Pizza Roma

Pizza was only slightly better than frozen. Roman? I don’t think so! Terrible.
P. S. Started this review in ’13. Now I see it’s closed. I am not a psychic.

Most people think this place is just for a quick slice of Pizza but it is actually really charming. We came here for a large birthday dinner (17) people and it was perfect! We were seated outside in the little back patio which was super cute.
Since we were a large group, the restaurant let us do a prix fix which included bruschetta to start, salad, dessert and more pizza than we could imagine! They brought out a number of different kinds that were all delish! My favorites were: zucchini & cheese, margarita, mushroom & sausage as well as the sauce & garlic pizza. For dessert they have us a number of pastries, panna cotta, and tiramisu which was fantastic.
Overall, the food was very good and the staff was extremely helpful.

I used to love this place. Great non traditional slices like Zucchini pizza kept me coming back a few times a week. I live around the corner and there literally a half dozen pizza joints nearby. While the quality hasn’t changed, there are 2 things that just make it no worth it anymore. A few months back they decided to cut the down the size of each slice to half of it’s original generous size, okay so maybe I’ll just have less of it, but then last month they raise the price to $ 5.50 per measly slice. No thanks.
Business has been off after their failed «Bier Garden» and perhaps they are looking to raise revenue.
I barely see anybody in there anymore and this place will probably fade into history as the old Zito’s bakery that use to occupy by this space.
Update: 6−2−13. As predicted they have now closed for good.

It was tasty for gluten free i guess. I am not allergic but figured why not. I should have just gone to John’s across the way for traditional pizza.
I recommend telling them to make sure your pizza is hot. My pieces came out lukewarm and this was after about 10 mins of waiting… Not sure what happen.

Alright, this owner/​groupie is freaking annoying. He posts his redundant marketing bullet points on half of the reviews this place gets, and he just changed his comment again 3 times on my review (I have the confirmation e-​mails to prove it). Allow me to riposte:
I went back for a slice at lunchtime. They must’ve cooked the pie before 10am and left it out by the way it looked and tasted. See my original review for details, as the experience was identical and similarly mediocre.
The bottom line is that Pizza Roma is a chain pizzeria from abroad that is trying – perhaps desperately – to establish themselves in the US. What I mean by this is that while they are obviously still open, I don’t see them expanding either. I’ve read their reviews on numerous outlets, and nobody is exactly raving about the place. Why? Because a little prick named Andrea has probably been writing, calling them, knocking on their doors and using every third hand connection he had to get them to write about his shitty little pizzeria. Seriously, look up the video of him going door to door in a 3 piece suit giving away free pizza; one of the most awkward videos I’ve seen about pizza anywhere. Many outlets haven’t written about the actual pizza and when they do, if you read between the lines you see they aren’t exactly thrilled about it. Persistence is great, but the product is what defines success in the end: if it sucks, you suck. Importing ingredients is what everyone does now-​a-​days and digestibility is a factor for only some; what matters is that something is fresh and tastes great – attributes that don’t describe your pizza.
The Whole Foods market comment just goes to show that they’re a chain; who knows, maybe McDonald’s is next. As for the critic comment, I’ll take that as a compliment from someone who either A.) someone who is single-​mindedly loyal to people who are paying him a bunch of money, or B.) someone who is an oxy-​moron: an Italian who knows nothing about great Italian food. My reviews here and my record elsewhere speaks for itself.
I’m deducting another star because of this idiot. Lets see what he writes next; I’m having fun.

Some of the best pizza I’ve ever had. It’s not a traditional NYC slice — it’s better! Try the potato slice — it’s incredible!
The place has a nice vibe too — low key, no fuss.

I absolutely love love love their pizza here. I stopped by after walking by and as a yogi I try to avoid this type of food, but I actually walked past and turned around for some reason. Good decision!
Truly authentic Italian pizza, unique toppings. I love the non tomato sauce pizzas they have, theyre quite light and nice to eat even on a hot summer day.
If you want a gourmet pizza, go here!

This place was a perfect choice for pizza on returning from vacation in Italy to ease back into the relatively lower quality pizza when compared to the amazing food you get over there.
The pizza here is very close in style to the kinds of pies you can get in Rome and Florence. Though my quite as good, this place is still one of the better options for this style of pizza in NYC.
They start you off with free bread and olive oil, which is always a nice way to begin the meal, albeit a little unnecessary before eating a bunch of pizzas.
We ordered a couple of different pies to share and all were pretty good: Margherita Special, Soppressata, Patate with Potato and Cheese, and Boscaiola with Porcini and Sausage.
I like meat on my pizza so I would say the Soppressata and Boscaiola were definitely the best. My only beef with this place was that the pizza didn’t come out too hot. Lukewarm pizza in a restaurant is pretty disappointing.
For dessert we used a sweet Unilocal check-​in offer for the free Dessert Nutella Pizza, which was pretty good. Really nice that it was free.
I would recommend this place if you are looking for a more authentic Italian pizza.

