Pizza Julia — Restaurant in Paris

Where there's smoke, there's fire!

Well that's what "they" say and normally that's true but at Pizza Julia the smoke is as a result of the cooking some serious amount of pizza in a shop the size of most walk-in closets with poor ventilation. And as is the norm with popular restaurants in Paris, there was a heard of people huddled around the front door upon my arrival, waiting for what I've read is some serious pizza.

Having a look at the menu, you have a few of the Paris/Europe regular pizzas and some pizzas unique to the chef, as well as the pizza Julia named for the restaurant. For me, I was always told that you judge a pizzeria not on the crazy combinations they can create but rather to start first with the basic Margherita. This gives you the opportunity to clearly taste the sauce, cheese and bread all the while seeing if the chef adheres to the Neapolitan pizza techniques for a certifiably great pizza.

Upon paying 8 euros for a takeaway margherita pizza, I had to wait for another eight pizzas and one calzone to be served up to the poor souls seated in front of a mirror and the others cramped in the remaining waiting/ordering area, 10 minutes later with pizza in hand I headed back outside to find a place to sit and eat.

Finally, seating secured outdoors on a frozen tiled bench I dug in. First thing that I noticed was that this was not a Pizza Margherita, instead it was a Pizza Marinara. This is noteworthy because Margherita as the menu listed it, comes with fresh basil whereas the Marinara comes with Oregano.

Second was that while the pizza seemed correct in size, the dough looked like what you'd get from a frozen pizza - flat and hard, seemingly not hand-made and definitely not: "When cooked, it should be soft, elastic, tender and fragrant" as stated by Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana. Third I'll combine the remaining two points for brevity, the sauce was good, not amazing and the cheese, which the menu stated was a double shot of mozzarella appeared and tasted to be a grated hard cheese.

For me, I had to make quite a trek to get to Pizza Julia and while the staff were very friendly and the experience unique, I can't say I'll return. If you're looking for great pizza in Paris where they can really deliver on a pizza margherita then stop by either Pizza Cesar or O'scia, they have consistent results that are inline with what you'll...

I read the reviews on trip advisor and was craving pizza after being in Paris for 2 months and decided to check this place out. I am so glad I did. It is just a few blocks from Bastille, so great location. The shop itself is quite small and really just for delivery, but there are 4 seats and my friends and I were able to sit and eat there. This may seem like a small thing, but one of the owners gave me a free Dr Pepper, which is difficult to find in France and usually costs much more than a regular Coke. The pizza was delicious and an amazing value. I split a Margherita with one other person and it was extremely filling. The folks there were so friendly and obviously very proud of their little shop as it is full of certificates and prizes from pizza...

Amazing pizza. We ordered the vegan pizza and vegan calzone and both were fantastic. Everything tasted super fresh and the flavors worked really well together. You can tell they know what they’re doing with their vegan options too - nothing felt like it was missing.

The owner told us he used to have sit-in restaurants but decided to focus just on perfecting pizzas - you know you’re dealing with someone who really cares about their craft when they make choices like that.

Definitely recommend checking this place out if you’re in Paris and want some really good pizza. The dough alone makes it worth the...