Una Pizza Napoletana

The dough is good and the pizza is pretty decent. The options are very limited — no meat and only 5 variations of margarita pizza. Major con is that there are SO many rules — no extra sauce, no extra olive oil, no Parmesan, no red crushed pepper, no black pepper, etc. Limited sub par wine selection. I’m happy I crossed this off my bucket list but won’t be returning.

Quality of the Pizza: 5 Stars
Attitude and Overall Biz Model: 1 Star
Quality is top-​notch, although the Margherita is slightly inferior to one of the daily 73 from Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, but it might be just my personal preference.
My real problem w/​Una Pizza Napoletana is the business model itself: limited menu, limited hours, 2x the price of a Margherita from Keste or Forcella in NYC.
This setup may be convenient for the owner to manage, but it turns Neapolitan pizza into an elitist food (contrary to its origins as a dish for poor people), limits its widespread adoption and eventually pisses regular customers off.
Kudos to Tony’s here for experimenting (and mastering, in most cases) w/​multiple pizza styles — in a space which is a fraction of Una Pizza Napoletana’s — while remaining true to the origins of this fantastic food.

The pizza was good but not worth 25 $ and the ambiance and experience did not compensate for the price. I am happy to pay for overpriced good food if the experience, service and ambiance makes up for it, but I was cold and had to wear my jacket the entire dinner, had to catch the waitress to request water (yes CA law but I shouldn’t have to catch her for drinks), would not allow us any red pepper or chilli oil for the pizza and a dessert after and salad before would have been nice for a restaurant that is 25 $ a plate. Overall worth trying but I won’t return there are way too many similar options to compromise.

Say what you like about the prices and the menu limitations but anyone who says the pizzas in Una Pizza are anything less than awesome is talking out of their derrière.
I don’t like the price.
I do like how seriously he takes his pizza.
I LOVE his dough, anyone who knows the nuances of Neapolitan pizza knows Una Pizza is legit. Knowing the nuances comes from kneading, proofing, stretching, and baking for a long time, NOT from travelling to Italy on your honeymoon.
As a chef myself I especially like how he doesn’t pander to the desires of diners regarding changes and substitutions.

I’m from and live in nyc. Here for 2 weeks for work in sf.
Was in the mood for good pizza and relatively close to my hotel. Found this place via Google.
Given they charge $ 25 bucks for a pizza, my expectations were understandably high.
Servers are nice and the place décor is very minimal. Which is fine.
Ordered and I asked to add fresh garlic to my margherita pizza and the server checked and it was not allowed. He said no substitution, but I’m adding not substituting. Still not allowed.
For $ 25 bucks I should be able to add a pair of old gym socks if I so desired.
The pizza itself was fine. It didn’t blow my socks off. No difference in texture. It’s all soft and chewy which is boring. Flavors are subtle. Pizza of this class is common. There is nothing here that is dercernable. If it was priced at $ 13 then it would be acceptable. At this price, it’s not acceptable. Especially its inflexibility on toppings at that price.
At the current price of these pies. Avoid it at all cost. Save your money.

As an Italian or an American (or both) we probably think we all know pizza well, but this is the most unique crust we’ve ever had. So wonderful, and worthy of it being the only item on the menu. I love people that specialize in one thing, and the specialization here has truly paid off. Bravo!

Still fave pizza ever. The dough is vegan (just flour, water, salt) and unbelievably chewy. The marinara is the freshest tomato sauce you’ll ever taste. The marinara pie is vegan and it’s my go-​to. So satisfying and fresh. And if you get there on the early side for dinner, there’s not much of a wait at all.

Who knew pizza crust could be that fluffy and still thin? Someone from Naples is who put us on the trail, saying it’s the most authentic pizza he’s had here. I grew up eating thin-​crust as the basic Friday night family meal, and was choking a bit at spending $ 32 on a 12″ thin-​crust, but it’s undeniably the best pizza I’ve ever had. Still, I couldn’t help thinking about inflation, and the cost of basic food. And about how if I can spend a premium for incredible crust, I really could also find some place to share a larger slice of our pie this holiday season…

The best pizzas I’ve ever had. Not sure why this place has so many low reviews. I don’t agree.
Minus one star because service of often very slow and they have nothing on the menu besides pizza (no veggies or meats) so I usually have to go and get dinner after having a meal here.
But, still, the pizza is perfect.

So far, Una Pizza Napoletana is my favorite Margherita pizza in SF. I first found out about this place when my then-​boyfriend (now hubby!) happened to read an article about it when it first opened up. For a long time we talked about going and when we finally did, I was so excited.
First off, this is a place that comes from the East Village. Um, NYC is the best place for pizza in this country (I haven’t been to Italy yet, so I can’t comment on that). This fact already got me excited since I am so in love with New York City. On our visit to UPN, we didn’t have to wait too long, roughly about 30 minutes (it’s been awhile since we went), which wasn’t bad at all. We went early enough and while waiting, watched Anthony make pizza and read the articles on the wall.
I had the Margherita pizza from here and I was in blissful heaven the entire time I was devouring it. So delicious, made perfectly, and the ingredients are top notch — reminded me of being in NY! I’ll have to make a trip sometime soon — usually it’s hard with the hours, but I’ll make it back here sometime.

