UYE: Jersey City Heights Pizza Showdown

Is it weird to give our own UYE five stars? Don’t care, I had a great time. Many many thanks to all my Unilocal loves for braving the wet weather, particularly Salimah and Yeraldine who keep me sane when I start overthinking things.
Now, for results! We take our pizza seriously here in JC and were on a mission to find the best of the best, rated on Cheese, Sauce, Crust, and overall pizza experience (OPE). And the winner is… Renato’s Pizza Masters! In a Margherita pie head-​to-​head, scores as follow (on a 1 – 10 scale):
Renato’s: Cheese — 8.1, Sauce — 8.1, Crust — 8.1, OPE — 8.2
Geno’s: Cheese — 4.9, Sauce — 4.2, Crust — 5.3, OPE — 5.4
Our judges strongly preferred the chunkier, more robust sauce of Renato’s pies and thought the crust had a good bite. Though we didn’t have to use our tiebreaker questions, Renato’s also scored top marks for service and the cocktail menu was a pleasant surprise.
Renato’s also made a strong showing with a beautifully sauced and cheesed Grandma Pie, earning out of 10 in each category: Crust: 7.75, Sauce — 8, Cheese– 8, OPE — 7.85
We had the pleasure of tasting a wide variety of Renato’s’ offerings including a veggie pie, buffalo chicken pie, Sicilian, and pepperoni rolls. The buffalo chicken and pepperoni rolls especially made a big impression, garnering a few write-​in votes each.
We finished our night with a few cocktails and craft beers at Fox & Crow, which makes a mighty fine Gin Mule.
Thanks to all of our venues for being good sports and accommodating our motley crew. Special shout outs to Mark at Renato’s and Frank at Geno’s for answering all my questions during the planning stages.
Any way you slice it (haha) we are so lucky to have real Jersey pizza right here in JC Heights. You can’t go wrong whatever you choose but as for me, I’ll see you at Renato’s.

This was the first UYE I have attended where I brought home leftovers. Let’s be more specific, pizza leftovers. Kelle. Salimah, and Yeraldine, you guys know how to throw a great UYE! Awesome night out with Unilocalers at Pizza Masters and Ginos, and so much pizza:
Pizza Masters: veggie pie, chicken buffalo pie, grandma pie, margarita pie, Sicilian pie, pepperoni pin-​wheels. When the fourth pie came out it was almost comical.
Ginos: Margarita pie
Perhaps you can tell by the disparity in the quantities of pies that we were all about to bust when walking into Ginos, but big props to Salimah for marshaling the troops on to Ginos regardless.
The best snap shot of the night was one Unilocaler drinking a cosmo in a martini glass in the pizza parlour section of Pizza Masters. I usually order delivery or eat in the restaurant in the back, but I’m adding sitting in the front pizza parlour and drinking a martini at Pizza Masters to my bucket list.

Pizza and beer oh my!
First off I just want to thank Kelle, Salimah and Yeraldine for putting this UYE event together.
We started out at Pizza Masters and there was more pizza than you can possibly imagine. Highlights for me was the Grandma Sicilian and those pepperoni pinwheels. I could pop them like M&Ms. They also had a pie that I had never tried before and found it quite tasty, the Buffalo Chicken pie.
After eating all this delicious food we decided to walk to try to make room for more pizza. Seriously?
I thought it was funny how every one was trying to go to their cars to drop off their leftovers.
Once we arrived at Gino’s we were all pretty stuffed. We ordered their Margarita pie. Keep in mind that we had the pie sliced in about 16 slices so each person could sample. I also noticed that even though Pizza Masters is right next door to the Police Station, there was a large group of JC’s finest in the back booth of Gino’s. Hmmm.
We capped off the night with a few drinks at The Fox and Crow. I am not a hard liquor person so decided to try a white wheat beer that I enjoyed. They have a nice selection of beers and ciders on their menu. There is even a gluten free option called The Glutenberg.
And to those that I gave a ride to The Fox and Crow, please keep my parking spot off Central Ave a secret.