I visited Pizza Roma as part of a «pizza tasting» event. While the nutella pizza was truly excellent, I was not blown away by any of the other slices I tried. (Not a huge fan of the foccacia crust) However, the pesto was also amazing! 3.5

The only sit-​down pizzeria serving Roman-​style pizza I know of. Roman pizza is different than thin-​crust Neapolitan-​style or the thick-​crust Sicilian. The dough is more like a focaccia, slightly chewy rather than crisp.
Chewy crust is flavorful, toppings are creative (I was impressed with potato & rosemary, zucchini, and cheese & mushrooms). Most of the toppings are very generous, but there are a few that allow you to taste the dough. The selection of Italian beer and wine is good. The desert pizza with Nutella is pretty tasty.
5 stars for being different. If you don’t care about pizza dough, you’ll only experience 4 though.

Definitely, after 3 years in the city, my favorite pizza in NY.
I was born and raised in Italy. And i’m a Huge foodie, and travelled the world for it.
The only possible explanation for the bad reviews is that pizza in america is different enough from the italian one that some americans are just not used to it.
It’s like playing Sinatra for a death metal fan. :)
If you love grimaldi, which for me is a joke, certainly you might find this of lesser taste.
But if you are either Italian, or just a fan of real fresh italian pizza with good ingredients, there is no way you won’t enjoy this and feel at home.
Even the desserts are really good, although, my perfect combo is having Grom gelato next door afterwards.
(incidentally Grom too, sometime, is talked badly about, and yet in Italy it has an half hour line in every location at every time. :))
Try the Calzone!

Starving and found this place. Got there before the rush so they let
us sit in the dinning room. The pizzas all looked beautiful, fresh, creative. They were!

hidden patio
fresh mozzarella, salamis
a swoonful sancerre

You now do not need to fly to Italy for a the quintessential pizzaria experience!
I have never felt so much like I was back in Trastevere in Rome ordering a piece of traditional Roman Pizza. Cooked fresh with potatoes, ricotta, basil — all the best from Italy and served square, with a paper wrapping from servers whose first language it Italian. I was back.
Why so authentic? Their original location was in Rome — similar to Grom Gelato on the corner, which is also an Italian transplant, is identical to its Firenze counterpart I would frequent.
It’s not a New York Slice, and its not cheap. Bit if you want real Italian, there is no comparison.

I was reluctant to write a review given the fact that the owner posts on each Unilocalers review, but I needed to post this.
Earlier this year, I visited Rome and Sardinia (as well as other countries) and had great pizza from both places so I know what authentic Italian is supposed to taste like. When I saw the Gilt deal for 2 medium pizzas, wine and salad, I was sold, but what I should’ve done was looked at the review first because I was sorely disappointed.
On a Tuesday evening in late October, my beau and I walked into a near empty restaurant. As the host was about to seat us, I told him that we were using the deal and the first thing he asked as he sighed was «When does this expire?» Bad sign. I told him it doesn’t expire until the end of the year and he reluctantly took the deal and seated us.
We sat at a rickety table in the middle and looked around at the cheesy décor and noticed that there was only one other party there which is usually not a good sign, but on a Tuesday I guess it’s acceptable. I told the server (who was also the host) that I was a Unilocaler and he immediately piped up! I guess he didn’t want another mediocre review like the ones before this one and quickly brought us a nice serving of bread. The bread, which he claims was freshly made, was definitely the best part of the meal as it definitely goes downhill after that! The salad was certainly missing some components since all it had was lettuce & tomatoes (The regular price for this was at least $ 8 Smh). The wine (Merlot) wasn’t so great, but I’m also not much of a wine drinker unless it’s sangria but we managed to drink it.
Now onto the pizza. Based on their prices, I was expecting the pizza to be of the caliber I actually had in Rome or Grimaldi’s which I believe has the best pizza ever, but I was definitely disappointed. The pizza was a good portion, but it just wasn’t good. I had the margherita with bufalo mozzarella. My boyfriend had the 4 cheese with fontina, mozzarella, parmesan, and gorgonzola cheeses but one important component was missing: SAUCE! Who’s ever had a pizza without sauce??? That’s not a pizza, its bread with cheese! That needs to be specified on the menu!!! After that debacle, it was definitely time to go as this meal was certainly lackluster. I will not be back.

Owner has tried to contact me and my girlfriend multiple times but we will still not give this place another chance. There’s really no point to. Not for us anyway. Lots of other pizza places to go to.
But this is really in response to her comment left for me on my review.
First, the Boscaiola pizza, everywhere I’ve looked, this pizza has cheese in it. So I don’t know what the deal is here. Ok, maybe yours is a special kind of Boscaiola. I can understand that. But why did you not list on the menu that it has NO CHEESE? I just checked the menu right now and apparently, something came through to you guys, and you listed that pizza as having (no cheese). Nice, but that should have been there from the beginning.
Second, the sausage. If you list the pizza as having porcini and sausage, one expects the pizza to have porcini and sausage. Not a few tiny pieces of sausage, not the «TASTE» of sausage. It should have a significant amount. I’m not asking for a whole «steak» here, but cmon. Seriously? SIX tiny little pieces of sausage? I could literally count off how many pieces there were. That’s just ridiculous. I’m not saying smother the thing with meat but please provide a significant amount. Even a regular old pizza joint would’ve given more meat than that. For $ 18/​$ 33 a pie, I’d expect more than six measly little pieces of sausage, not the «taste» of sausage.

