Sicilian Bella Festa in West Wyoming: From Pizza Trailer to Pan Fried Elite, NEPA Pizza Review APPROVED

I walked up, ordered, paid the bill, and reviewed the pizza like every other customer. No heads-up. No comps.

There are a handful of pizzerias in NEPA that I’d put on a personal Mount Rushmore of all-time favorites — places where I genuinely have not had a bad bite, not a bad slice, not a single off visit. Sicilian Bella Festa in West Wyoming is on that list. Pan fried Sicilian, hot wing pizza, Detroit style, pagash, foot long chili dogs, cheesesteaks — literally everything I’ve ever ordered from Tommy and Renee has been nothing short of amazing. That’s not a sentence I write lightly, and that’s not a sentence I write often.

If you’ve ever rolled up to the pickup window at 835 Shoemaker Avenue and looked up at the takeout window, you’ve probably already seen what I’m about to make official in writing: the NEPA Pizza Review APPROVED sticker is prominently displayed on the takeout window at Sicilian Bella Festa. That sticker doesn’t go everywhere. It goes on the windows of the spots I’d send my own family to without a second thought. Sicilian Bella Festa earned it the first time, and they’ve reinforced it on every single visit since.

This article is a rewrite and major expansion of my original 2020 Sicilian Bella Festa review — back when the operation had just moved from the mobile food trailer into the brick-and-mortar building at Abraham’s Creek Ice Cream. Since then I’ve been back multiple times, tried several more pies, finally got my hands on the famous foot long chili dog, and watched the operation grow into one of the most beloved destinations in the Wyoming Valley pizza scene. There’s a lot more to the Sicilian Bella Festa story now, and it all deserves to be in one updated article for any reader searching best pan fried Sicilian pizza near me, best pizza in West Wyoming, best pizza in the Wyoming Valley, or pan fried Sicilian pizza NEPA.

The Original Story: From a Pizza Trailer in Exeter to a Brick-and-Mortar Shop

Here’s the origin story that hooked me on Sicilian Bella Festa from day one — and it’s worth retelling because it’s pure NEPA pizza folklore.

About a year before my first review, out of nowhere I started hearing about a pizza trailer showing up in Exeter under the name Sicilian Bella Festa. My inbox filled up with messages about a pan fried Sicilian pie coming out of a mobile unit that was holding its own against the Exeter pan fried heavyweights — meaning Victory Pig, the original pan fried Sicilian shop, and Pizza L’oven, the NEPA Pizza Madness Champion. When fans from that part of the valley start putting a trailer in the same sentence as those two, you don’t ignore it. You drive over.

I sat down with Tommy Warman, the man behind the pies, to get the story. Tommy started working for some of the local pan fried Sicilian greats at the age of 12, learning the craft from the inside of the legendary kitchens of the area. He spent about a decade absorbing technique and tradition, then went off and built a successful tree service that he’s been running ever since. But he never stopped making pan fried Sicilian at home for his family. 30 years of off-the-clock pan fried Sicilian craft later, he finally took the plunge with the mobile unit. The trailer took off. The neighborhood took notice. And before long, the operation graduated into the Abraham’s Creek Ice Cream building at 835 Shoemaker Avenue in West Wyoming, a perfect arrangement where the pizza and the ice cream operations could coexist year-round.

Today, Sicilian Bella Festa is co-run by Tommy and Renee Poepperling, his partner in the business and in the pizza-and-hot-dog universe — and the namesake of the famous foot long hot dogs on the menu. Both have been in their respective trades for 30 years and the partnership shows in every detail of how the shop operates. The whole operation has even been featured on PBS, which is the kind of validation that says everything about how seriously this little West Wyoming spot is being taken in the broader NEPA food conversation.

Atmosphere: The Grove Along Abrahams Creek (And Sometimes Live Music)

Here’s a detail I want to make sure every first-time visitor knows in advance, because it’s one of the most charming parts of the Sicilian Bella Festa experience: there’s no indoor dining room at the shop. This is a takeout-first operation with a twist.

Instead of a traditional dining room, Sicilian Bella Festa has built out an outdoor grove area along Abrahams Creek that is genuinely wonderful to sit at and dine. Picnic tables, the sound of the creek, the smell of pan fried Sicilian and grilled hot dogs in the air, and the kind of casual, family-friendly atmosphere you can only get at a spot that lets the location do the work. On the right kind of summer or fall evening, this is one of the most enjoyable pizza-dining settings in the Wyoming Valley.

And every so often, Sicilian Bella Festa brings in live musical acts to play in the grove. That elevates the grove from “great place to eat your pizza” into “I’m planning my night around this.” If you’ve never sat at the grove with a tray of pan fried, a foot long chili dog, and a band playing in the background, put that on your NEPA bucket list. It’s a moment.

