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 Brooklyn Pizza and Catering - La Villa Pizzeria
Recent Reviews:
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Christina Therrien of offManhattan says:
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A walk down Fifth Ave often conjures up the standard New York icons: Saks, the Plaza, sidewalks teeming with camera-toting tourists. But Brooklyn’s parry to the Manhattan madness lies in the home-grown staples of Park Slope. You’ll find La Villa Pizzeria amongst the organic coffee shops, kids’ clothiers and quiet cafes that the area is known for. With its warm wood decor and inviting atmosphere, La Villa (rightfully) gives off the aura of a true neighborhood eatery, with all the class and none of the pretension of its brother-borough counterparts.
The dishes are simple and savory, with traditional tastes dominating the menu. The parmigiana dishes are a local favorite while the rigatoni alla vodka is recommended by almost everyone in the restaurant. Coupled with an aromatic basket of warm bread and a basic but reasonably priced wine list, La Villa is the perfect place to linger over a meal, a weekly night out, or an afternoon espresso.
But the restaurant is really known for is its true passion: the pizzas. Concocted with the freshest ingredients and baked in a fiery wood-burning oven, La Villa offers more than a dozen varieties. Diners can’t go wrong with the basic Margherita pizza – the crust, light and crispy with the texture of a pita, is covered with zesty tomatoes and whole or buffalo milk mozzarella that’s made on the premises. At only $12 a pie, every slice is a steal.
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The Always Eating blog says:
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I'm a skeptic when it comes to pizza, well maybe I'm just a bit of a pizza snob. With an adoration for DiFara I am occasionally left a bit underwhelmed by most pizza spots in my neighborhood, so when I visited La Villa I had moderate expectations. La Villa has been in Park Slope since 1982 and many notable pizza fans have praised their slices. I've always passed by it, not pulled in by the wood-fired pizza and family-friendly ambiance, but I was starving for a new local pizza spot. Amorina is a favorite of mine, but doesn't always cut it when I want a large pie, Antonio's is really only suitable when desperate and Franny's, well I'm just not that big a fan (but I will try it again).
La Villa was packed this past Saturday evening, appearing almost like a well-run "diner", stated my friend. It almost reminded me of my childhood pizzeria's, where you would go to celebrate a win, or forget a loss, after little league or AYSO soccer. We quickly scanned the nearly 15 pizzas on the menu and plotted our course. A Foccacia di Nonna ($14 for a small round), a Sottosopra ($15 for a small round) and a Broccoli Rabe and Sausage Calzone.
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When I eat in the dining room there, for various reasons, I order non-pizza dishes 99 percent of the time. The last time I was there, I went with the focaccia di nonna, a pizza with homemade mozzarella, crushed San Marzano tomatoes, basil, fresh garlic, and Tuscan olive oil.
It's excellent when fresh from the oven. The crust is crisp, springy, and chewy. The fresh mozzarella is layered under a generous covering of garlicky tomatoes and remains creamy and melty.
The specimen I sampled Friday night was eye-opening, and I think I've got a new routine. I'm ordering and eating at the bar from now on. And I'll take the remaining slices home. This particular pie keeps well. The juicy tomato topping keeps it from drying out in fridge, so it serves up cold brilliantly. I can always eat the leftovers in front of the boob tube.
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The Memoirs of an Ubereater says:
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This past Saturday night afforded me the opportunity to head out to the Park Slope section of Brooklyn for some much needed pizza pie. As it turns out, the art of pizza making is alive and well in these parts, making me realize Grimaldi's isn't the only game in town. Because I was out there for a birthday gathering on 5th avenue, I made the executive decision to sample my first Brooklyn-based pie at La Villa Pizzeria. Meghan and my good friend Eric had the pleasure of joining me. (I think they were doing me a favor really).
5th Avenue in Park Slope is busy busy busy, but La Villa Pizzeria is busier. Standing room is scarce in the narrow front area of this neighborhood cash-cow, where eat-in and take-out customers compete for a comfortable place to wait along the far-reaching wrap-around counter that separates the kitchen commotion from the jam-packed dining room. As pizza-boys bark orders at one another, servers juggle multiple tables, and the manager tends to the constant take-out business across the long granite counter-top, I can't help but smile...this was a pizzeria...La Villa Pizzeria! As a Jersey boy, pizzerias and everything they represent, hold a special place in my heart. They are the institutions of our youth that test our morals and prod our self-discipline. They are the social arenas that shape our lives. They also serve great pizza...well the good ones do anyway, and La Villa is one of them.
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Some of our favorite reviews:
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Robert Sietsema of the The Village Voice says:
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“The focaccia di nonna is a perfect evocation of the kind of pizza you might find in Naples—the crust heavenly brown from a wood-burning oven that flickers on the other side of the room, the crushed tomatoes strewn by a devil-may-care hand, the rich mozzarella profuse and puddled on the surface, with little rivulets of pungent olive oil irrigating the entire pie. Bits of crushed garlic here and there seal the deal. Noting our astonishment at the first bite, the waitress revealed that the whole-milk mozzarella is made on the premises. This "grandma's pizza" deserves to take its place among the city's greatest pies. There were 14 other selections, too, each available in a bewildering array of formats—Neapolitan and Sicilian, large and small, square and round. “
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Tina Barry of the The Brooklyn Papers says:
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“The pizza is the real draw and it's worthy of the hype. Cooked in enormous, wood-fired ovens, the pies arrive at the table as hot as coals in a cloud of wood-scented steam. In some pizzerias the pie is all about the topping; at La Villa it's the crust that sets the pizza apart.
The Napoletana's crust is as thin as a cracker, almost brittle yet chewy. Its edges are charred in spots and the bottom blistered. The wood's smoky flavor permeates the dough and perfumes the pizza's topping. Thick-crusted Sicilian pies fare just as well.
Focaccia di Nonna, or "Grandma's Pizza," is layered with homemade mozzarella, crushed San Marzano tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, a touch of fresh garlic and olive oil. Served with nothing more than the tomatoes, the rich cheese, the garlic and the basil, it's a lovely treat. Add additional toppings, like sweet, caramelized onions and slowly sauteed peppers, as carefully prepared as each was, and the pie becomes heavy and detracts from that supernal crust. Order a simple pie and you'll be happy....”
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The Editors of AOL City Guide say:
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“The Park Slope outpost of La Villa, already a successful Neapolitan pizza shrine in Howard Beach and Mill Basin, was a hit from day one. The local fire department was first in line, and now relies on La Villa's wood-burning oven to feed its hungry men on Bloomberg's budget. The conservative decor, reminiscent of the Olive Garden, belies the authenticity of the food -- especially the thin-crust pizzas, certified D.O.C., meaning that all the ingredients are of controlled origin: San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala, fior di latte, basil, olive oil, fresh garlic, and Reggiano Parmigiano or Pecorino Romano.
The gigantic menu offers a large range of toppings and pizza combinations, including a stellar stuffed Romano pizza with paper-thin slices of potato, house-made fennel sausage, pepperoni and mozzarella: Eat your heart out, Pizza Hut.”
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