Julio’s Wood Fired Pizza & Grill

I can’t even put into words how amazing this place is. After being seated by Maria, we had such a hard time choosing what to eat. Between the specials and the everyday menu options, this place has so many great options. We also sought recommendations from our server Becky and was great in helping us choose. I had scallops and my husband had the chicken pesto pizza. We were both absolutely stuffed after our entrees but had to try Maria’s famous brownies-​I am so glad we did! Everything was amazing, the service was stellar and super helpful and friendly. We will absolutely be back. I think my favorite thing is seeing how well this family operated restaurant is managed. Very impressed.

Good pizza and it’s nice to sit outside. Would definitely return

Been here several times. The service is always friendly and efficient.
The food is always quite good. Tonight we had a fig/​prosciutto/​cheese appetizer special pizza that was very good.
I usually get a pizza, they are brick oven cooked, thin crust. The ingredients are quite good. Today I went with a pasta dish, a bolognese special, and I enjoyed it a lot.
The one thing on the menu that never quite works is the chocolate lava cake… it’s usually cooked beyond the lava stage.

Well, went there again last night for my daughters birthday. and I must say it has gotten worse. Waited again at the front door for 6 minutes even though I made a reservation. Waited another 7 minutes for any type of waitress to come over. UGH, not off to a good start. Order the white clam pizza. It was extremely over cooked and bland, now I am not really one for a lot of salt/​pepper/​cheese/​hot pepper on pizza, but I had to drown it to add some flavor. It was also not very hot. My daughter and her boyfriend ordered bacon, pepperoni and it was ok. Not as bland as the clams, but still not great. I will say this though… when I made the reservation I told them that it was my daughters birthday and they did bring over a desert for her and sing, which was nice. This place is so close to home and I hate to give a bad review, but seriously folks. The woman at the front door is still the same as the last time we went. It seems that the owners and the staff give more attention to their regular customers or their friends instead of all of their customers. I actually will NEVER go back there as if I have 2 bad experiences, they have lost my business.

Julio’s is a pretty popular spot in Southbury. I decided to drop in on a night I was working late and have a quick dinner by myself. Upon entering I was warmly greeted and was seated in under a minute. The server came around a couple of minutes later and also very friendly.
I decided to order the traditional Neapolitan pie as I’m always a sucker for this style of pizza. The pizza came out fairly quickly and on first appearance I can tell this wasn’t going to be the best. The first thing was the amount of sauce, way too much for this style of pizza, it was a deep layer. The sauce also tasted like canned sauce. The crust had a decent char and was a bit thicker than it should be again for a Neapolitan style pizza. The cheese was ok, I couldn’t make out any particular flavor in it so I’d say neutral.
Overall, I’m giving the food specifically the Neapolitan a 3 star. The service was fantastic no complaints there but I’m not sure I’d come back here unless I’m meeting friends for dinner. Not my favorite.

Flavorless.
Literally everything my boyfriend and I ordered this evening at Julio’s had zero flavor. Nothing was seasoned and the marinara tasted like it came from a can– too much sugar.
Our waiter was pleasant and gave good service but I would not come back due to the lack luster food.

I have been informed there is now wifi.
I haven’t been back since my last visit, but I’m glad to hear about the addition of wireless connectivity.

Nice, tasty thin crust pizza. It can be a little well done as can be expected with wood fired pizzas.

Great service! Friendly, attentive and professional. This spot is no Jordan’s. pizza was awesome! Nice char from the wood fired oven, good crumb to the crust. Also shared the antipasto and Zuppa di pesce. Ample seafood and fresh pasta in a nice red sauce. Will return next time in town.

A go-​to favorite for dinner in Southbury. I’ve been eating here for about 10 years and have never had a bad meal. I’m not a huge thin crust pizza fan, but theirs is very good (does not travel that well for take-​out though because the crust is so thin). Salads are very good. I love their pastas– recent fave is the rigatoni a la vodka. The linguine and clam is also very good. Mixed crowd– couples, friends, families with kids, etc. Service is very good and they have been accomodating of dietary requests/​substitutions when I have asked.

Not a big pizza fan, but ordered the spinach Dijon salad to-​go today with chicken and bacon on it. Man o man, was it tasty. I work nearby so I will definitely be stopping by more often.
Being an on-​the-​go guy, I really appreciate a good to-​go meal and this was definitely up to par. Thanks Julio’s!

