NEPA Pizza Review Causes a Commotion at Sally’s in New Haven
Sally’s Apizza New Haven was the last stop of a six hour, four pizzeria, 12 pizza journey throughout New Haven, Connecticut on the Taste of New Haven Pizza Lover’s Tour. After already crushing a total of 14 slices of pizza and loving it every minute of it at Frank Pepe’s, BAR, and Modern Apizza, I tried to create some room while walking to our final pizza stop at Sally’s. Although I was full, I knew I could dig deep and scarf down three more slices of pizza at this world-renowned pizzeria. Why would I need to eat three more slices for a total of 17 on the day? Because Taste of New Haven provides three different pizzas at each stop: a tomato pie, a tomato pie with mozzarella, and a specialty pizza of his choosing. Before we get into all of that, I have a quick funny story to tell…
Jumping the Line!
As we made the final turn onto the block where Sally’s Apizza resides, our tour guide stopped us and sarcastically asked the group “if we were ready to be the most hated people in New Haven?” Bewildered, we exchanged glances among the group until the guide turned and motioned toward the gigantic line which formed in front of Sally’s and was snaking down the other side of the block. Since a ticket to the Taste of New Haven Tour includes reserved seating at each pizzeria, we were able to “jump the line” and enter first. As you can imagine, he was right and people who didn’t know what we were doing were quite upset. We heard some choice words from several in line, along with one gentleman who had said he was waiting for four hours and contemplated leaving until the staff explained what was going on.
Be Careful What you Wear into Competitors’ Shops!
Following up on our eventful entry, I was still wearing my Frank Pepe’s t-shirt, which I bought the night before inside Sally’s, which as a tourist for the first time in my life I didn’t think anything of! A few staff members joked with me about it, but I didn’t want to cause a stir so I grabbed another shirt out of my bag and tossed it on over the Pepe shirt!
All of this ended up with a good laugh and the staff was wonderful at Sally’s and we were left with some fond memories that we’ll never forget. Although I will admit that I was a bit nervous to go back outside and shoot a YouTube review in front of the people in line! My takeaways here, don’t wear the competitor’s shirt into another business and always buy tour tickets instead of waiting in line!
Learning About Sally’s Apizza
As we sat and learned about the history of Sally’s and it’s Frank Pepe roots, we were presented with 3 pizzas which all looked quite similar to Pepe’s. The only nuance here was that instead of getting a tomato pie, a mozzarella pie, and a white clam, we tried the white potato pizza along with the tomato and mozzarella pies. The crust on all three pizzas had their signature char from the high heat in the coal-fired ovens.
The Apizza Reviews
The dough was dense and a tad bit on the tough side, but super flavorful, especially so as it absorbed some of the sauce which was applied somewhat heavier than Frank Pepe’s was earlier that day. The tomato pie offered the same type of blend of garlic, seasonings, and romano cheese that the other three pizzerias I had experienced before. These added fantastic flavor to the now pasty sauce after it had reduced in the oven. See below for detailed rating scores and more thoughts on individual pizzas!
An Experience I’ll Never Forget
Overall, Sally’s provided an amazing capstone to the end of an incredible pizza journey that I’ll never forget. It’s truly a throwback to a simpler time and learning about it’s rich history from our guide truly enriched the experience. I do want to thank the First Family of NEPA Pizza for joining me on this journey and affording me the opportunity to carve out 6 hours of our vacation to house pizza all day long!
What is your favorite spot in New Haven? Let me know in the comments!
Sally’s Tomato Pie Pizza Rating Scores
| Rating Category | Rating Score |
|---|---|
| Crust | 7.6 |
| Sauce | 8.9 |
| Cheese | N/A |
| Taste | 8.1 |
| Crispy/Cooked Properly | 9.1 |
| Value | 7.7 |
| Overall Rating | 8.3 |
Pizza is Similar to: Frank Pepe, Modern Apizza, Bar
Sally’s Tomato Pie w/ Mootz Pizza Rating Scores
My favorite of the three pizzas had to be the tomato pie with mozzarella. I thought it offered tremendous balance that allowed for the primary char flavor to shine through. The pie without mozzarella also provided great balance, but I’ll take the cheese pizza for the win!
| Rating Category | Rating Score |
|---|---|
| Crust | 7.6 |
| Sauce | 8.5 |
| Cheese | 7.7 |
| Taste | 8.1 |
| Crispy/Cooked Properly | 9.1 |
| Value | 7.1 |
| Overall Rating | 8.1 |
Pizza is Similar to: Frank Pepe, Modern Apizza, Bar
Sally’s White Potato Pie Pizza Rating Scores
The white potato pizza for me was a bit of a novelty item more than it was a pizza. It was sort of a Calabrese style fried potato dish atop of a pizza crust. The white potatoes were sliced thin and sprinkled with a seasoning blend including rosemary, which I love for applications like this. It quite an aromatic and flavorful pizza, but some of the potatoes in the middle weren’t crispy and sort of came up with a scalloped potato type of texture which fell a little flat for me. This pizza was something I would skip next time, although it is different and for you spud fans it’s probably worth a shot!
| Rating Category | Rating Score |
|---|---|
| Crust | 7.6 |
| Sauce | N/A |
| Cheese | 7.2 |
| Taste | 7.1 |
| Crispy/Cooked Properly | 7.8 |
| Value | 5.9 |
| Overall Rating | 7.1 |
Pizza is Similar to: Frank Pepe, Modern Apizza, Bar
