A Pizza Story

Disappointing. Nice atmosphere, but when we were there for dinner on a Sunday night they were understaffed (the hostess and bartender serving all tables) and the pizza was fairly bland and undercooked. The dough was soft and mushy like it needed a few more minutes in the oven. And the crust on both of our pizzas were huge, so it seemed like ¼ of each slice was just dough.
With better pizza places in town, there’s no reason for me to return.

We enjoyed the house bread and a pitcher of Sangria for starters and then split a salad and pizza for the main course. Everything tasted great and we will return and try some other items. It’s pretty noisy on a Friday night, but we’re OK with that — not so much on a business or first date perhaps. Service was as expected, not bad, not stellar.

3.5 stars. Three of us were in early on a Friday evening. No wait.
We ordered the pomegranate hummus and chicken wings for appetizers. There was A LOT of hummus and not enough bread (even after the waiter brought more out). It looked a little grainy, but was really good. A tiny bit of sweetness. The bread was great (it looked like it’s the same as the pizza dough, maybe just seasoned differently). I didn’t try the wings but they were reportedly good.
We ordered the special pizza (Italian sausage) and a margherita. I didn’t try the sausage. My husband didn’t love it. Good, not great. He liked the crust. He thought the sauce was pretty good. The sausage wasn’t anything special. The margherita pizza was good. I think I liked it better than my husband and daughter. I really loved the crust. It was a little puffy but also crispy. I usually prefer margherita without red sauce, but I liked it a lot.
The restaurant is in a storefront on Manchester in Maplewood. Cute place. We sat at a high table close to the pizza oven. It was fun to watch them make the pizzas as we waited for our meal.
I would definitely return. I’d like to try the mushroom pizza. Not so sure my husband and daughter would go back.

We love A Pizza Story! My wife and I have been here a few times. Great location in the middle of Maplewood. When walking in, you see that wood fire burning oven in the corner, waiting for that tasty pizza. Both of us are obsessed with the Thriller pizza, and if you’re a fan of chorizo or pepperoni, this is an absolutely must! Fresh chorizo, tasty sauce, soft but crispy crust, fresh real mozzarella cheese. Just, wow. I’ve also had the house salad which was delicious.
I’ve had a few other of the pizzas which have also been very good. I would love to try the pasts here because they sound amazing. But when you sit down and order, how can you really turn down the Thriller?
Service has always been good. I like the ambience in here, it can be a little cold sometimes. But we look forward to coming back!

My husband has an irrational hatred (fear?) of Maplewood. I can’t explain it but it’s kept me away from all the great restaurants here. Luckily I have the kind of persistence that can’t be ignored and the ability to form evil plans.
Phase 1: Make frequent comments about his favorite meats, like prosciutto and chorizo.
Phase 2: Casually mention this pizza place you want to check out called A Pizza Story
Phase 3: Mention A Pizza Story has chorizo and prosciutto on pizzas
Phase 4: Offer to drive the two of you to the pizza place
Phase 5: Once he is trapped in the car, admit you are taking him to Maplewood.
Phase 6: Eat the pizza. Convert husband to Maplewood and A Pizza Story fan.
My plan was flawless in execution, especially because the pizzas here are so dang good. We ended up each getting a pizza, a Thriller and a Fantasy, and then having some leftovers the next day. I can’t wait to go back and try the salads or maybe the Legend, or the small plates, or go to town on a lunch special.

Fun environment and were sat quickly on a Friday night. My partner had the margherita and I had the adventure. Both were good. Crust was interesting. It wasn’t true wood fire thin crust because it was a little more doughy than most places I have been. House salad was good. Cocktails were okay. Moscow mule wasn’t an authentic Moscow Mule so was disappointed in that. Service was prompt but our server seemed slightly overwhelmed and forgot some items. Overall an average place and would revisit!

We love coming here! Whether it is to grab a drink at their beautiful bar or sit and relax enjoying wood fired pizza, we never leave here disappointed. They have a smaller yet diverse wine list making any choice a good one and my husband loves their on tap craft beer selection. You can’t go wrong with a cocktail either and their sangria is also delicious.
The menu though like the wine list is not large but full of amazing choices. From their interesting and fresh salads, shareable small plates, and of course their pizza! I would recommend their fairytale pizza for any mushroom lover out there. The combination of wild mushrooms and gruyère cheese just melts in your mouth. Believe me when I say I did not want to share a bite of it with anyone. Dan got the thriller pizza which he thought the same thing about that. We have shared margherita pizza before and that was also delightful.
This gem in the heart of Maplewood is not something to pass up. Happy eating!

