Punch Neapolitan Pizza – Eden Prarie

I went the «plain Jane» route and got the Napoli-​Sausage. The brick oven taste really adds a great flavor to the pizzas. Sometimes they come out a little too toasted though. The dough is just the right amount for a thin crust pizza. The sauce isn’t the typical Americanized pizza sauce which is nice. The sausage was a little spicy but still good. I got the smallest size and it cost $ 8.00.

Love this place! I’m a once a week lunch regular. The maximus is great with added garlic

Punch Pizza in Eden Prairie serves the best pizza out there. I have eaten there and ordered take away numerous times. My all time favorite is the Borgata. The ingredients are fresh with perfect touches of high quality goat cheese, eggplant and basil. I’ve never liked the excess of cheese that most pizza places use and Punch Pizza gets this right. Crust is just as Neapolitan pizza should be. Burnt spots are part of this characteristic. If you don’t like that, you can ask them to cook it to your preference. Sauce is never too salty or sweet. Seating is always almost to capacity. This is a good sign of good food served but it can be a challenge to find seating for more than 4 people. Serving size is enough for two meals for me. I am so glad Eden Prairie has this great pizza place in our city.

Punch Pizza has the best Neapolitan pizza I have had in the area. It rates up there, but still is not what I would consider an «exceptional» Neapolitan pie. The crust is thin, the sauces are quite tasty and well made, and the toppings are plentiful. The pies are wood fired, and have just the right bake on them to give that smokey goodness to the pizza. They have several pies with buffalo mozzarella, which adds a creamy flavor over standard «US» mozzarella. The «Buffalina» is a great purist pie, with creamy buffalo mozzarella, the slight bitterness of arugula, and salty prosciutto. Their Napoli is also good, and their Vesuvio has delicious Italian salami and olives on it.
The price of the pies are inexpensive, but keep in mind you will need a pie for each person. My family of 3 can get by on 2 pies, and my wife and I can get by on 1 pie and a salad split between us. Unfortunately, you just cannot get a larger pizza from them, which does not make it reasonable for a large group to order for an event like a business meeting.
The only reason I nocked them down a star is that the flavor of the crust just is not quite there (beyond the smokiness of the wood fire), and the have kind of «yuppy-​ized» the toping selection a bit too much. Still, it is the best of the MSP area.

This place is simply awesome!
You can make your own pizza and it’s always fresh from the wood oven.
The variety they have is good and you will always feel satisfied for the money you pay.
Keep rocking!!!

Just stopped by there for a quick bite.
Always the same quality .
Good service at the front and serving.
Great location and plenty of parking space.
It is the closest you can get to the Italian style pizza.

PIZZA!!! I love pizza… but don’t love the carbs that come with it. #firstworldproblem
No surprise, we were hungry and brought along a couple friends for a pizza night out on the patio (gotta enjoy the short warm months in Minnesota!).
Like crazy people… we ordered a crap ton of food…
* Bruni
* Margherita
* Palermo
* Siciliana
* Punch AND Caesar salads
* Artichoke Dip
So here it is, this place is amazing because it’s all made to order and cooked in a ridiculously hot oven, right in front of your eyes; you can feel the heat folks. The crust is what makes the pizza, crispy on the outside, but chewy on the inside, what more do you want? Fresh toppings, tasty meats and don’t forget the balsamic and olive oil at the condiments station; not grabbing that is a JV move. Take balsamic, drizzle over pizza = game changer.
That.Is.All.

This pizza is AMAZING. I used to live in Naples but now that I’m in the states I miss the authentic Italian pizza so much. When I ordered my first pizza from this place it brought me back. The pizza tastes exactly like the pizza from Italy. It’s not like pizza you would get at some major American chain — and thank god for that! This stuff is great. I was looking up their hours so I can find out how soon I can go back for more. Delicious!!!

Yum! This is what pizza is actually supposed to taste like. I always create my own and get a punch salad as well. Pretty neat atmosphere and enjoy how you can see the pizza making process.