A few practical atmosphere notes:

  • No indoor dining — takeout from the window, then dine at the outdoor grove or take it home
  • Outdoor grove seating along Abrahams Creek — picnic tables, creek-side, family-friendly
  • Live music in the grove on select dates — follow Sicilian Bella Festa on Facebook for the schedule
  • Cash only historically — bring greenbacks just to be safe
  • Phone: (570) 885-2118
  • 835 Shoemaker Avenue, West Wyoming, PA 18644

Pizzaiolo’s Notes 🍕

Before I get into the pies and the chili dog, I want to put the pizzaiolo hat on for a minute, because Sicilian Bella Festa is one of the rare spots where I have a lot to say from a craft standpoint:

  • Tommy’s pan fried Sicilian belongs in the elite tier with Victory Pig, Pizza L’oven, Pizza Perfect, and Teberio’s. That’s not a casual statement. The pan fried Sicilian style is its own NEPA institution, and the list of shops that legitimately belong in the conversation is short. Sicilian Bella Festa is on it.
  • The crust runs on the thinner side of the PFS spectrum. Closer to Teberio’s than to Ricci’s, with a crisp bottom, crunchy edges, and a tender easy-eating middle. Pan fried Sicilian is supposed to have that “outside crunchy / inside tender” duality, and Tommy nails it consistently.
  • The oil control is dialed in. On a 1-to-10 grease scale, Sicilian Bella Festa lands around a 4 — enough oil to bring flavor and moisture, not so much that you’re wiping the wax paper down or feeling heavy two hours later. There’s almost no oil on the box or wax paper when the tray lands. That’s a craft signal.
  • Onion preparation is a hidden masterclass. The sweet onions are diced fine and prepared in a way that you barely register their texture — but you absolutely taste their flavor. This is exactly the move PMQ Pizza highlighted in their feature on pan fried Sicilian — onions so finely diced you might not detect their presence by texture, only by flavor. Sicilian Bella Festa is textbook on this.
  • The cheese pulls in line with the established PFS canon — melted to perfection, creamy in some spots, beautifully leoparded in others, with the flavor variation that makes every bite of a pan fried Sicilian slice feel like a slightly different bite.
  • The expanded menu (Detroit style, hot wing, pagash, cheesesteaks, hot dogs, chicken wings/bites, gluten-free items, ice cream, BBQ) is being executed with the same craft mindset. That’s the thing that locks in the “everything I’ve tried has been amazing” track record. When the kitchen culture is right, it scales across categories.

The Pizzas I’ve Tried (And Scored)

I’ve put four different items on the official rubric across multiple visits since the original review. Here’s how they’ve each performed.

Pan Fried Sicilian (Original 2020 Visit)

A look at the crispy crust of the Pan Fried Siclian Pizza at Sicilian Bella Festa.  Note the very limited amount of oil on the wax paper and cardboard box.

The pie that started it all. Vibrant red sauce, deep brown leoparding on the cheese, bright white cheese pockets, and a crust that came out crisp on the bottom, crunchy on the edges, and tender through the middle. Oil level about a 4 on the grease scale. Onion flavor without onion texture. Cheese melted to perfection. This was the pie that vaulted Sicilian Bella Festa directly into the pan fried Sicilian elite conversation the moment I tasted it. Overall 8.8.

Hot Wing Pizza (February 2024)

This is the highest-scoring pizza I’ve put on the rubric at Sicilian Bella Festa, and it’s a benchmark hot wing pizza for the entire region. Overall 8.9, with a Taste score of 9.4 — one of the highest individual category scores I’ve ever given a hot wing pizza in NEPA. Bright Buffalo flavor, real heat that builds but never overwhelms, generous chicken, and the pan fried bottom adding a structural crunch that most hot wing pizzas can’t match. If you like hot wing pizza, this needs to be on your list.

Detroit Style Pizza (February 2024)

A pan fried Sicilian kitchen doing a Detroit style? Yes — and 8.6 overall on the first try. Cheese score of 9.2 was the standout, with the signature Detroit corner-crisp on the cheese pulled to the edge of the pan. Tommy and Renee are clearly paying attention to what’s happening in the broader pizza world and bringing those styles into the Sicilian Bella Festa kitchen without losing their identity. The Detroit is a great example of the operation’s range.

Pagash Pizza (February 2024)

The classic NEPA pierogi-on-a-pizza tradition done well. Overall 7.9, with a strong Crust score of 8.5 and Cheese 8.5. Pagash is its own animal — no sauce in the traditional sense (hence the N/A on the Sauce column), focused on the potato, onion, and cheese flavor profile. Sicilian Bella Festa’s pagash holds its own against the established NEPA pagash field.

Renee’s Famous Foot Long Chili Dog: I Finally Tried It

Renee’s Famous Hot Dogs are found at Sicilian Bella Festa in West Wyoming!

In my original 2020 review I closed with a promise: I’d be back to try Renee’s Famous Foot Long Hot Dog, the chili dog that had been calling my name from the menu board. Years later, I finally made good on it. And let me tell you — this dog deserves the reputation.

