Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana Review

Great pizza. Famous for a reason! Certainly worth trying!

Very good . Probably one of the best I've had. Perfect chewy crust, excellent sauce. If the actual space was slightly nicer this would be 5 stars.

We dine here relatively frequently and always have a great experience. The staff is knowledgeable and the pizza is spectacular- definitely a reason that it s world famous. Also, our waitress Nancy P. was absolutely amazing. We will be back just to hang out with Nancy.

I am 52 years old, born at Yale, and had the blessed privilege to live for 2 semesters with my Grandmother for 1 year.
Every 3 days I would walk to Cavaliere's and purchase fresh ground Espresso, and go to a small Italian Bakery - there I purchased FRESH Italian Breast (I did this every day.
Every night after classes and work (and going to the Phoenix Gym, across from The Athenian Diner I went home.
And the cycle started again.

I loved my life. I was intensely happy & was so sad when she passed.

BOTTOM LINE - I LOVE PEPE'S - THEN AND NOW

Even take out pizza is better than a sit and dine pizza almost everywhere!

Some of the best pizza I ve ever had. The white clam pizza is worth the drive alone.

A true classic. Ordered the clam pie and Margarita pie and brought it back over an hour away. They gave me instructions on how to reheat.

We had to wait in line outside the door in the cold but it was worth it!

Nice waitstaff; they let us stay after closing to finish our food. The pizza came out quickly. The environment was warm and friendly. Booths with places to hang your coats. You can tell they care about the customer (and have for a long time, and will continue to) here. Off the beaten path in new haven but well worth the visit.

Get ready to line up.....i did not want to wait 20 mins for a slice.

Opened the box and notice how burnt the crust looked. Tasty but I couldn't eat the crust. I just might break my teeth.

This was my second visit and the quality of the food as well as service was freaking perfect! This may be the best pizza on the east coast.

First class pizza! Best fresh clam pie in the country and ranked accordingly. Comfortable atmosphere, clean, free refills, salads, and great service. It's no wonder why Presidents eat there.

Nothing beats the original. Great pizza lots of history.

If you're even close to New Haven, you have to come here for the delicious pizza. It's a perfect balance of just everything a pizza should have.

If you visit New Haven you must try Pepe's pizza. Really tasty and very generous portions. Expect a long line, but it usually moves quickly as there is a lot of seating inside.

We had the tomato pie and the famous clam pie. A little over an hour for the wait but it was delicious. You have to really enjoy clam and garlic to eat the white clam pizza, but it's unmatched. Must stop if you're in New Haven

First time trying. Never went inside but good pizza overall

Great pizza, great neighborhood, try the tomato pie or the special. You won't be disappointed!

We arrived a few minutes before opening at 10:30 on a Saturday morning. The line was about 15 people, but we were all seated immediately and got our pie 10-15 minutes after ordering. When we left around 11:15, the restaurant was full with about ten people in line.

I love this style of pizza. We got the clam pie, which was loaded with fresh clams.

Why is New Haven style pizza only found in Connecticut? This product needs to be served everywhere - even where fresh clams are not available. I love the quick-fired, thin crust. Frank Pepe, please expand your empire to the far reaches of this planet.

The best pizza in New Haven. Hand down. Tried the summer special fresh tomato pie, and immediately fall in love. The wait for takeout is not too bad. I was told it would be faster to place takeout order in person at the main pizzeria as it is faster than placing order on the phone. YMMV.

Great pizza! Always prepare for a wait...although it's terribly situational...sometimes it moves quicker than it seems...unless it's cold.... The staff is prompt, courteous, and knowledgeable. The bathrooms are one person...there is usually a wait when it's busy. Kind of pricey....but it's new Haven just off the Yale campus...sooooo.....

Bottom line...be ready to wait and pay for great pizza. DO NOT BE IN A HURRY!

Also, they have a military discount! Woohoo!

actually , this is Mario Escoto.not as good as we expected....we can find better pizza in Ft lauderdale , Florida...and in Wilton Manor , also in Florida.( Primanti Brothers)...and also in several more places .....in Florida..!!!! actually one of the places is in West Pembroke pines and the owner John Scicarello is from CT....his uncle Mario the Baker also from CT.....John owns John the Baker as we speak......best pizza i tasted in NJ was in a little town name Lake hopakong , Carmine s its been there for 50 years...not to put down Frnak Pepe but I'm giving them 3 stars just to be nice.....we had dozens of pizza in dozens of states better than Frnk Pepe

I went there on purpose .. It is delicious. But if you put the word "world's three great pizzas" ...

You're going to wait a while, but the place is an institution and the pizza is worth it. One tip: finish the pie -- it gets gross when re-heated.

Frank Pepe'sis the real deal. First off, let me say that Foxon Park Sodas are awesome. I had the Iron Brew and the Kola, and I really wish they had this stuff available in NYC. Oh well, settling for Mexican Coke and Manhattan Special is never a bad thing. Our server was a nice, older Italian woman who was efficient without hovering over us. We got a clam pie, and while I wanted to try a tomato pie, my partner in crime sold me on getting a pie with cheese and bacon instead. The clam pie--supposedly invented here--lived up to the hype for the most part. Chunks of clam and fresh garlic dominated the pie, making it a briny, sweet piece of minor seafood heaven. The apizza crust was more crackery and bar pie-like than I expected, but it had a wonderful fermented bread flavor to it. My only complaint was that the clams could've been fresher, but I've been spoiled elsewhere. The other pie wasn't quite as good, with a thick coat of cheese overshadowing a great tomato sauce. The bacon they use was great and cut into huge chunks, but the pie came off very imbalanced to me. The crust also didn't stand up nearly as well, getting soggy quickly. We should've just tried the plain tomato pie like I wanted; another time. In any event, this apizza was very much worth the trip from NY.

