Piola

This place is ok. I had a decent dining experience but not a place I’m coming back to. The décor is very cheesy for being in North Hills.

Visited Piola for gnocchi night last night (29^th of each month). $ 15 dollars and they bring around different types of gnocchi to try family style — ie., the server would serve the whole table from a single bowl. While our server was attentive, it seemed like the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing. She would take our bowls, another server would come around with the next type of gnocchi and would have to return to the kitchen for serving bowls. So, I give the gnocchi 4 stars and the service 3 stars. Also, bear in mind, while there is a groupon coupon for Piola, you can’t use it on gnocchi night even though there’s nothing in the fine print that indicates this.

When I lived in Miami, there was a Piola across from my apartment. Coincidentally, when I moved to Raleigh, there happened to be a Piola across from my apartment as well, which was a pleasant surprise because I think there are only a handful of locations worldwide. Sensing a trend about to happen, I have to admit that Piola is extremely dangerous. Living near one — or knowing where one is — is the first step toward an addiction. The ultra thin crust, decadent toppings, and casual, lounge-​inspired ambiance makes you want to go there any night you don’t feel like cooking … and even some nights you do. Piola’s pizza is great, delivering a rich flavorfulness (which isn’t a word, but should be if only to describe Piola’s pizza) that satisfies the indulgent craving you hit when you order delivery pizza AND the gourmet edge you find at more artisan wood fired pizza houses. Piola is truly the best of all worlds. The ambiance is equally suited for a family dinner or a date night, making it a versatile, comfortable go-​to pizza option.

We have eaten here on 2 occasions & a Living Social brought us in. The 1^st time
food was good, service was too. On the 2^nd trip, lasagna & spaghetti& meatballs were good, but service was terrible. The table was dirty when the hostess sat us so, I had to ask they clean it. Hostess was oblivious to it!
No one voluntarily filled our water glasses nor asked if we wanted another drink. Finally we caught another waitress to ask ours for refills. We watched our waitress walk all over to other tables then head to the kitchen but she never returned. The manager stopped by to ask if all was OK & we again requested more drinks, he went to the kitchen, talked to a few staff, then walked out onto the floor to visit other tables! Again their follow up was terrible. We will never go back. If the Manager is this absent minded how can he train his staff? The Management always sets the tone. Forget this place.

Good bar service. Nice prices. Pizza is boring. Crust is soggy. Sauce is bland. Sauce tastes like out of a store bought can. Sausage was okay. Good for bar drinks. Not sure I would eat here again. Wasn’t horrible, but (even though I hate them) chain pizzas are just as good for less

This keeps coming up in my Unilocal feed, and I have eaten here.
I met friends for lunch, they ordered a Margarita like pizza which had an orange cheese on it. Ummm, yuck. I ordered something that tasted fine while being eaten (at this point, I really am not sure, possibly the Fusilli Blanco), but left a bad taste in my mouth.
Not bad, not great, obviously, I must also mention that although my friends LOVE it, I did order a cream dish (I should never do this), so perhaps a red sauced dish would have been better.

Its ok. Nothing special really. I ordered a margherita pizza and when it arrived it looked nothing like a margherita pizza. It looked like just a regular pizza. The décor is cute. Music was awful. There are much better pizza places that truly have unique pizzas. We also got the breakfast pizza. It was ok. The wings were pretty good. So I guess it will be one of those places that are ok to try, the have a large selection of pizza so maybe some of the others are better, but if you can’t get the classics right then I would not want to try anything anything more complicated. I will say the service was very good though ! It

Meh. It’s not a bad spot to eat, not awesome either. I will give them 5 stars on service though. Great service. There’s pizza, there’s beer, hard to mess that up. The pizza isn’t really true to Italy, maybe in spirit but not in taste and presentation.
While there I had the bruschetta, which came recommended. It was okay. Nothing that memorable. My dates loved her pizza, but didn’t love mine that much. However, because I’m lactose intolerant I had to go without cheese on my pizza pie. Their pizza with the cheese lacked flavor and substance.
All in all, it is okay. Not bad, but no wow factor.