Renee’s foot long chili dog is exactly what you want it to be:

  • A full foot of quality hot dog with a real snap — not a soft, sad foot long, but one with the kind of casing tension that makes the bite satisfying
  • Generous chili coverage with real beef flavor, not watered down, not too soupy, with the kind of seasoning that has clearly been refined over decades
  • Diced onions on top that bring sweetness, sharpness, and texture
  • A bun that holds together under a foot of dog and a heap of chili — bun engineering is underrated and Sicilian Bella Festa pulls it off

This isn’t a pizzeria adding a hot dog to the menu as an afterthought. Renee has 30 years in the hot dog game, and this foot long is being prepared by someone who genuinely takes the craft seriously. If you’re going to Sicilian Bella Festa for pizza, add a foot long chili dog to the order. It’s a non-negotiable.

The Full Rankings Scorecard

A quick note before the table, because the two rankings don’t perfectly line up and I want to be upfront about why.

The way I describe each pie in the writeup above is my gut read — the in-the-moment flavor experience, the joy of eating it, the impression each item left on me. The scorecard below is something different: these are my technical scores, rendered with careful reflection on the standard six-category NEPA Pizza Review rubric — Crust, Sauce, Cheese, Taste, Crispy/Cooked Properly, and Value. They’re an honest read on how each pie performed against the rubric, separate from how much pure joy each one brought me at the takeout window.

Both lists are true. I stand by my gut take of what I enjoyed most in the moment, and I stand by the technical scores I locked in after careful reflection.

RankPizza OrderedVisitCrustSauceCheeseTasteCrispy/CookedValueOverall
1Hot Wing PizzaFeb 20248.98.48.99.48.77.48.9
2Pan Fried Sicilian (with Onions)Oct 20208.98.88.99.28.77.28.8
3Detroit Style PizzaFeb 20248.88.29.28.58.27.58.6
4Pagash PizzaFeb 20248.5N/A8.57.97.87.27.9

What I’d Order Next Time

I’m planning a return for the cheesesteak — the YouTube feature confirmed it’s one of the specialties of the house and I want to put one on the eating record. I also want to try whatever Detroit style or pan fried specialty Tommy is running that week, because the menu evolves with the season. And the Pizza Prince is coming next time, because he’s going to demolish a foot long chili dog and I want to see that on video.

Final Thoughts: One of My All-Time NEPA Favorites

I don’t hand out personal “all-time favorite” status often, and I don’t hand out the NEPA Pizza Review APPROVED sticker often either. Sicilian Bella Festa has both. The pan fried Sicilian belongs in the elite tier of the style alongside the originators and the champions. The hot wing pizza is one of the highest-scoring pies I’ve ever put on the rubric. The Detroit style and pagash hold their own. Renee’s foot long chili dog is a destination order. The grove along Abrahams Creek is one of the most charming outdoor dining settings in the Wyoming Valley, especially when there’s live music. And Tommy and Renee have built this whole thing out of decades of hands-on craft and a partnership that you can taste in every order.

If you’re searching best pan fried Sicilian pizza in NEPA, best pizza in West Wyoming, best foot long chili dog NEPA, or just pizza near me in the Wyoming Valley, Sicilian Bella Festa is the answer. Look for the NEPA Pizza Review APPROVED sticker on the takeout window when you pull up. It’s there for a reason.

My Takeaways

  • 🍕 Sicilian Bella Festa is NEPA Pizza Review APPROVED — look for the sticker on the takeout window
  • 🍅 Tommy’s pan fried Sicilian belongs in the elite tier alongside Victory Pig, Pizza L’oven, Pizza Perfect, and Teberio’s
  • 🧀 Hot Wing Pizza scored an 8.9 overall with a 9.4 Taste score — a benchmark hot wing pizza in NEPA
  • 🥦 Renee’s Famous Foot Long Chili Dog is a destination order — add it to every visit
  • 🍕 The outdoor grove along Abrahams Creek is wonderful, especially when live music is playing — there’s no indoor dining, so plan for it

Have you been to Sicilian Bella Festa? What’s your go-to — the pan fried Sicilian, the hot wing pizza, the Detroit style, the pagash, the foot long chili dog, the cheesesteak, or something else? Drop it in the comments, and if you’ve caught one of the live music nights at the grove, tell me about it.

Pizza is Similar to:

Sicilian Bella Festa – 835 Shoemaker Avenue, West Wyoming, PA 18644 (Abraham’s Creek Ice Cream building)
Phone:(570) 885-2118

Outdoor grove dining along Abrahams Creek · Live music on select dates · Takeout window service · Cash-friendly

Owners: Tommy Warman & Renee Poepperling

As seen on:PBSSpecialties: Pan fried Sicilian pizza, hot wing pizza, Detroit style pizza, pagash, cheesesteaks, Renee’s Famous Foot Long Hot Dogs, chicken wings & bites, gluten-free options, ice cream, BBQ

NEPA Pizza Review APPROVED ✅ — Look for the sticker on the takeout window

Speaking of sauce — if you’re curious how Sicilian Bella Festa’s pan fried Sicilian and hot wing sauce stack up against the rest of the NEPA sauce field, check out my NEPA Pizza Sauce Rankings for the running leaderboard. And if you make pizza at home and want the gear I actually use, our Amazon affiliate picks are linked on the site — every click helps keep NEPA Pizza Review independent and ad-light.