I generally like St. Louis’s pizza scene. Each neighborhood has its own mainstay that offers something unique that other pizza places might not. I’m glad that A Pizza Story is in Maplewood, because it seems to complement the hipsterish vibe of other eating places in the area.
A Pizza Story is on Manchester, not far from Maplewood staples like Strange Donuts, Foundation Grounds, and Schlafly Bottleworks. The atmosphere of the restaurant suggests something more upscale than what you would actually pay for the pizza. The pizza (I got their margherita) is among the best I’ve had in St. Louis. Gooey chunks of mozzarella were generously scattered on top. Other margheritas I’ve had go more on the conservative side for the cheese. Their crust is probably the best part of the pizza. Doughy, but still enough charred spots to give it a bit of a crisp. Each personal pizza (although 2 people can split if you’re in the mood for a more light lunch) runs about $ 12, but they do have weekday lunch specials for around $ 8. I am definitely going here again.

I love trying out new Pizza restaurants and I am so glad we tried A Pizza Story. It is probably my favorite pizza place ever… on the midwest at least. If something ever happens to it I will cry.
First I love that its slightly hole in the wall esque but with touch of class and warmth on the inside. Its dim and screams pizza on a snowy night kind of place to be at. The photography you see on the walls are all taken by the owner/​chef. You can also purchase them as well.
Second I drool over there goat and beet salad. I crave it when I think about salads. I get it every time we come here. I hope they never get rid of this salad.
We have gotten the Legend pizza and its perfect. Its the perfect crispness and softness and chewiness. i could literally eat just the dough and be happy. They do a good job at balancing the different textures and flavors when cooking it. Its almost like you are eating art.
One pizza can easily feed two. We always have consistently great food when we come here. Everyone we told to try it out have loved it as well. I hope they continue to do well and for all you readers debating on coming here or not this is what you do… Order the Legend, the goat and beet salad on the side and a beer. You can thank me later when you are buying me a pizza because you had to come here again.

It’s not often that I say I would go back somewhere, but I will absolutely be returning to a pizza story. Every part of this meal was on point.
Our server Jeff was friendly and attentive without being smothering. I appreciated his run-​down on the appropriate amount of food to offer since we told him we were first timers.
The selection of wine and beer is on point and very affordable. I got the sangiovese and it was a perfect complement to my pizzas. I went with two friends on a Sunday evening so the restaurant was not very crowded but the atmosphere was still lovely. The inside is tastefully decorated, casual and no frills with a small outdoor seating area.
The pizza was amazing. We ordered 3 to share — the margherita, the folklore and the fantasy. All were delicious, but I have to say the margherita won the prize. I always take this a sign of a quality pizza place when they can do tomato sauce, basil and mozzarella so well that nothing else is needed. It is neapolitan-​style pizza, although there was a bit more crust than I would prefer. That said, the crust was delicious so I didn’t mind.
Next time you want pizza, you’ve got to come here.
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p. s. noticed they do brunch and have lunch specials, so I’m hoping to try these soon because the options on the menu looked quite tasty!

Love the atmosphere of this charming restaurant and the pizza was TOP NOTCH — excellent flavor and amazing crust! We had the bread basket with olive tapenade as well — the bread is the same as the pizza crust (and, therefore, delicious) but the tapenade was just okay. The garden salad was incredibly fresh and the house made balsamic dressing among the best I’ve tasted. Great, local beer selection to boot.
The service was really pleasant but it felt drawn out and slightly inattentive — especially as we appeared to be their first customers of the evening and the place wasn’t too busy. Dishes were timely enough but seemed to take a bit longer than a wood fired pizza should and water could have been refilled a bit more often.
We will definitely be back again and again!