If I based my rating on the food alone, I’d give it 3.5 stars. The pizza itself was pretty good. Me & my bf got the sausage one. But I have to give this place 1 star because the poor service trumped the food.
We went on a Sat night and it was actually not too busy. 5 – 6 parties while we were there with 3 waitresses and 2 waiters on staff. We ordered the medium pizza and waited for about half hr. Def knew something was wrong when we noticed our neighbors had our food before us and even left before our food came. So I spoke to the waitress and eventually found out there was a mess up with our order. I’m a nice person, I get that stuff happens. At least she offered to give us an appetizer on the house for the inconvenience… but we never got it.
Five employees on a not-​so-​busy night and not ONE notices this huge mistake? Our water was never refilled. We were never checked up on to see if everything was ok. Looking at the reviews of this place, it’s basically a gamble if you’re deciding to go here. Either really positive ⁴⁄₅ stars or really negative 1 star.
To the owners, don’t even bother to try and offer us a free tasting to try and change our minds, we will not be going back.

Went there last night and had a great experience. Back garden seating is open! And they’re now accepting all credit cards (including Amex). Service was super-​friendly and accommodating with a real Roman waiter who even gave us a free slice of nutella pizza for dessert to try out (I’m so glad he did — it was awesome!). Price is on the higher side, I have to say, and I’ve lived in Manhattan for many years and continue to eat there on a regular basis. It’s appropriate for the quality of food you’re getting, but the size of the portions could use a slight beefing-​up.
Arancini rice balls: $ 8. There were only 2 and they were on the small side. Crisp on the outside, soft rice with red sauce on the inside with a center of melted mozz. They added a few quarter-​sized fried dough balls that were sweet on the inside, salty on the outside but there’s no way that dish should cost $ 8 (there should be 2 more rice balls in there at that price).
Eggplant parmagiana: $ 11. Eggplant was perfectly soft, sauce was what you’d expect it to be and there was both melted mozz and fresh shavings of parmesan on top. Delicious, but it’s not going to fill you up — the size is smaller than the Stouffer’s single-​serve frozen lasagna, if that puts it into perspective. We split it as an appetizer and it was about 5 bites each.
Tartufina pizza: $ 19.50 for a medium pan. This gave us 6 square slices and the pizza was truly wonderful. Crispy bottom, slight brush of red sauce topped with fontina cheese and truffle paste. When he brought it to our table the truffle smell preceded the arrival of the pizza — yum! I would absolutely recommend this if you like truffles.
Wines by the glass: mostly hover at $ 11 for a basic glass (ie, not a stingy pour and not a heavy pour). There’s a Merlot for $ 5 and then it jumps to $ 9 and Chianti /​Sangiovese are $ 11 and up.
Final Verdict: I loved the service, the outdoor seating on a beautiful day, the real Italian food (not American Italian) and the offerings of interesting pizza flavors. Food was excellent and the final bill with tax & tip was $ 80 (includes 1 small pizza, 1 small eggplant parm, 2 rice balls, 3 glasses of wine & one was the Merlot) but we got free dessert pizza which was a pleasant treat. Ambience is super casual.

Balls, balls, rice balls– love these darkly fried, slightly spiced balls.
Crostino Pizza with boiled ham tastes like procuitto or pancetta when baked.
Margharita is cheesy, tomatoey and full of flavor.
Surprised this Roman pizza is not more popular– this is real Roman style pizza and more not NY Italian style– Delish!

Let me start by saying that I love ‘pizza al taglio’ (pizza to be cut). I can name you my favourite 3 spots in Firenze growing up where they would actually weigh the slice before serving, and you would pay accordingly.
Pizza al taglio is conceptually different from a pie. It’s not deep pan, it’s not a brick oved thin pizza, it’s not focaccia. It’s pizza al taglio.
Key elements of a great pizza al taglio:
–Crust — thicker than pizza, thinner than focaccia. Crunchy on the outside (at the bottom) soft on the top and middle. Not too doughy
–Sauce — plain tomato sauce, sweet, not from sugar, but from good tomatoes, salt and pepper (with optional origano)
–Cheese — good, I mean good mozzarella. Bufala even better.
–Good extra vergin olive oil. Always a must.
–passion
STOP
As a purist this is the only way. Hence I will stop at the cheese, with no other condiments, but others, including italians do like many other condiments such as ham, salami or whatever. You know what I mean.
In the interest of full disclosure, Andrea, one of the partners has invited me (I assume with a bunch of other Unilocalers) to do a private tasting. To which I gladly accepted. The pizza was on the house, the rest we paid.
The result:
–very good pizza al taglio (fully meets my key elements mentioned above) served in a casual enviroment that resembles the back (or side) room of an italian pizza al taglio place in italy.
Don’t go if:
–you expect thin italian pizza
–would like a restaurant experience, this place is more casual
The service is friendly. Andrea is excited about his New York venture, as he should be, given that this is the best place in the world to own a restaurant even better than Rome.