I’ve always been a fan of Punch pizza. Definitely not a traditional pizza place, but ingredients enough to let you construct whatever type of pizza you want. The dough is tasty, and with the woodfire oven leaves a delicious little char and uniqueness to each pizza.

Pizza is great, salads are good and love the Evo to dip the bread and crusts into. The order girls at the cash register are kinda snotty is the only thing I can say negative about the place. It’s like their Bearpath Dads made them get a job to see what work is really like.

My very favorite US pizza place of all time! Only bettered by the pizza I had in Naples. When I was on assignment in Eden Prarie, I went to Punch at every opportunity. Now, almost 9 years later, still have not met its equal.

As a Chicago native, I’m skeptical with pizza anywhere else. We found ourselves at a loss of options late on a Sunday night while visiting and decided on Punch. Such a great choice — the Quattro formaggi was dynamite.

Wow what a dichotomy! Walked in and it felt like Chucky Cheese — wait in line, figure out the menu, pay, grab a number and boom — they deliver your food!
Neopolitan pizza — AWESOME — if my local pizza place in Phoenix made pizza this good, I’d buy the restaurant — really good Neopolitan pizza!
Salad = fresh ingredients, side of pizza dough = excellent chopped salad!
Wine = Chianti — a bit rough to be honest, go with something else
Bussers/​table ‘guys’ — relax no need to swipe plates under my nose… relax take them when I’m done… let me enjoy my pizza
The place is a bit messy (= Pizza Port in Carlsbad, CA) — bussers should clean windows and booths vs. just hustling customers plates!
Net/​net = pizza was excellent; salad was great = I’d go back again
Great pizza oven, good service, friendly people… just needs to tidy up a bit.

I’ve loved Punch Pizza for years I just needed to get around to writing a review! I love the pizza immensely, this is my favorite pizza chain. They use a big wood-​fire oven and your pizzas cook very fast while you wait. All of the ingredients are fresh and delicious. I’ve never tried any of their specialty pizzas since I’ve always made my own (Napoli with artichoke hearts, prosciutto, red peppers, mushrooms, and olives).
The only gripe I have with this location is that during peak hours they often don’t have enough seating. Other than that I love this restaurant!

Since my last review where I complained that the crust turned out soggy John P (owner) reached out to me and explained that they have a style of cooking called the «punch dry style» and thought I would like it better. I figured that if he was kind enough to reach out to me and made me aware of this, they at least deserve another chance.
I went there today and ordered my pizza as the punch dry style, and I must say it made a huge difference.
If anyone felt the pizza was soggy, this is what you should go with.
It leaves me with one question, why could I not see it on the menu? Did I miss it?
Much improved! Thank you

Really liked this place. Lived up to its rep.
I recently visited Italy and this rivals what I had over there at the local pizzerias. The salad was fab and the focaccia good too. The pizza was very good. Great crust and toppings. Fresh mozzarella shredded and brought to the table.
Super super value, if we lived in Minny this would be a weekly stop.

