Little Star Pizza — Restaurant in Albany

Hrmm. On their door, there's a flyer that says this place is the best in the bay. It's good pizza, no doubt about it. Definitely better than your average joe Dominos Pizza Hut pizza. But "best"? No, it's not that. It's good, but saying you're the best is a bold claim.

I came here, us being a group of 4. We were actually seated fairly quickly. Pretty suprising since it was pretty packed in here. That alone got me pretty excited for the food here. Our order was a large italian combo and an order of "garlic bread". Let me clear up why I say that: they actually give you a sliced up loaf of french bread, a roasted head of garlic, and WAY MORE BUTTER THAN YOU NEED FOR SUCH A SMALL LOAF OF BREAD (I referred to it as "butter-lovers butter".) So basically, it's "make your own garlic bread". Mind you, it's not the toasted sort of garlic bread you're used to. Maybe you won't mind, but I do. Why make me do extra work for an appetizer that WE HAD TO PAY FOR. From a cheapo steakhouse like Black Angus to a nice joint like Stanford's, bread and butter like this is FREE. Maybe if it was free here as well, I wouldn't mind as much. Also, for all the butter they give you, you'd think they'd be bringing you out more bread. They don't. Mayhaps I complain too much. Ah well.

A note about our server: he was a tad bit snippy. When we ordered our pizza, he told us that it could only feed up to 3. That was a lie. I don't usually use internet terminology in my reviews. but I can only reply to that with an lol. The pizza was more than enough for the 4 of us. We all got 2 decently sized slices. Anyhow, because of that, we ordered that garlic bread and well... see the paragraph above. Also, when he brought the pizza, it was on the metal base but it was slanted so the pie was darn near ready to fall in my lap. I adjusted the base so it wasn't slanted, but he kept saying "don't touch it, don't touch it." So annoying. I guess he'd rather have the pizza al l spill unto my lap.

The pizza itself? It was good, I liked it. A tad bit on the thin side, but pretty flavorful. I do wish their large was bigger though. 2 slices was good, but I could've went for just a bit more. Like I mentioned, definitely better pizza than your run of the mill delivery pizza. But all in all? NOT the best of the bay at all. Okay pizza, but I don't think i'll be coming back unless it's with a big group of friends. Even then, i'll still suggest other places...

We'll start with the good: been coming here for years and the pizza is consistently good. Usually, so is the service. Friendly and attentive, without hovering, but checking in every 15 or so. Accurate orders, clean with no gums under the table, a pass from Alameda County, and tasty food. Good!

Thin crust is our choice, always, so can't speak to the Detroit style or deep dish, but the thin crust pizza is always well executed and tasty. Kids review: "so delicious" and the sauce to crust to cheese ratio is just right (more cheese than sauce). $24 Also ordered the small wings, $12, the roasted cauliflower $8 and a small mixed salad, $6.

The wings are always good - not saucy, but a dry, spicy rub and then fried to a nice crisp; the cauliflower is usually tender and flavorful but today was a total miss. It was basically raw. The mixed salad was really overdressed, but i should know better and ask for dressing on the side. All of their salads are nice, as they try to be a little more unique with their combos than the general Caesar or basic mixed salad, by adding different nuts, cheeses and toppings than you typically find elsewhere. All of this plus drinks was a very normal order for us, and the cauliflower excepted, it all hit the mark. Beer $6, 1 glass of wine $12 plus a 20% service charge (?! when did that start), and 3 lemonades ended up being $100 including 20% tip.

We usually have a decent experience here, which is why we keep returning. It's nothing fancy, but pizza these days costs $25-$40 per pie, so you expect it to be worth it, I think.

This most recent visit was the worst we've had there, due to severe understaffing, lack of communication, and a clearly sick front of house manager. It's "either come to work and make money, or close the restaurant and no one makes money" was what our server said.

I'll give it a few months before we return, but given the times, where it's so hard to find staff and everyone is stretched so thin, I hope they can recover and go back to being a solid local...

This was our first visit to this very popular eatery, located in a quaint neighborhood on a street lined with many little shops and restaurants. On a Thursday, the place was jammed with patrons and extremely noisy.

Service was very good, and the wait time for the food wasn’t terrible, given how busy it was.

Salads come in three sizes. We ordered individual small sizes, which were actially larger than expected. We would have been fine splitting one medium salad. The ingredients were very fresh. I prefer a salad with fruit included, but there were none on the menu, so I settled for the arugula with an orange vinaigrette. I was a bit disappointed that the dressing flavor was weak, overpowered by the arugula.

A friend had told us to try the deep dish pizza, so we shared a large “Old School,” which had mozzarella, olives, onion, and pepperoni, all topped with a thick tomato sauce. The toppings, especially the rich sauce, were quite flavorful. Although I could detect the flavor of the pepperoni within the sauce, I didn’t see many, and they were not prominent. I personally didn’t like the hard, cornmeal covered, cracker-like crust. Perhaps it was needed to support the weight of the toppings, but I missed the more traditional bread-like crust.

We’ll go to this place again but will try the thin...