4 star pizza but 5 stars because of the customer service.

One of the best pizzas on the planet? It's a matter of personal taste but it is damn good!

The legend. No place like it, though it's more recent expansion locations are good too. Be prepared for a wait. The tomato pie, sauce no toppings, is an under appreciated treasure.

Pizza was really good being cooked in the brick oven. A few beers on tap with pitchers available is always nice. Service staff were very polite, funny and checked in at good intervals. Medium pizza may have been too big for a normal meal, but tasty enough I made it work.

This was a really good stop. Had a lot of yummy pizza and this place was pretty delicious. The two places are right next to each other, we ate at the building on left, the smaller one. The line may be long but they get people through pretty quickly.

Pizza was good (not great, but solid), but the crust edges were burnt

On a good day Pepe s is still world class - old reliable indeed!

Stood waiting for an hour when they told us 20 minutes for a take out order. Pizza was good, but is any pizza that good? Seriously disappointing.

Good pizza but the restaurant needs renovations and added seating capacity.

Been here a few time as I grew up about 30 minutes away. This rating pays homage to the saying
"1 bad apple ruins the whole bunch" because this last visit left a bad taste in my mouth.

So the last time I had Pepe's before recently, was AMAZEBALLS as expected. This was about a year ago, so I didn't expect such a big difference. Both pizzas came out overcooked and tasteless.

Could have been that it was a busy day (first time I've been there where the line was literally going out the door [30 min wait]). I will chalk it up to that for now. Until then Pepe, you only get 3 stars out of this nutmegger.

This is from October 2016. I don't know if we went in on the wrong day.

We called for a white clam pizza and another one with anchovies and tomatoes. We were really excited to eat at a restaurant that prides itself on making authentic coal fired pizza, made in the same way that the first settlers made their pizza, with enough propaganda on the walls and menu cards to convince us that this indeed, is how pizza should be.

Enough with the hype.

Both pies were salty as f***. So much so that we had to wash it down with water. Aargh!

The crust was burned to a crisp in many places. It isn't 'crunchy and delicious' if it tastes like charcoal soot and has the chewy consistency of broken glass.

The toppings were strictly nothing to write home about.

The experience was uncomfortable and left us too devastated to complain. We just paid and left. Maybe we just ordered wrong. But if the experience is 'authentic' in that it recreates the final dying moments of a dehydrated sailor surviving on clams and seawater, then I think I'll stick with other, cheaper, better, 'inauthentic' pizzas

The best Pizza I've ever eaten, I have waited for two hours to be seated, however we ordered a pizza to go and ate it while we were in the line.
My favorite is a clam and garlic with olive oil and parmesan cheese.

Great place to eat and great pizza and great service

Very food pizza and toppings. Was bummed they were out of clams when we visited. The sausage and pepperoni were delicious though. The small original salad .was enough for two.

Delicious pizza. On the expensive side at 20 dollars for a medium pizza that contently fills two people

If you think this is the best pizza in the us you need your head examined. This is not even the best Pizza in new haven.

As a pizza Lover , having eaten pies from Bangkok to Brooklyn... Pepe's Neapolitan pie is one of the best next to a pizzaria in Nice.The dough and sauce are awesome and the coal burning ovens add to a mouth watering experience. As a Sicilian American I exclude the Sicilian pizza pies from this review... as i have yet find a restaurant to better that which my family has made!

Excellent pizza, medium (see photo), was large enough for 2, booths with charm...

We finally made it to the world best pizza, and yes it is the best I have ever had. We order a medium Frank Pepe Original Tomato Pie, and a small Spinach, mushroom & gorgonzola. I only have two regret, first we should have ordered two large of each pie and that I could only give 5 stars I would have given 10 stars. If you are anywhere near or driving by New Haven, CT. You must try it out and don't let the line foul you it moves quickly.

OMG, this may indeed be the best pizza in the country, especially at the New Haven store

a walk back into time and great pizzas come together in one place

The pizza here is extremely expensive even tho it's good, during the whole covid mess the pizza here is extremely unaffordable to anyone who's not in a upper class income bracket.

Great pizza, even better old school place, worth the drive, no diggity doubt

Been Going there since I was a Kid im 43 now,My brother Michael Farnham always took me there

Went late on a Tues. and the pizza with mushrooms, sausage & pepper was terrific. It is some of best I have eaten. Also, the salad was very good.

Delicious pizza - napolean crust, can't go wrong with a classic Margarita

Always stop for pizza when near New Haven. Best pizza anywhere.

The quality has definitely gone down hill as they expand. They have a small waiting room and no list. You walk in and wait in circular order. We ordered a classic clam pie and a traditional cheese pie. The clam pie came and the crust was over done, way to charred, the top was overcooked and the clams were chewy. The cheese pie came out 15 minutes later and double the thickness of the clam pie. We pointed it out and made us a new one but it was barely thinner. Next time I'll just stick to Modern Pizza

Back to the original, most amazing pizza! True authentic white pies in the 1925 coal fired ovens. A MUST if your in the state, find a location.

The atmosphere and service are great. The pizza has a thin, slightly burnt crust that has a hard time supporting the toppings.

Pizza that won't disappoint. People come from all over the country just to eat here and for good reason. This pizza is more than just your typical chain pizza, you have to try it to understand.

White clam & bacon pizza can't be beat! Service is a little slow but worth the wait.

Great food summer is over so that means no flies gotta work on keeping them flies out of their but the pizza is sooo good