Faccia Luna - State College, PA

Faccia Luna State College was by far the most recommended pizzeria in Happy Valley when I polled my readers. There were a number of honorable mentions, but Faccia Luna consistently had the most mentions so I made it a point to stop by on a recent family trip to Penn State University.

The restaurant features an open-air pizza kitchen, full bar, and a full dining room. The place was super busy on a Thursday night and on a wait. We put in our name in for a table and before we knew it the buzzer was going off my hand to alert us that the table was ready.

The service was fast, friendly, and professional. The vibe in the place was exciting and happy. After checking out the extensive menu and scouting out some pizzas on other tables we placed our order. I couldn’t decide between the wood-fired Neapolitan and the gas-fired thicker NY style pizza so I got one of each!

Gas-Fired Pizza Review

The crust on the 16″ Inch Classic Thick Pizza was a marvel to behold. It was sort of a NY/Neo style crust that is thicker than your traditional NY thin, but crispier than a Neapolitan. It featured a sturdy and prominent cornicione (outer crust) with deep, dark brown hues. Aafter taking a look at the menu, I’m not sure I can describe it better than Faccia Luna does themselves:

Authentic Pizza That Has Been Praised By Critics For Its Crust — Crisp, Dark Brown On The Outside With A Thick, Chewy Center, Each Pie Is Made From Fresh Dough, Hand-Tossed And Baked In Our Gas Ovens.

I have to say, this is an accurate description and they executed this pie true to its design. The sauce was a smooth with a pleasant tang, featured some light seasoning, and a consistency on the thicker side. The cheese was high in quality and full of life and flavor. This was a really good pizza!

Reviewing the Wood-Fired Pizza

The Neapolitan pizza also looked very good. It featured a soft and thick crust with a beautiful dark brown bottom. There was a bit of a dough gumline in the center due to the generous amount of cheese, thickness of the dough, and high temperature baking in the wood-fired oven. It was still a very nice crust for sure.

The sauce was wonderful. It was made from chunky crushed tomatoes with some basil notes and a punch of heat that may have come from the salami and pepperoni toppings. There was plenty of quality mozzarella cheese to hold the cup n char pepperoni and thinly sliced salami in place. Overall, this was a delicious pizza.

I absolutely enjoyed our experience at Faccia Luna and would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone in or around the State College area. They are doing a wonderful job! Might this be the best pizza in Happy Valley? It very well could be! That’s not up to me though, because this is the ONLY pizza I’ve tried in State College, but I certainly will return to Faccia Luna to try some more of what they offer.