RedRocks is the perfect place to go! Rumor has it that a few days a month their regular chefs actually take time off to be with their families (The nerve of them!) and leave mere mortals in charge of making their delicious pizzas. Luckily, during my 2 visits to their location in Old Town Alexandria, I was blown away by the quality of their pies.
You can usually spot a great pizza place by taking a peak in their windows. If the place is full and they don’t automatically provide cheese, oregano, or hot peppers on the tables, they are probably confident that their pizza flavoring is good enough to stand on its own. This method of spotting authentic Italian food is much better than my second method of counting the # of vowels in the name of the restaurant. RedRocks is one of these great Naples inspired restaurants despite only having 2 vowels.
With wood floors, marble tops, and high ceilings, RedRocks is trendy with a phenomenal pizza aroma floating through its high backed booths. The list of pizzas available range from traditional margheritas to fancy sounding daily pies made with their homemade sausage, meats cured in house, and locally grown produce. There is a decent sounding list of appetizers and salads but the personal sized pizzas (no slices) are why you come to RedRocks. On my two visits, the crusts were picture perfect with delicately placed basil, buffalo mozzarella, and toppings complimenting their delicious tomato sauce. Pictured is a daily special Mushroom pie that had a slight barbeque flavor but I enjoyed the traditional Margherita pies more. Friends have told me that a few days a month the crust can be soggy, but on my two visits, it was top notch with great service and no wait.
I give RedRocks 7 of 8 slices.
Joe’s Brooklyn Pizza Henrietta, NY
The first stop when I arrived in Rochester, during my previous trip was at Joe’s Brooklyn Pizza. Joe’s Brooklyn Pizza is located in a suburb of Rochester known as Henrietta. I actually almost forgot about this place, until I was looking through my notes, so my apologies for writing about it out of order. After getting a chance to speak with The Rochester Pizza Guy during our car ride in the frigid rain to Joe’s Brooklyn Pizza, I learned that Rochester actually has a nice group of pizza lovers, and pizza places to satisfy their cravings. He didn’t pick Joe’s Brooklyn Pizza because it was the best, he picked it cause he thought it was a nice place to start, outside the city, since we probably wouldn’t get out these ways during the remainder of my trip.
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Serafina Broadway Pizza at the Dream Hotel NYC
After a business meeting while in New York City the other day, I met my family for lunch, and of course the kids wanted pizza. We had went to Angelo’s Pizza (1697 Broadway bet. 53rd & 54th Street, review to come) last time, so we decided to try someplace new. Well, actually new to us, as Serafina has been around a while and I have been meaning to try it. This location is called Serafina Broadway on its website, and Serafina at the Dream (hotel) on its door, awnings and menu. It is located at 210 West 55th St. NYC 10019 Tel: 212 315 1700.
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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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