Reviews for Emilia's Pizzeria in Berkeley, CA
I was so impressed with the first visit. The sauce and crust of the pizzas tasted great. The place was nice and staff are... accommodating. Overall, I'm glad that we tried eating here. Read more
Good pizza but not amazing/not anything special (given the price and hype). Appreciate not going overboard on toppings but... pretty obvious pizza didn?t have enough sauce and cheese. Not worth the hassle and cost. The man is also pretty rude and it?salmost impossible to ask him anything in person (eg asking questions that aren?t answered on the online website) Read more
Top level pizza, it tastes as good as it looks. Not the best ordering method or location, but understandable for a one man show.
Keith is legit. A lot of pies this size are overtopped and have too much sauce and cheese. Not here. His balance is perfect. His... sauce is sweet, and that?s not to my personal taste but it was still delicious. The dough is the star here. Complex, tangy andsubtle hints of sour. Outstanding work. I hope he gets to a point where he can get staff and more space. We need more greatpizzaiolos in the bay! I say that as one myself! Great job Keith! Read more
Emilia?s suffers from one of the greatest fallacies in pizza along with a desperate hype-train in a quality-pizza-barren region.... All the hallmarks of a social media-lauded Neapolitan style are present: Under-cooked center, I.e a crispy crust with chewy core(this one was a little bit too chewy, although I get it that some people love that), under-seasoned sauce, overpowering basil,and tasteless cheese. Another disappointing element was the heavy handedness of the fennel in the sausage. If you like licoricepizza, this might be for you. But the fennel is supposed to be there to accentuate the meat, not cover it up. Heavy fennel likethis makes me question the quality of the pork. Overall the pizza was very fresh, but perhaps too fresh. Think garden saladfresh. That?s not how pizza is supposed to taste. Mozzarella, or other cheeses, are better left aged to develop rich oxidizedflavors and aromas that cut through the sauce and crust. Oregano is needed to balance basil (especially when you?re using thoseBiano DiNapoli canned tomatoes that have been soaking in basil for months before they arrive stateside). Crust shouldn?t bedoggy-chew texture inside, but rather croissant like. It?s sad that this and cheeseboard (a far worse offender) are the best theEast Bay thinks they have to offer. To top it off, the pie will run you about 25-30 bucks depending on how aggressive you arewith toppings. While pizza enthusiasts might find this disappointing, Emilia?s offers instagram op fare for privilegedtrust-fund drunk kids, which fortunately is a sustainable market in Berkeley. Read more
Absolutely incredible pizza. I recently moved here from New Jersey and was told I'd never find NJ/NY pizza but boy were they... wrong. The biggest thing to keep in mind is to check their website and call at 4pm to put in your order, it's easy. And theygive you an estimated time of when your pizza will be ready (either dine in or take out) and he was spot on with that time. Thecrust, sauce, cheese, visual, aromas, everything was exactly what I want in a pizza. And btw cash only! Read more
The downsides are that you have to call in ahead of time to secure a pick-up time slot (the only table might be available if... you're lucky, but it's usually reserved), and he only takes cash. But it's the best pizza I've had in Berkeley. Read more
The crust was perfection. It's lighter and thinner than most thin crusts I've had and I much prefer this. Had the right amount... of crispness and chew. Could have used more sauce IMO but the flavor was good. Cheese was just right. Not at all greasy oroily. Emilia's and GIOIA are now my favorite pizza places in the East Bay. Read more