Based on my first visit, definitely 4 stars at least. Lunch specials were discounted versions of some of the pizzas but not necessarily pizza/​salad combos.
Calamari ⁵⁄₅ (best calamari I’ve ever had, I didn’t prefer the puttanesca dipping sauce but only because I don’t like olives unless they’re in a martini, soaked in vodka, and stuffed w/​blue cheese)
Thriller Pizza ⁴⁄₅ (Oh so good! I’m looking forward to coming back for this soon!)
Service ⁴⁄₅ (Very helpful, friendly to us newcomers)
Location/​Atmosphere (Parking can be challenging in this location but definitely in a prominent spot, nice-​looking inside, but the air conditioning was really, really cold, and we asked to be moved closer to the front windows/​door for warmth.

Chilly dining room so bring a jacket. I think it may be because they have the wood fired oven in the dining room so they are having to bump up the ac to negate that.
Ordered the sangria which was good. Calamari appetizer was good. Pizza was good. Nothing really reached great yet nothing was really wrong. We’d like to go back and try other menu items.

What a fine Margherita Pizza. I watched it being baked, carefully turned with a peel, like I’d use tongs to flip my steaks on a grill. Best crust I’ve had in a while, toasted in an oak-​fired oven to golden-​brown, even black, but no annoyingly large char-​bubbles. I could taste the basil on every slice. Great ending to a long day.

I have been driving past this ever since it moved into Maplewood and finally got a chance to try it. I will say that I didn’t look up prices or the menu online. I figured it was slightly fancier pizza but I was certainly expecting more of a Dewey’s environment than what it was. I stupidly brought my kids. Had I know that it was nicer, I would have made this a «non-​kids» restaurant visit. That being said, they were super duper nice to us and they do have a kids menu so it’s not like kids aren’t welcome. It’s just a little bit nicer than my kids deserve (a joke, kind of).
We showed up pretty early on a Friday night and were seated right away. The waiter quickly brought my kids menus and crayons and water cups with lids and straws which is AWESOME. He also quickly brought me a sangria which made it even better. The pizza was great. I got a Fairytale and it was so delicious. My kids enjoyed the cheese pizza and the mac ‘n cheese and one of my children enjoyed the bread appetizer (which is really delicious). It was a little pricier than I expected but not insane. It was a really good meal and I will certainly be back again.

I came here with a group of 6 adults and 2 kids and they happily accommodated our party and split checks (3). Service was pretty good. I just wasn’t totally wowed by the food. The house bread was my favorite. It was chewy and delicious. Didn’t need the tapenade (not a fan of olives anyway). It was a good value because it served us all to satisfaction. Next I got the salad. It was pretty good. I got to try the butternut squash soup, which was not good. It doesn’t need so much added sweetness so ruined the flavor. Finally, a pizza. I realize now that for someone who likes a good cheese pizza, this style isn’t the best. Not enough cheese! It was just ok. I like to branch out with my pizza because I’m always happy to find a new type I love. Sadly this doesn’t make the top of my list.

I am a fan of pizza. I eat it at least once a week, and I appreciate it in its many forms (although, my least favorite form is stl provel). But anyway, one of the pizza types that is gaining a ton of momentum is wood fire oven baked pizza. With places popping up everywhere, the competition makes it stiff to stand out, and when you go to A Pizza Story you can’t help but compare it to all of the other wood fire pizza you’ve had.
First, we have the topping options. Pizza Story claims to be a more authentic Neopolitan style pizza. There are 8 topping choices (all having various literature genre titles). We tried the legend and the thriller (for some reason all I could think of was Michael Jackson). Both were pretty good. The pizzas offered here aren’t all that adventurous in toppings and style, most options are pretty traditional. The two pizzas were enough for my husband and I to eat and take home for a meal of leftovers. So, really, you could just split one. But why would you? I love trying the flavors!
There are a lot of craft beers on tap, and they offer sangria. We were lunching, so we did not try any alcoholic beverages.
Our one complaint was the service. I am not sure if it was a fluke, but on a Saturday at noon, there was one wait person and a bartender serving customers in the entire restaurant. This made for some incredibly long wait times when waiting to order/​get drinks/​refills/​check/​etc.
The atmosphere is a little scattered in the restaurant. They have a slight industrial feel, mixed with various quaint additions. They serve their water in mason jars (which I cannot figure out why because it isn’t a country themed restaurant) and then have urban photographs on the wall (which are taken in the Loop even though the restaurant is in Maplewood?). One cool thing is that its location is an old typewriter repair/​shop, and so they still display a typewriter in the window.
Overall, I am not sure if A Pizza Story adds anything to the wood fire pizza craze in STL. We liked the pizza and will go back, but it doesn’t stand out to me.

