I Finally Tried Una Pizza Napoletana And It Was Amazing!

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una pizza napoletanaLast summer, the Michael W Travels family was supposed to have a long layover in San Francisco on the way home from our trip around the Pacific.

I had plans for our short visit… We were going to go to a San Francisco Giants game and dine at Una Pizza Napoletana. Due to a delayed flight, we never made it to San Francisco.

Fast forward a few months later. Anthony Mangieri of Una Pizza Napoletana announced that he was closing his shop in SF and coming home to New York City!

I was very excited by this news and couldn’t wait for the opening. The pizzeria opened a little over a month back on the Lower East Side and we finally made it there on Saturday, June 9.a man standing in front of a restaurantI decided that it was best to arrive a little before the 5:30pm opening time. We showed up a half hour before opening and we were second on line. As we waited, a line grew and many people stopped in front of the shop commenting about it.

Once we were seated, there were important decisions to make. What should we order?a clipboard with a logo on ituna pizza napoletanaUna Pizza Napoletana has a very limited amount of pizza options. There are seven pies listed on the menu. Five of these pizzas are offered daily while one is only offered on Fridays and another is only offered on Saturdays.

We decided to order a Margherita. We just about always do this since we feel this is the most classic of pies. Our other pick was the Apollonia, the Saturday- only pie named after Mangieri’s daughter.two men in white shirtsWhile waiting for our pizza, we watched this pizza master at work. It was very interesting to see how carefully yet fast he stretches out the doughs.
a group of men in white uniformsThere was a photo shoot going on while we were there. a brick oven with a wood burning stoveHere’s where the magic happens, Una Pizza’s wood fired oven.

Pie 1: Margherita: pomodoro san Marzano. mozzarella di bufala. basilicoa pizza on a plateThe pie looked pretty unique with that big, fluffy crust around the circumference and we couldn’t wait to dig in but first  I had to take a couple of photos.a man and boy sitting at a table with a pizzaFrom the first bite, I was impressed with this pie. This didn’t remind me of any pizza I’ve had before.

The crust was delicious as was the sauce. The crust was fluffy and airy and could be served as bread sticks. (Next time, I’d love some extra sauce for dipping!) The sauce was tangy and simple with a ton of flavor. I could probably drink a cup of it!

From time to time, Kim and I noticed sea salt on the pie. This added an interesting burst of flavor.

The cheese wasn’t overly noticeable. I’d say that it definitely takes a back seat to the sauce and crust on this pie. a hand holding a flatbread on a plateFor a Neapolitan pie, the pizza wasn’t as droopy as I expected it to be. The pies come out uncut so we cut a little piece out of the middle to taste before cutting slices to pick up. We usually fold and pick up our pizza so this was a good thing.

In the photo above, you can see how thin the bottom of the pie was opposed to the thicker (yet airy) crust.

Pie 2: Apollonia: (Saturdays only) mozzarella di bufala. parmigiano. uovo. salame. pepe nero. aglio. basilicioa pizza on a plateWhile Kim and I were deciding on what to order, we asked the waiter about some of the pies. He mentioned that the Apollonia was only available on Saturdays. It was also named for Anthony Mangieri’s daughter.

This was obviously a special pie so we had to give it a try. (Kim and I also like to order one red and one white pie so this was a perfect choice.)
a man and boy sitting at a table with foodA little fun before digging in…
a man and boy looking at a pizza a woman and child eating at a tableThe Apollonia is basically like brunch on a pizza.

The crust was equally as delicious as the Margherita pie and it’s topped with buffalo mozzarella, egg, salami, pepper and garlic.

I really enjoyed this pie, Kim loved it. I tend to typically favor  a pie with a flavorful sauce.

The Apollonia is a very interesting pie. The egg added a nice creaminess but I wanted to taste the salami more. If you look at the photos above, you’ll see that there isn’t a lot of it on the pie.

What I loved about this pie was how noticeable the sea salt was. (On the first pie, we noticed this occasionally.)

Dessert: Tiramisua glass with a drink in itWe were all pretty full from the pizza but I had read that Una Pizza Napoletana also had great desserts. It wasn’t hard making some room for this delicious Tiramisu.a dessert in a glassThe Tiramisu was creamy and delicious. The server told us that they used homemade cookies instead of the store bought Lady Fingers. What made this stand out was the burnt caramel crunch on top.una pizza napoletanaBefore we left, we briefly chatted with the star pizzaiolo. Anthony Mangieri is a pizza genius and a very nice guy.

Final Thoughts:

The new Una Pizza Napoletana is housed in a beautiful, modern space. It isn’t cheap at Una Pizza, each pie costs $25. However, they were unique & delicious and worth the splurge.

Overall, we all really loved Una Pizza Napoletana. While Kim and I aren’t huge fans of droopy Neapolitan pizza, these pies hit it out of the park. The crust is the true star of these pies and I’d love to visit again in the future to try more of the menu’s offerings.

Una Pizza Napoletana is located at 175 Orchard Street in NYC.

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