OT: Best Pizza in CT

[HooperScooper]

Since my son moved to Boston, I have been looking for good pizza. Pizzeria Regina was highly recommended, but I have to agree, it was awful. I expected it to be similar to Modern Apizza but I was very wrong. I would rather get a slice from a food court in Dallas than ever go back there.

Try Max and Leo's. Locations in the Fenway and Newton Corner. Not bad for around here.

 

[Huskybass]

True on West Hartford but I was never as impressed as most with PEPE's . Favorite pizza of all time is Geno's East in Chicago deep dish pizza.

Disqualified. Non pizza entry. 8893 and Captain Arby's will concur.

 

[boog204]

Disqualified. Non pizza entry. 8893 and Captain Arby's will concur.

I get the distinction... But... My wife got me a Lou Malnati deep dish once shipped from Chicago and it was incredible.

 

[Huskybass]

I get the distinction... But... My wife got me a Lou Malnati deep dish once shipped from Chicago and it was incredible.

I am just clowning around. I love anything that tastes great. But I am also a total Homer when it comes to whats best. In a weird way, the local favorites are like a team you root for.

 

[AreBee1969]

Back to locals...Since I live in Farmington, Naples is my go-to. I really like their thick Sicilian style. Their sauce can be a little acidic, but overall, they make a pretty good pie.

Other than Monaco's in Winsted which I mentioned before, in the NW Corner, another favorite is Berkshire Café in Torrington. Sauce with a little zing and crust that stands out straight. Really good family size salads with homemade parmesan/peppercorn dressing.

 

[shizzle787]

Back to locals...Since I live in Farmington, Naples is my go-to. I really like their thick Sicilian style. Their sauce can be a little acidic, but overall, they make a pretty good pie.

Other than Monaco's in Winsted which I mentioned before, in the NW Corner, another favorite is Berkshire Café in Torrington. Sauce with a little zing and crust that stands out straight. Really good family size salads with homemade parmesan/peppercorn dressing.

Try Luna's in Avon. It's way better than Naples.

 

[shizzle787]

Went to Bufalina's in Guilford tonight, per the recommendation of @8893. I must say I was surprised. The place was the size of a train car and had three people working there. There was one bathroom in the corner and about ten chairs around the kitchen style table. On to the pizza, it was really good. It was not quite as thin as advertised by the taste made up for it. I got the sausauge and spicy salami margherita. They only serve one size, a 12". Overall, the pie was chewy and you could taste a faint burnt taste (which I prefer). The salami was addictive, and I liked the sauce. One of the best pizzas I've had in a while and I think it is better than both Modern and Zuppardi's. I give it a 9/10.

 

[TRest]

Back to locals...Since I live in Farmington, Naples is my go-to. I really like their thick Sicilian style. Their sauce can be a little acidic, but overall, they make a pretty good pie.

Other than Monaco's in Winsted which I mentioned before, in the NW Corner, another favorite is Berkshire Café in Torrington. Sauce with a little zing and crust that stands out straight. Really good family size salads with homemade parmesan/peppercorn dressing.

Very early in the thread Berkshire got some love, enough for me to want to try it sometime.

 

[superjohn]

Back to locals...Since I live in Farmington, Naples is my go-to. I really like their thick Sicilian style. Their sauce can be a little acidic, but overall, they make a pretty good pie.

Other than Monaco's in Winsted which I mentioned before, in the NW Corner, another favorite is Berkshire Café in Torrington. Sauce with a little zing and crust that stands out straight. Really good family size salads with homemade parmesan/peppercorn dressing.

The Berkshire has always had great salads and the dressing is killer. Never really got into their pizza but it's a cool old building and an institution.

 

[8893]

Went to Bufalina's in Guilford tonight, per the recommendation of @8893. I must say I was surprised. The place was the size of a train car and had three people working there. There was one bathroom in the corner and about ten chairs around the kitchen style table. On to the pizza, it was really good. It was not quite as thin as advertised by the taste made up for it. I got the sausauge and spicy salami margherita. They only serve one size, a 12". Overall, the pie was chewy and you could taste a faint burnt taste (which I prefer). The salami was addictive, and I liked the sauce. One of the best pizzas I've had in a while and I think it is better than both Modern and Zuppardi's. I give it a 9/10.

Glad to hear you liked it. Yep, hard to appreciate how tiny the place is until you are there. Two of the three are usually the husband and wife, Matt and Melissa, who are the owners and really good people (and good taste in music, too). He mans the oven and she makes the pies, and as you can see it takes some serious synchronization for them all to move in that space. If my wife and I worked that closely on a regular basis one of us would have killed the other by now.

I love everything they do--crust, sauce, cheese, etc.--but I think it's their restraint and especially their meats that throw it over the top. The salame piccante and speck are so freaking good. I've been meaning to ask where they get their sausage; I think it's Lamberti but not sure.

 

[David 76]

I sent some New Yorkers to Buffalina recently. They were pretty blown away.

 

[storrsroars]

Give me 5 good places in the Boston area. I do like Max and Leo's in Newton Corner and the Fenway area.

Two of my three favorites closed last decade - The Alumni had a solid bar pie (and cheap) and X/O was our go-to when I lived in Quincy. Not sure why they went under with all the mediocre pizza there.

