Neapolitan pizza using authentic Italian recipes and wood burning oven
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1012
Reviewed: 7/19/2006
Rating: 8.5
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Thanks to Scott for pointing us over to La Pizzeria in Campbell. It's the 1st of us hearing about this pizzeria and only knew they served thin pizza, Neapolitan style. I remember reading an article on BBC mews about Italy passing bill to enforce the name Neapolitan to ensure strict traditions. Do a search for neapolitan pizza law and you'll see tons of articles.
We arrived a little after 12 and took up a table outside. I ordered a Calabrese and a beer. Pizza was $7.75 and I haven't a clue how much the beer cost. If you aren't into beer, La Pizzeria has a nice selection of wine. Our waitress was on top of things and made sure our drinks, plates, silverware, and pizza delivered in a timely manner. I haven't a clue why Terry thought our service was slow, I thought our waitress was good with the exception of getting our check.
A short wait and pizzas are out of the oven and on to our tables. Holy moly, these pizzas are larger than the plates!
sauce - your basic tomato sauce with salt, pepper, and little herbs if any, there might have been basil but my memory is tainted with beer. basic tasting, light sauce, I'd rate it a 7.75.
cheese - lots of it, had nice golden browning to it, stringy. Not sure if it was buffalo milk mozzarella but it tasted great to me.
calabrese - menu describes as a spicy sausage but it's not like your traditional sausage but more of a salami. Slices are large in diameter, the ones that were well-done were my favorites. They were crispy on the edges and had a toasty flavor. Very good topping and a perfect substitute for pepperoni.
crust - absolute favorite of the pizza. super thin crust and tastes much different than you ordinary pizza place. It's not doughy like 90% percent of the places out there. It's a cross between french bread and a cracker. Crust tasted so good, you could remove the toppings and I'd eat it plain. Dough had bubbling, edges were crispy. It was a nearly flawless crust but the center being floppy and undercooked. I would guess if they would have left it for just 1-2 minutes more, it would have given the pizza a 9.
Pizza prices range from $6.50 to $9.50 and think it's a great deal. I couldn't tell you how La Pizzeria holds up to the strict rules of a true Neapolitan style but all I know is it was pretty frickin good pizza. Although the sauce wasn't overloaded on spices I was able to taste a simple tomato sauce. Cheese was 1 type and crust tasted like a fresh bread thrown in a high temperature oven. I think the biggest kicker is, this is the only pizza to my memory that reminded me of the stuff I've had in Italy.
La Pizzeria was a request I was excited to do. I am always looking for some good thin crust pizza. I wouldn't exactly say NY Style, but it was still good to me.
The place itself reminded me of a Patxis in Palo Alto. Nice upscale interior for a pizza shop. We opted for outside seating however, which was on the sidewalk, enclosed in nice plants.
It was not very busy for lunch, which was good, it meant our service should be good. I decided to go with the Margherita Pizza. For the price (and the upscale expensive-look to the place) I was expecting a small pizza. When it arrived i was quite shocked, as it overflowed the plate. Sure it is very thin crust pizza, but still its a substantial amount of pizza for your money here.
I cut it up, which was no easy feat. I think they should give you real pizza cutters here (since they don't slice it for you) instead of just the basic knives. The knives were woefully inadequate for the task. I lifted a hefty slice and was happy that all of the cheese didn't just slough off of it into my plate.
I tasted it. The ingredients were all very good, including the cheese. While not a NYC slice, it was most reminiscent of a margherita pizza I had in Prien, Germany, at a pizza shop that was run by a family of Italians. I used to stop by that Pizza place 3 or 4 times a week when I was living there one summer. While I never really experienced much pizza when I visited Italy, I can only guess that maybe this is more of an Italian style of pizza. I will also say that it reminds me of a pie from Amici's but not as much as it took me back to Germany so many years back. Quite an experience. I was telling myself beforehand that I would only eat half of it because I was still recovering from a vacation of nonstop eating-out-at-restaurants, but as I was eating it, I told myself, ok just three-quarters of it, then finally I finished it all. It didn't overwhelm my stomach (not as bad as 2 costco pizza slices would) as the thing was really thin - I think it was just perfect for the appetite.
I found the sauce to be a little runny, and combined with the slightly greasy cheese, it made a mess of the fingers and plate while eating it. Even though the place was not that busy, I found the service to be a bit slow. I did get refills on my iced tea, so they were attentive. I look forward to returning here for the margherita pizza again.
“Excellent and very authentic. I spent about 3 months in Naples (the birthplace of pizza) and ate pizza there almost every day. This is probably the closest to that style that I've had. The service and atmosphere are also quite nice.”
7/20/2007 12:34:53 AM
Forcella ate...
Prosciutto e Rugola
“Authentic Italian Pizza. This place attracts a lot of yuppie whiners who find cutting their own pizza a skill they simply cannot master. The Prosciutto e Rugola is top-notch.”
3/29/2007 6:35:11 AM
Mommy ate...
3 different kinds of pizza
“Fancy pants place. The pizza is pretty good although if you let it sit for a few minutes the crust goes all soggy and it's a mess. The waitress convinced us our family of 4 needed 4 pizzas. We ate 2. Weighing cost vs value w/ kids go elsewhere”
1/19/2007 5:00:51 PM
rocketg5 ate...
margherita pizza plus expensive wine
“good, but $9.50 at night, instead of 7.... and out of house red so had $12 glass of something. wish i had gone to the garret. good news is they are open late so will be there when i have the $$$ to go fancy.”
