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This past Friday I trekked from my office all the way across town to try a pizza that’s gotten a lot of buzz, and many excellent reviews: Una Pizza Napoletana. I am about to contradict those rave reviews.

Other: 1
I’m placing the “Other” category (usually the last topic I consider) at the top of my list today to make a point. Pizza is not typically, and in my opinion never should be a pricey meal, so I’m just going to come right out and say that this pizza is an unscrupulous gouge. Una Pizza Napoletana currently sets its prices at $21 per 12″ pie. For those of you who might have a little trouble visualizing this, the pie I ultimately received was about as large as a vynil record, perhaps a little smaller, and was only fit to satisfy one person, if that. The fact that I was being forced to pay such exhorbitant prices to enjoy this much talked about pizza definitely detracted from my enjoyment of the experience.
Additionally, efforts to make the restaurant space as much like a European cafe as possible were misplaced at best. Since you’re paying the same as you would at a fairly nice restaraunt, you might expect certain amenities to make your dining experience more pleasant. What I got was New York City tap water served in a wine bottle, and a table where I was literally rubbing shoulders with the couple next to me. As you may have realized, I don’t hold most restaurants to overly high standards, but when the price is so obviously inflated, I definitely expect a premium dining experience and this was not it.

The Pizza: 7
For all my criticism, the pizza was actually quite good. It wasn’t $21 bucks good, but that point has already been treated. Basically you get a choice of 4 pies with slight variances in what I would consider condiments (garlic, sea salt, basil), all priced at $21. I asked for a recommendation from my server and before I had even finished my sentence he was saying “Margherita” so that’s what I ordered. When this apparent piece of art came out of the oven and onto my table it was piping hot with a crunchy, nicely charred crust. The additions of sea salt and olive oil to the pizza came out loud and clear in the taste and were points that I greatly appreciated, but the dirth of mozzarella got me down, as I believe a good spread of cheese is extremely important to a quality New York Pizza. The Pie still earns a high rating for its uniqueness and quality, but i can’t give it top marks due to the scarcity of the cheese.

Toppings: 0
This one is easy. There are no toppings! You can only order one of the 4 variations on the menu and are explicitly told not to deviate from them in any way. You can’t rate what you can’t eat, so Una Pizza Napoletana scores a straight 0 in this category.

The Bottom Line
Just don’t bother. When it comes down to it, it’s simple math: you’re paying fine dining prices for a decent, albeit unique pizza in a cafe atmosphere. I’m sorry, but I’m just not buying it. I’ve had a lot of great pizza’s at much more reasonable prices, even at sit down restaurants, and while this one is no joke, at $21 bucks per person, pre tax and tip, without even ordering drinks, I can’t find any way to justify the trip. Save you’re money and go to Lazzara’s, Grimaldi’s or Two Boots, all of which have delicious, unique, good-sized pies at reasonable prices.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 10th, 2007 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.