Antico Pizza Napoletana

Got a bite at Antico Pizza Napoletana for lunch today. I write with mixed emotions about the restaurant. The pizza is clearly good. There is no denying that it is good. The calzone was probably the best calzone I have ever had. The ingredients are authentic, fresh, and delicious. The meats, sopressata and capicola, tasted like no other meat I have ever had on a pizza or calzone. The peppers were whole peppers which were perfectly sweet, tangy, and spicy all at the same time. The crust was flavorful and did not overpower the other ingredients.

But, there's a catch. I don't think I will be heading back to Antico Pizza any time soon for reasons other than the food. An excellent dining experience consists of more than food. An excellent dining experience combines delicious food with quality service and a price commensurate with the level of the food and service. Anyone willing to pay an arm and a leg for poor quality food or horrible service is plain crazy. It just isn't rational to overpay. As stated before, the food was good. But compared to the service and the price the place just doesn't add up.

The service was essentially non-existent. You walk into the restaurant and place an order at a cash register. You then are given a receipt with your ticket number on it. You then walk into the back room which is an open room with picnic tables, the prep station for the pizzas, and three large pizza ovens. The place was packed during my visit which was before noon on a Friday. There were no open tables and people were lined up around the sides of the room waiting for a place to sit. When your pizza is done a guy from the kitchen comes running out screaming your number. He doesn't care if you have a table or not, you must take your pizza and do something with it. What probably gives me the most pause about this establishment is what the head chef said when two customers informed the person bringing out their pizza that they did not have a place to sit. The chef said: "A table is like a driver's license. It is a privilege, not a right. It is a privilege, not a right to have a place to sit." Excellent customer service . . . Also, you can't take more orders than you have space for people to eat and then take reservations for your limited tables on top of that. After we patiently waited for a table for several minutes a table finally opened up. We were then informed that we couldn't sit there because the table had been reserved. We ended up putting our food in to-go boxes and eating it in our car.

The second problem is the price. The cheapest pizza in the restaurant is $18. I acknowledge that the pizza is good, but I'm not quite sure that it is $18 good. One pizza is about the right size to feed two people who aren't especially hungry. If you have a small appetite or aren't exceptionally hungry you may be able to feed three people on a pizza. On my visit three men shared a calzone and a pizza and easily finished it all. Each pizza is approximately eight to ten inches across and has eight slices. I know the cheese is flown in weekly from Italy and all of the other ingredients are fresh from Italy. I just don't think the taste is good enough to justify paying $18 for a small pizza. You could go somewhere else that doesn't fly their ingredients around the world, pay less, and have pizza nearly as good.

My final verdict is that I am on the fence. This place has good pizza, bad service, and is expensive for what you get. Go here once to say you have had true Italian pizza and then don't go back. Just make sure that you go at a time when it isn't likely to be busy so that you have a chance of sitting down. Don't put this place at the top of your list.

Antico Pizza Napoletana
1093 Hemphill Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30318