My experience here was ruined because the massive amount of smoke from an E-​cig. This one was a very strong scent and I was unable to enjoy my dinner here. They have a nice patio outside and the waitress even told me that they were not even having any food, just drinking.
I had asked the waitress if we could move or ask them kindly to step out because the Odor was very strong. She said no problem she would mention it and they continued to do it and obnoxiously as they drank more. So our entire bill was about 42 and I didn’t enjoy the experience due to the overwhelming tobacco vapor. In this situation the drinking customers were taken care of over the paying dinner customers. So one star for that.
I will give credit when due, the manager did come over and apologize and said he would he looking into implementing a new policy to ban all tobacco products. I understand that the E-​Cig is a new concept and some will have to take it as it goes, but to give an honest review… the strong smell did take away from experience from trying this place and as a paying first time customer… Our concerns should have been considered.
Food is awesome, highly recommend. Cool atmosphere with great vibes. I’ll definitely give them another try and rewrite this review. Two stars for customer service and the manager personally speaking with me and the third star for the food. A yummy place and definitely could be a plate to split with a friend.

Let me start by saying that I love the pizza at Piola. I also love the profiteroles and let me get this out while I am on a roll…
I used to go to Piola in Chapel Hill regularly and am very familiar with their awesome pizza selection, fresh and funky décor, and what Piola is really supposed to be. Sadly the Chapel Hill location no longer remains and NH is the only one in the Raleigh area. This has been my second visit to the North Hills location and my qualms are more around the operations and lack of service. We went to eat on a Saturday night before going to see a movie at North Hills. There was a concert going on a Midtown Park so there was no parking anywhere and we ended up walking from the Lassiter Mill side. No biggie and we worked up an appetite for pizza.
The restaurant was empty and the hostess seated us a the table right in front of the door to the patio. It was the worst seat in he house because every time a server went outside to check on the patio, the 90 degree hot air blew in and knocked over the napkins and menus. The restaurant has such cute and colorful décor and many other places to sit yet we got stuck in the breezeway.
Our server was not enthusiastic, never introduced herself and did not bring us bread nor tell us about any specials. I had to find out about the specials while in the bathroom where the daily specials are listed on the wall. Tuesdays look like a good day to come back because the drafts are only $ 3.
The pizza is made right there and you can see the chef throwing up the dough and putting the pizza in the fiery flames. The pizza is very delicious with all kinds of fresh toppings and thin, flame kissed crust. While the chef is busy making his creations, the servers stand around and chit-​chat and check their phones. If I could give Piola a score based on the food alone, it would be a 4.5.

I finally visited Piola in North Hills after passing it daily on my commute for a couple years, and boy am I glad I did. We had no problem grabbing a table for four, though we loved that we could book a reservation through OpenTable. We ordered a few entrees to share, including the white pizza, beef ravioli and the chicken caesar salad. The 4-​cheese pizza was phenomenal, the crust was fresh and brie added a nice kick to the ‘za. The beef ravioli was ok, but the chicken caesar salad was crisp and delicious. I can’t wait to come back again soon to try some of the different pizzas!

Our favorite pizza place in Raleigh! Hot and delicious food made with fresh ingredients. Great patio

Visited this place through a happy hour/​networking event. The pizza is delicious but the ravioli is extremely tasty. The wine selection is great and they have my favorite wine (malbecs). Great place to dine!

This place is fantastic. I had the BRACCIO DI FERRO
Ricotta cheese and spinach –pizza. It was excellent! My husband had the Diavola-​spicy pepperoni and it was also excellent. We had a Caipirinha cocktail that was spot-​on. The service was good. My new favorite pizza restaurant in Raleigh.

It’s still not NEW HAVEN, CT… Like Pepe’s, Sally’s nor Modern… But it beats anyone else’s I’ve had here in NC. Traditional menu, like Sausage, Peppers and Onions has to be ordered outside of the menu as the menu doesn’t really have «traditional» listings… But it look like you can order them. The only part i’m not crazy about is Red Onion on a sausage, pepper and onion pizzas… It should be, in my opinion, vadalia’s or yellows… Definitely NOT RED… I’ll give them 3.5 out of 5 gold forks.

This place is awesome — new favorite «fresh» style pizza place in Raleigh! (It used to be Brixx, but I prefer this place now…) Cool decoration /​vibe inside and the times I’ve been there has always been good service. (Once on a weekend, once a weekday.)
I got the pruiscutto crudo pizza both times I’ve been and it was SO good! Very fresh crust and the sauce is DELISH. Have tried the meatball appetizer and liked that… But the pizza is what will keep me coming back.
If you like thin crispy pizza — you will love this! (Apparently some ppl don’t like thin pizza? To them I say — WHY NOT? YOU SHOULD.)