After scouring Unilocal for a good local pizza place, Krystyn and I settled on Punch Neapolitan Pizza in Eden Prairie (8353 Crystal View Road). We’ve been by here before and have told each other «we should try that place one of these days» probably every time we went by and last Saturday night we finally decided was going to be the night.
We are pizza people and have tried many pizzas over the years and had a range from amazing (Lola) to don’t bother (school cafeteria) and most fall in between somewhere. We came away VERY impressed with Punch.
You have to wait in a fairly long line to order, but it’s worth it. It also gives you more time to decide what you want off the menu and trust me, making a choice isn’t easy. The tables were nothing fancy, but it works.
They have a nice variety of fresh salads if you wish to start your meal that way, though some may consider this an entrée. I didn’t have the salad, but Krystyn tried the Rocket Salad (has fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and arugula) and said it was one of the better salads that she’d had in a pizza restaurant.
On to the pizza… it’s really good. They have a nice selection of «Classic Pizza» to select from on the menu and I would recommend this if you are a first-​time visitor. There are a lot of great selections here, or you can «build your own.» They offer their Neapolitan Style (fresh mozzarella and fresh crushed tomatoes) or the Pizza Bianca (Italian for «white pizza») which doesn’t have the crushed tomatoes. You can’t go wrong either way. Also, you can select extra olive oil, extra mozzarella or extra tomatoes on your pizza for an additional price. It seems like a small menu but you have lots of choices.
The pizzas are wood-​fired, which in our opinion, is the best way to cook them. Seriously, if I had a few thousand bucks extra burning a hole in my pocket I would have a pizza kiln built into the kitchen in our house. The crust on the pizza comes out bubbly, crispy and just about perfect.
I ordered the Palermo which had sun-​dried tomatoes, salami and saracene olives (an Italian olive). Krystyn got the Margherita Extra (a classic with just the basics — basil, mozzarella and fire-​roasted tomatoes… the «extra» was the extra mozzarella di bufali portion of cheese and Mt. Vesuvio tomatoes).
We were impressed with the freshness, the flavor, the quality of the ingredients and the amount of pizza that arrive to us. I thought they might be a little overpriced at first (some pizzas are over $ 11) but when you consider the quality and size of the product you are getting it’s priced well.
The only real negative about this place is the location in a strip mall. When this place is busy, parking is practically impossible to find. I had to drop Krystyn off and circle the lot a few times before locating a spot. However, this shouldn’t stop anyone from going there.
In summary, Punch Neapolitan Pizza provides a fresh, high-​quality, wood fire pizza at a decent price. There is nothing fancy about what they do here but the service is great and the pizza is fabulous. We will definitely be recommending this place to others.

I wanted to like this place but after tasting the pizza and salad, I don’t think it would be honest of me to give it 4 stars so I’m going to have to give it 3. I thought the pizza was kinda dry and the bread was a bit chewy. I had a hard time with the crust, it was a little burnt. I ordered a Caesar salad as well and the dressing tasted like it had olives. I don’t like olives. I was hoping for a creamy garlic zesty taste. I didn’t get that. However the the restaurant was clean and I like the set up. They have a little patio too. They have hanging lights. Reminds me of an alley in Italy.
Wine or beer can be ordered with your food. Basically you walk in, stand in line, order your food, get a number, find a table and then someone comes to you with your food. Pretty simple. The pizza guys are making your pizza in the middle of the room so you can watch them if you’re bored.

I came here on a weekday around 1:00pm and it was pretty busy even after the major lunch rush around 11:30am-12:30pm so it was a bit difficult to find a spot to sit. The way it works is like a fast food place — you order and pay up in the front counter and they give you a number to take to your table. You grab your own drinks at the soda fountain and pick a spot to sit. The pizza comes out pretty fast; they bring it out to you about 5 – 10 minutes after you order.
Anyway, I think I’m starting to become a neopolitan pizza fan! I got the toto, which has prosciutto, arugula, garlic, mozzarella, and crushed tomato on their signature crust. It was really nice; the crust was fluffy and chewy and nice with a little bit of charring from being put in an 800 degree oven for 90 seconds. I saved a little bit of it afterward to dip in some balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The toppings were also great. Unlike the rugula where the prosciutto and arugula are put on after cooking, the toppings are cooked with the pizza. I loved how my prosciutto had crispy edges. Overall a yummy pizza.
I also got to try some of the other ones. My friend got the margherita pizza (basil, mozzarella, crushed tomato) and my sister got the bruti (sausage, salami, onions, mozzarella, crushed tomato). I thought both were pretty good as well. Very flavorful ingredients.
Overall I thought it was a great experience. The food was really good and the atmosphere was nice and calm. The décor is very warm and the big wood fire oven is pretty neat. A great place to go for lunch.