For the record, I wouldn't call Regina "awful". Just disappointing when so many recommend it. It's still an OK pizza. Santarpio's still rules up that way.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Got a pie from Pizzeria Sassano in Glastonbury last night. Had a white pie w/ tomato, basil and olive oil. Was the best I've had in Glastonbury (def better than Luna and Gios). Really good, but not the best I've had. Crust is a little weird--very doughy, tastes like a slice of ciabatta bread. Kind of nice at first, but you don't wanna get filled up on crust. I'm still a Sally's guy.

 

[Huskybass]

Got a pie from Pizzeria Sassano in Glastonbury last night. Had a white pie w/ tomato, basil and olive oil. Was the best I've had in Glastonbury (def better than Luna and Gios). Really good, but not the best I've had. Crust is a little weird--very doughy, tastes like a slice of ciabatta bread. Kind of nice at first, but you don't wanna get filled up on crust. I'm still a Sally's guy.

There's no shortage of good pizza in Glastonbury. I don't think any challenge the big 3 in New Haven, but there have to be at least a half dozen real good options in town. Even Angelo's makes a pretty good pizza for a Greek place.

 

[TampaHusky78]

True on West Hartford but I was never as impressed as most with PEPE's . Favorite pizza of all time is Geno's East in Chicago deep dish pizza.

It is more lasagna than pizza

 

[UConner]

This is why I am curious about the RI shore area around Charlestown. There are more and more CT license plates there every year, apparently many of them belonging to CT people who have bought and/or built second homes there. There is enough "upscale" demand there to keep both the Matunuck Oyster Bar and Two Ten Oyster Bar packed all summer, but I don't know how they do the other nine months of the year. Perhaps that would be a gauge of whether there might be enough year-round demand. Different food, obviously; but likely a lot of overlap with the same types of diners.

All us "locals, Mystic area" only go to Matunuck Oyster during the off months. Summer is too crazy. They do fine in the Winter.

 

[mauconnfan]

All us "locals, Mystic area" only go to Matunuck Oyster during the off months. Summer is too crazy. They do fine in the Winter.

Yeah the Matunuks are back May 15th and things get crowded at MOB soon thereafter. In the summer even if you get there for 3:30-4 for dinner you will be waiting up to 1 1/2 hours, crazy scene.

 

[Balker]

Went to Bufalina's in Guilford tonight, per the recommendation of @8893. I must say I was surprised. The place was the size of a train car and had three people working there. There was one bathroom in the corner and about ten chairs around the kitchen style table. On to the pizza, it was really good. It was not quite as thin as advertised by the taste made up for it. I got the sausauge and spicy salami margherita. They only serve one size, a 12". Overall, the pie was chewy and you could taste a faint burnt taste (which I prefer). The salami was addictive, and I liked the sauce. One of the best pizzas I've had in a while and I think it is better than both Modern and Zuppardi's. I give it a 9/10.

Yeah Bufalina's is good because the same guy cooks every pizza, and he cares about them. It's literally just that one guy cooking, every day.

Thinnest pizza I've ever had was at Brewport. Opened about a year ago in Bridgeport. Cool place. Not going out on a limb and saying their pizza was amazing, but pretty good, and if you like it really thin it's worth a try.

 

[HuskyHawk]

It is more lasagna than pizza

Nonsense. There's no pasta in it. No ricotta. Deep Dish pizza is a legitimate thing in its own right. And Geno's in Chicago is excellent. I'll try to take my family there this summer. Runner up for me is a place in Berkeley, CA.

St. Louis pizza is odd. Anyone try it? Like Imo's? Certainly better than the abomination they pass off as pizza in RI.

 

[August_West]

Nonsense. There's no pasta in it. No ricotta. Deep Dish pizza is a legitimate thing in its own right. And Geno's in Chicago is excellent. I'll try to take my family there this summer. Runner up for me is a place in Berkeley, CA.

St. Louis pizza is odd. Anyone try it? Like Imo's? Certainly better than the abomination they pass off as pizza in RI.

Done by the right place it's a tasty casserole dish for sure. Just don't call it pizza.

 

[tentoes4rings]

Hit Pepe's in West Hartford for a white clam pie for lunch today. It was perfect. Very pleasantly surprised that it was every bit as good as a New Haven white clam pie. Absolutely delicious.

Confirmed that the white clam pie from this location was an A+. Heavy garlic but great crust, generous portion of clams and cooked just perfectly.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Done by the right place it's a tasty casserole dish for sure. Just don't call it pizza.

It's a pizza dough crust covered with cheese, tomatoes and tomato based sauce and mozzarella cheese and other traditional toppings and baked. It's pizza.

Now those "white pie clam and garlic" abominations, those are not pizza. No tomatoes or tomato sauce and it's not pizza.

 

[8893]

Done by the right place it's a tasty casserole dish for sure. Just don't call it pizza.

It's a pizza dough crust covered with cheese, tomatoes and tomato based sauce and mozzarella cheese and other traditional toppings and baked. It's pizza.

Now those "white pie clam and garlic" abominations, those are not pizza. No tomatoes or tomato sauce and it's not pizza.

How 'bout we agree that the former is not apizza, but the latter is?

 

[Excalibur]

How 'bout we agree that the former is not apizza, but the latter is?

Better that Hawk just admit that he's wrong . . .

 

[superjohn]

Nonsense. There's no pasta in it. No ricotta. Deep Dish pizza is a legitimate thing in its own right. And Geno's in Chicago is excellent. I'll try to take my family there this summer. Runner up for me is a place in Berkeley, CA.

St. Louis pizza is odd. Anyone try it? Like Imo's? Certainly better than the abomination they pass off as pizza in RI.

Go to Pequod's, Malnati's is also superior to Geno's.