Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana

Came out to New Haven for a day trip a few weeks ago and had to stop at one of the best pizzerias in the country. Food: as expected from one of the best pizzerias in the country, the pizza was out of this world. We did a half roasted pepper, half caprese which were both insanely good. I thought I was full, but then I saw that they had a salted caramel cheesecake with mascarpone cheese which I had to get and might be one of the top three cheesecakes I have ever had. Aesthetic: the place is so popular that there’s actually two different storefronts which required while I was there a 30 minute wait, and that was on a cold-ish, rainy day. Lots of seating with little space to move, but felt cozy enough because of the energy. Service: our serve Alex was awesome, enough said haha

We waited in line for 25 minutes at Sally’s for absolutely no movement in the line. Because of this, we decided to call up Frank Pepes since they’re on the same street and get takeout, instead. Wasn’t that long of a wait at Franks, and I see why. We got the sausage pizza and a cheese to take home. The wife and I both thought it was incredibly burned, VERY excessively oily- to the point the entire box was essentially drenched in stinky burned oil. To say I was let down by this pizza is an understatement. The sausage on top was very high quality and flavorful, as were the caramelized onions. The pizza itself, however, I will never come back to New Haven for-nor recommend anyone go out of their way to try. Genuinely some of the all time worst pizza I’ve had, nevermind one that was trying to be good and is considered one of the best. A bunch of lying people, who’ve clearly never had pizza at a decent NYC establishment or even NJ, which both have 100x better pizza and no wait times associated with this tourist trash on Wooster st. I won’t even get into the beautiful pizzas I’ve had in various European countries, which absolutely outclass and taste better in every single way than this oily mess. Overall, if you like extremely burned pizza/ burned oil taste and wasting your afternoon away at a tourist trap you may think this is the best pizza in the world like the rest of the delusional bunch. I am writing this review a few months after our experience in July 2024 to make sure I didn’t just feel jaded that I wasted my time. Nope, just memorably bad pizza.

Stopped here while passing through town. Line was long but moved quickly: kudos to their smart operations. We waited about 20 min? Our server was great and the ambience was fun & casual. We ordered two small pizzas. My partner had the white clam pizza, which he said was phenomenal. My veggie pizza was good, but pretty oily, and tbh didn’t blow my mind. I appreciated that they added *a lot* of veggies. Pricing was steep ($18.50 for the small veggie) but given the service, quality, and reputation as a bit of an attraction, I was okay with it.

Came to CT for a wedding and wanted to try as many "New Haven" style pizzas as possible. Was able to try 2 in the short time. I like Frank's for the different options of pizza you can get but the crust is not the thin and crispy texture I was expecting for New Haven pizza. It's chewy but in a good way and we enjoyed the pizzas we tried. Definitely get the seafood pizza. Service is fast and friendly once you get in. This is a tourist hot spot so be ready to wait in line. Would I go back, yes but only if the wait was low. Definitely try them.

Flew in from out of town in March on a Wed, and I arrived at 5pm, 48 degrees out. We found plenty of available parking. Years ago, we visited the one story brick building behind the parking lot and were so excited to be back. This time, that location was closed, and we ate at the multi-story brick building by the street. This location was updated and reminded us of the chains in Florida. We were shocked there was no wait. I took a picture of the oven from a distance. Ordered a Peppeorni pizza and thought this was not the same pizza we had our first time around. Pizza tasted okay, nothing special. In fact, we thought our Florida chain tasted better. We expected no parking, a long line outside in the cold, and a hope of a delicious treat. Overall, we had a good experience, but the pizza was okay. I would recommend waiting in line if you're eating at the one story location behind the parking lot, not the multi-story building.