The Town Center Mall in Boca Raton recently decided not to renew a lot of the leases of the restaurants that had been paying rent for years and years. Instead, they decided they need a more upscale feel and started to kickout not renew the leases of the places they deemed to not be up to Boca Raton fancy standards. So Subway got replaced with the classy Earl of Sandwich. Flamers is getting replaced with some Butcher Block burger place. Seems like Villa Pizza is next to go, since they opened up a new upscale Neapolitan style pizza place called Pummarola directly next to them. Yes, when I say directly, I mean directly.

Initially I walked by Pummarola Pizza not wanting to like it, since I couldn't believe the owner of this establishment would open right next door to a place that had been there for so many years. At least wait until they were pushed out. After seeing that Pummarola made their pies fresh right in front of you, and that they were small individual pies baked in wood fired oven, in the mall food court, I decided that maybe I should give it a shot.

I walked up to the counter, which was below a fantastic digitally displayed menu. This menu not only showed you the name of the pizza, but also showed you what toppings were on it, the price, and even a photo of the pizza you were about to order. There were quite a few other choices on the menu, including pannini's and pasta, but I only wanted the pizza. After ordering a Margherita pie with no basil for $5.50, I handed the cashier my credit card, and she flipped her POS system over to me where I signed the iPad screen with my finger. Pummarola definitely didn't cut corners on their branding. Let's hope the same applied to their pizza.

Since this new pizza place was kind of slow at the time I went, I was able to walk my way over to the pizza counter and watch the pizza maker prepare my fresh pie. They actually use fresh ingredients that are kept out behind the glass so you can see everything they are using to make your pie. After about 4 minutes my freshly cooked pie was taken out of the oven. The pizziola here even domed the top of the pie before taking it out so that the top could get a little bit crisp.

We sat down, and I took my first look around the pizza. It was small, but for $5.50 I do not feel like I was ripped off. It is about the same size I recall getting at Steve's Wood Fired Pizza in Boca Raton once, and that was over $10 without the high quality ingredients it appeared they used here. The bottom was a little undercooked, and had a similar consistency and texture to Naan bread.  Before you all go complaining to me about how it looks doughy, you must remember that Neapolitan Pizza isn't the same as New York Style or Coal Fired Pizza.

My first bite was pretty tasty. The sauce was smooth and tasted somewhat sweet. The crust was very tasty but chewy. The cheese was amazingly fresh, but had almost no taste. That is what I liked least about the pie, but all-in-all when combined this was a nice tasting pie. Personally I would put a little oregano and/or parmesan cheese once out of the oven to add a little more pep to it.

But for a wood fired pizzeria in a mall food court, Pummarola is worth checking out. It isn't as good as Scuola Vecchia, but it is satisfying enough for the location it is in. It is far better than California Pizza Kitchen at the other end of the Town Center Mall.

Pummarola Pizzeria Town Center Mall in Boca Raton gets 6 out of 8 slices.