Pretty good, but not great. We had the marinara and the bianca. Both the pizzas were quite good, but I felt the crust on the edges was a little on the thick side and was more chewy than I’d have liked. I once ate at the birthplace of Neopolitan pizza — Da Michele in Naples and I feel the crust there was lighter and airier. So this did not make me feel strongly like I was eating in Naples — in all other aspects, this was spot on though.
The level of authenticity and taste do not overcome the expensiveness and the limitedness of the menu for me.

When I checked in my friend and I laughed at the fact that they gave me the Duke badge for this place.
It’s one badge I’m not proud of, and I’m sure they gave it to me because no one ever comes back here, LOL
First things first, it’s really not the $ 25 price tag that bothers me, as much as it is the flavors and lack of cheese and sauce.
I would have liked to have seen more cheese on the margherita pizza, which was mine. My friends pizza the filleti had more cheese than mine. The cheese on my pizza was in small patches.
The two pizzas we tried were the margherita and the filleti (the one with cherry tomatoes).
The owner prides himself on ingredients from Italy, and even the drinks are from Italy, but that alone isn’t enough to make a pizza great.
This place just fell short on so many levels.
How do you have an oily tasteless pizza with hardly an cheese on my pizza and sour tomatoes?
Also, Philz coffee puts more mint in my mint mojito than this place puts fresh basil.
They are stingy here.
The crust itself has less flavor than the most bland nan from an Indian restaurant, and the cherry tomato pizza had maybe 5 cut up cherry tomatoes. I’m exaggerating of course but the cherry tomatoes were more like a garnish on the filleti than a topping. And they were sour.
Whoever voted this place the best pizza in SF are the same morons who voted Joe’s Ice Cream Parlor as having the best burger in SF.
It just doesn’t compute.
That’s probably why during a Friday night for 2 hours we were only one of two tables there from 5 – 6:30pm.
The other table didn’t like their pizza either.
Go figure!!!
The whole time I’m thinking, «why didn’t we go to Pizza Delphina instead?»
Here they have way too much bland crust, and for $ 25 it’s not worth it for a small/​personal pizza.
2 stars for the lack of cheese on my Margherita pizza, and the overall pizza flavor, and one star for them trying to say my photos weren’t of their food and implying I was never there, so I posted my receipt as proof.
I also have the e-​mail from Unilocal on my main profile page if anyone wants to see it.

Since they don’t take reservations, and it’s not a huge space, I imagine the wait is usually pretty long. Luckily, there was a Giants game, and Taylor Swift was in town, so there was surprisingly no wait at 8:30pm on a Saturday. You know a place is legit when they have a huge oven in the middle of the restaurant, one guy making all of the pies (and using that tin kettle for olive oil, and nothing on the menu but pizza.
They are kind of pizza nazis (no substitutions, no slices, no red pepper flakes), but for good reason — their pies are legit. The tables do have salt shakers; I love my food salty, and I didn’t even need the extra salt because everything was well seasoned. Each of the pies is 12″ and $ 25, which is a bit steep compared to some other places, but it’s good quality.
For 2 of us, we had no trouble finishing 2 pizzas:
1. Margherita: the true test for pizza. It had San Marzano tomatoes, smaller bites of buffalo mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, and fresh basil leaves. I liked that there was a good amount of basil. I wish there were more cheese or possibly larger pieces
2. Apollonia: available only on Saturdays. It had eggs (not a fried egg on top). parmigiano, buffalo mozzarella, olive oil, garlic. The salami pieces were tiny dices but were super flavorful, so it was actually a good size. The black pepper was a nice touch
Anyone can find San Marzano tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella, but their highlight was the CRUST. It got bubbly around the edges and was chewy throughout, perfectly salted, just the right amount of doughiness. I don’t usually eat all of the crust, but I couldn’t help but eat every last bite of this. I would actually eat the crust plain.
They had interesting beers and Italian wines. I had a sort of fizzy red, which was super light and a nice way to start.
It’s a no frills, authentic neapolitan pizza place, but the staff is friendly, and I love being able to watch the pizza being made in the center of the restaurant. Honestly, I think the price is what is keeping me from giving it 5 stars. It ended up being almost $ 100 for 2 people, 2 glasses of wine, and 2 pizzas.