I can’t believe I haven’t written a review about A Pizza Story; I swear I thought I had done this already, but I guess not so here goes…
My bf and I were out and about in Maplewood in December. Around lunchtime we decided to give A PIzza Story a try and we are so glad we did! When we arrived we were a little nervous because we had to open the door and then go through what looked like a curtain… maybe that was because of the cold weather? Not sure what it was about. Anyway, we stood by the front door for about a minute before we were greeted and then we were escorted to a table by the window. The person who seated us seemed to be the only guy worked the floor that day and he was a little busy. He explained the menu to us and made a few recommendations for the daily specials. He gave us a few minutes to look over the menu and returned with some water. When he returned another group walked in so he excused himself to get them seated, it took him a few minutes before he was back, but no biggie.
I ordered one of the specials of the day; I think it was artichoke with basil and mozzarella. The bf ordered something from the menu, but I can’t remember what it was. I know it had lots of meat on it! We also ordered the calamari for starters since I was really hungry. The calamari came out in about 10 minutes and was really good, there was a delicious dipping sauce provided and the calamari was not overcooked at all; very easy to chew and perfectly crisp. After we finished the appetizer the pizza’s came out and looked divine! So colorful and they both smelled delicious. The crust was cooked just right, not too tough, just soft enough and crispy and warm.
After about 5 minutes of us enjoying our meals our server came over to make sure we were okay and refilled out water. I knew I was going to need a to-​go box so I went ahead and requsted one. We both ate half of our pizzas and took the remaining half home (I wanted to heat it up for lunch the next day)!
Overall, this was a really good meal and I can’t wait to try it again. The only downfall was that it was kind of slow service since there was only 1 guy working the floor. The pizza is now one of my favorites in the city and I will be recommending this place to people when they ask!

Tried this place for the first time tonight on a date night with the wife.
We tried a lot of different things. We started with Calamari and the fresh bread and olive tapenade appetizers. The Calamari was pretty solid, the fresh bread was incredible, olive tapenade was average. The bread was just baked pizza crust, but the flavor was awesome. Appeared to be lightly brushed with olive oil, and had rosemary on it. I could have just eaten a couple baskets if it.
We also had the pear salad… just ok. Needed more cheese, and walnuts.
Wrapped up with the Fantasy pizza, which was really good also.
If I was able to give a ½ star, I would give it a solid 3 ½, but couldn’t quite do 4 stars.

Where do I begin, to tell the story of how great a pizza can be? Let me start off by telling you about the group of four who walked in after us and sat at one of the larger tables by the window. After looking over the menu, they all got up and walked out. When the server asked them, they told her they thought they were a «regular pizza» place. Big mistake folks, you should have stayed and experienced a Neapolitan pizza baked in a wood burning oven. You would have been talking about it for days.
We started off with their house made Sangrias. I enjoyed the multi-​berry with lemon cello and my friend had the peach. Both of them were refreshing and a nice compliment to our appetizer of fried calamari. I have never seen calamari served in big rings, they were very similar to onion rings. The flavor was as big as the rings themselves. The breading and seasoning was so great, I didn’t even need the puttanesca sauce for dipping. I did try the sauce, which was different from the traditional marinara that is usually served with calamari. I highly recommend you try them on your visit to APS.
Wanting a full experience of APS, we took advantage of their lunch specials and ordered one pizza and pasta to share. The pasta came with a small garden salad that we enjoyed at the same time as our calamari. It was a good mix of greens, halved cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions in a vinaigrette. The salad and calamari together would have been a nice lunch, but why stop there.
Our choice of pizza was the thriller. It was spanish chorizo, tomato sauce, mozzarella and oregano. Don’t be fooled, when served the chorizo looks like pepperoni, but the flavor will far exceed. I loved the crisp bottom, with char marks from the wood burring oven. The fettuccine all’amatriciana, was one of the most unique and flavorful pastas.
The service was quick for a lunch time and friendly. The owner even came over and chatted. He truly is concerned about the quality of product and his patrons satisfaction. I look forward to experiencing Happy Hour and dinner at APS.