My husband and I were excited to visit Piola as they advertise Italian style pizza. We’ve been to Italy many times and thoroughly enjoy the traditional style Italian flat bread pizzas. While the service was great and we had a good time at Piola, the food left something to be desired.
When we arrived at Piola, we were promptly seated and quickly greeted by our server, Olivia, who would impress us throughout our dinner. We ordered a cheese and meat board to start. It came with honey and a sweet jam, three meats, and three cheeses as well as three medium sized pieces of toasted bread. It was a lot for two people as an appetizer, and while it was good, there were a few things odd about this plate. First, two sweet spreads are a bit strange. In our experience, one is usually a grain or hot mustard. Also, there was too little bread to support the selections on the board, and the cheese selection was a bit odd: mozzarella, brie, and parmesan. We both agreed that a cheddar or a havarti would have been better that the mozzarella. The meats were all great.
My husband ordered a pizza with prosciutto and salami, and I had one with arugula and carpaccio. The outer crust of the pizza was cooked very well, perfectly capturing that Italian style that we really love. The middle bits of both pizzas, however, were soggy, cold, and oily. While I can appreciate adding ingredients after the pizza has been cooked (especially when you have something like arugula and carpaccio), it’s not very appetizing if the middle bit is underdone. The Italian thin crust pizzas are always crispy throughout the underside of the pizza — that’s what makes them so unique and yummy! We also suspect that the cheese used for the pizza might have something to do with it. It did not taste like a quality ingredient. The toppings were great; we just with that quality was found elsewhere.
As we were getting ready to leave, Olivia brought us boxes for our leftovers and more bread for the remains of our cheese and meat board. She was appropriately attentive throughout our dinner and really just a happy, easygoing, delightful server. Piola is lucky to have her. If I ran a restaurant, I would try to poach her!
Because the service was good, we might be willing to try Piola again. .. And I might ask for a recommendation on what pizza to get. But I don’t know that I could recommend this restaurant to my Italian pizza loving friends. They are trying hard, but from our experience it really isn’t Italian pizza.

I didn’t have high expectations for this spot before coming… I was hoping it would be better than some chain pizza joint and not make me sick. Lucky for me, it was surprisingly good! It wasn’t just «eh, I guess I can eat that» but it was a spot I thought my 100% Italian grandmother would actually enjoy! (Well, maybe not the atmosphere for her, but take out would be more her speed!)
The crusts are thin like traditional Italian pizza. They aren’t cardboard hard or anything like that though. A nice crispy crust. The sauce isn’t overly seasoned, but it seems to be made from fresh ingredients and not overly salted/​spiced to hide strange flavors. The topping combinations are abundant too. You *will* be able to find something here that you will enjoy. All the pizzas are «individual» sized too… big enough for most people to split with a friend, or have some leftovers… or a really hungry individual!
I also had a tiramisu here. It wasn’t light and fluffy, but was pretty dense… a good-​sized, decadent piece of cake. There were a few other dessert options too.
The service seemed friendly and prompt for me. I’m hoping the few reviews with notes on bad service are a fluke, because this seems like a great spot for some good pizza!

A solid pizza spot with some genuinely tasty and creative offerings, how good the pizza is really depends on who’s in the kitchen. Quite often the crust comes out soggy and underdone, and it never seems worth it to send it back for what can be a long wait for a decently crisp one. The toppings are usually fresh and good, creatively put together and well thought out, but some of the line cooks need a lot more training on how to use an oven.
Same story for the gnocchis. The sauces are generally quite good, but how well done or how raw in the middle they come out depends on who’s paying attention or not on the line. Kitchen should step up their game, then they would definitely be a strong contender on the RDU gourmet pizza scene. As it is, they’re not bad, but the inconsistency in execution is a real problem at this location that brings down their rating.

Honestly we have not exactly rushed to trying this location, having been to a Piola in the DC area (Arlington) a few years ago. We were less than impressed with that experience, but tonight finding ourselves nearby visiting a friend in Duke Raleigh Hospital, we decided to give it a whirl.
Arriving around 6:30 on this Good Friday night, we had no problem getting a table for two, but by the time we left (about an hour later) they were quite full. Service was very good. I enjoyed an inexpensive Chianti, while Husband did his unsweetened tea best.
Our Server brought us some nice bread with balsamic and olive oil about the same time that our amazing salad arrived. It was a «tower» of arugula, fresh mozzarella, yellow peppers, tomato and pistachios with a pomegranate dressing. Oh my, this was so light and refreshing and delicious! Both of us loved it, which was good because we were sharing. This is a crave-​worthy salad in need of return visits.
Soon our Thin-​Crust Pepperoni Pizza arrived. This also was perfect for sharing. If you see my pic, it was actually thinner than the pic looks. It was loaded with oozy mozzarella which made the thin crust less than crisp… it was like a very thin New York Style Pizza… in other words… really GOOD!
We will definitely be back!