Apparently the oven was imported from Italy, and since the only entrée they have here is pizza, I had high hopes that a single-​minded focus would yield better results. Upon entering the restaurant, front and center is a one-​man show (Anthony Mangieri) hard at work making and baking all the pizzas, and he looked like he took his job pretty seriously. It was pretty impressive that he alone pretty much took care of all the pizzas in the house.
The pizza was quite expensive for what it was — the pizza was actually oval shaped, about 12 inches across, but only about 8 inches wide — and cost $ 25 each. However, you can’t really find this anywhere else in the Bay Area, so maybe it’s priceless. I’d never seen anything like the crusts though — from a distance, they almost looked like naan (indian bread) because it was so puffy and charred. The crust itself was probably 2 inches high at the peak, fluffy inside, with a slightly chewy bread texture. Pretty amazing and different than anything I’d ever tasted. The pizza is best eaten with a knife and fork as the center can be slightly soggy, which is the traditional way of baking neapolitan pizza. None of the pizzas came sliced, but we were able cut them into fours with our table knives without too much of a hassle. They were pretty easy to share with a few extra plates.
: Margherita: the sea salt sprinkled around made this stand out from other margherita pizzas
: Ilaria: my favorite one with smoked cheese! The fresh cherry tomatoes and arugula also made this one taste the most fresh
: Apollonia (Saturdays only): The only pizza served here with meat, and probably the heaviest pizza with egg baked into it and salami sprinkled around. This tasted just all right, because I think the cheese had cooled down and firmed up a bit by the time I got around to eating it, which didn’t make it as appetizing.
My only gripe was that some of the crust was charred to the point of no return… as it had to be removed and set aside. I’m not that picky with charr, and I do appreciate a decent amount of char for flavor, but when the entire top and bottom are black, it was pretty much unsalvageable.
No reservations, so come early (before 5:30pm on weekends) to snag a seat or just be patient while waiting for a seat.

Amazinggggg pizza. On the expensive side but definitely worth a try.
Atmosphere: really cute Italian type place with wood tables and a wood burning oven
Food: just gotta get the margarita pizza. Soooo amazing, just like Italy. Thin crust, kind of burnt, kind of watery… Yummmmm
Overall: amazinggggg so dreaming amazing

Really good food at a fair price.
Not expensive, not cheap.
Wine and beer menu offer a wide variety of choices.
The cheese is flown in once a week.
YES, you have to try it because Anthony is #Amazing.
My guests shared it and said it was delicious too!

Pizza places are not usually known for classy date nights (unless you are at home making pizza from scratch) but Una Pizza Napoletana is definitely the exception. This is minimalism at its finest, from its décor to its menu. From the moment you walk in, you can see pizzas being made center-​stage in the stone oven. The white walls, high ceilings, and abstract art pieces reminded me of a museum. The acoustics are horrible here, and all sounds are drowned in indistinct chatter, but it’s still a very classy experience. You may have to wait to be seated, but that gives you enough time to ponder the five options (six on Saturdays) you have to order from. Each 12″ pizza is $ 25 which is incredibly pricey, but I would recommend coming here at least once.
We ordered the Margherita and Filetti pizzas. The Margherita has San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, olive oil, basil, and sea salt with tomato sauce. The Filetti has cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, garlic, olive oil, basil, and sea salt with no sauce. Like I said… minimalism at its finest. This is not your average take-​out mass-​produced greasy pizza. This is fine Italian dining. The chefs have really mastered the few pizzas they offered, and I would recommend both of them. I was impressed that I ate so much pizza. It must have been the thin dough in the center of the pizza and the fresh and soft crust that I could not get enough of. Oh yes, I would come back just for that.

Such a unique atmosphere. The kitchen is wide open in the center of the restaurant. The large stone stove is impressive and great to watch the delicious pizzas getting made.
There’s not a large menu, but the food we ordered was delicious!

I guess I don’t «get» this place, and that’s ok, they don’t need me to and they don’t need my business. Met some friends here before going to the Oasis, super convenient location for that.
So they list 5 pizzas but they’re basically all the same, and $ 25 for a «personal size» pie, oh my. The pizza was ok but I’d rather have a few slices from Arinell’s and call it a day. Much yummier.
The pretension level runs high. The waitress told us that they don’t slice the pizzas so as to maintain the integrity, and they don’t provide any condiment other than salt because it wouldn’t be authentic if they did. It reminded me of the time I tried to order a salad to go from Pauline’s and they wouldn’t sell it to me because the greens might get bruised in transit. Oy. So twee.
Speaking of salads, it would sure be nice if they sold some. Pizza and wine, that’s it.

After wanting to go to this place for years, I’m glad I was finally able to experience this spot.
The food was very good — they have a limited selection of pizzas that are all handmade on the spot by the chef, all viewable from the very open kitchen. The pizzas arrived hot and with great rustic flavors… very close to the best pizza one would find in Naples, Italy. While the pizzas are great, the price point is a bit steep at $ 25/​pizza (that’s a personal pizza for one).
The ambiance is very SoMa-​chic with the converted space, high ceilings and open floor plan. The service was very good and attentive.