Been going here for 15 years. The Pizzas are great thin crust (I’m a Pepe’s fan and these measure up) nice and crispy. Other Italian dinners are also well prepared. We have always found the service good and welcoming. Don’t believe the whiners below, there is a mixed crowd here including lots of families. Everything is made fresh, you can watch them making the Pizzas. Who cares if a family place doesn’t have Wifi, you should be enjoying your dinner, not texting, give me a break.

i give this restaurant 5 stars! i live in NYC and this was the first time i have been to southbury. we came into town to visit family. there was 11 of us and they accommodated us in a private area in the back. the food is delicious! and the service is great! i ordered the veal milanese… DELICIOUS! i highly recommend this restaurant!

Once again my wife and I left disappointed. This place has fell tremendously! $ 19 for Rigatoni w/​chicken & vodka sauce. Rigatoni not cooked al dente, chicken was over cooked & vodka sauce was old and not made fresh to order. $ 21 Salmon dish– inferior, poor quality salmon. Sautéed spinach arrived with no hint of squeezed lemon on it. We both order dinner and no bread arrived! This place is horrible and will never return!

A great Italian restaurant for Connecticut, definitely one of the best in the area! The pizza is above average and the seafood and pasta is quite good, too. I wouldn’t say this restaurant is anything special, but is definitely worth trying if you are in the area and craving Italian food.

I love this place. My husband and I eat here whenever we can. The food is delicious and the atmosphere is hip and comfortable. They have a good wine selection and a small bar area if you’re just looking for drinks. My favorites from the main menu are the Pizza Daniella and the scallop dish. They always accommodate my special request to substitute the spinach with broccoli rabe on the scallop dish. My favorite meal from their special menu is rigatoni Bolognese. After dinner I usually order a cappuccino. It’s so good that I often have a second cup. The desserts are just as good. We usually share Maria’s Killer Brownie or the Apple Tart.

I’m not a big fan of the pasta, but the PIZZA is the best in the area. Service is very friendly and prices affordable. Highly recommended.

They offer some interesting dishes in addition to pizza. Nice place to linger of your meal and libations. They also have an nice outdoor area that is very pleasant during nice weather. I don’t find myself returning here as often as I should.

This is one of those times I got Unilocaled into trying a failed restaurant (did I just made up a new phrase :-)). For an office visit bunch of us started searching for a nice restaurant in Southbury, CT. After reading couple reviews this place seemed really nice, at least looked worth trying… what a mistake.
Décor leaves much to be desired, in a nice sunny day in March when I have been craving for more sun light, this place had all their shutters closed, casting this weird yellow tone into their dinning room.
After waiting to get two waitresses attention in a restaurant that only have 2 tables with customers, we made our orders.
Bruschetta with prosciutto to share for all of us and wild mushroom pizza for me. I wasnt big fan of bruschetta (had much better ones even in Bertucci’s), I probably wouldnt order it again if I were to clubbed on the head and dragged into this place again.
Now as for the «Pizza con Funghi Misti», it was thin crusted ai’right, but it had no flavor at all. I had to put salt on my pizza!!! and it barely had any ingredients on it.
On a funny note however, one of my coworkers connected the dotted lines. no salt on pizza, this awkward ambiance and the emergency pull cord in the bathroom. It turns out Southbury has a huge retirement community :-) not that there is anything wrong with catering a certain clientele, it just caught me off guard.

From what I’ve heard, Southbury, CT, is not exactly a mecca of great dining destinations. With that in mind, I have no way of judging whether or not a 2-​star rating is truly just in comparison to what else can be found in the immediate vicinity of Julio’s (tip from waitress: pronounced «jewel-e-o’s»).
But I feel a certain responsibility to wayward Unilocalers who might find themselves trying to choose between this establishment and the always-​dependable Chili’s they passed a few minutes ago on I-​84. If you find yourself in this situation, may I recommend packing your lunch instead? Seriously, if you’ve made it this far and you really want pizza, just head to New Haven and hit up Sally’s.
Julio’s Wood Fired Pizza & Grill gets two stars because it does in fact have wood fired pizza, and presumably, a grill. (Two gold, mediocre stars for honesty). What no one else has deemed necessary to tell you is that the average age of the clientèle at Julio’s is such that they have a special ripcord in the bathroom that you can pull in case you have some sort of medical emergency while you’re relieving yourself. I imagine this bodes well for their star count in the Octogenarian’s Guide to Restaurants in Connecticut; however, anyone who appreciates food and does not yet own some sort of breathing apparatus probably realizes this does not bode well for food quality, atmosphere, or service.
The food is bland (a co-​worker actually put salt on his pizza), the servers are uninterested, and the mood is draining, to say the least. When another reviewer describes the atmosphere as «unique», I not-​so-​secretly wonder if he has ever been to the dentist, the doctor’s office, or his grandparent’s dining room. With that being said, the pasta is okay, and the pizza is thin-​crust and wood-​fired, and thus more agreeable than the fast-​food variety.