828 Family Pizzeria — Restaurant in Asheville

This is a rock solid pizzeria. I'm not going to go on about New York style, or authenticity, or anything like that -- I think New York pizza exists in so many variations that there's nothing concrete to compare to anyway. It's a vague illusion.

So what I will say is that Marco's pizza is several things:

The crust is a perfect expression of a very specific philosophy: it's glutenous and chewy but not bready and "full". It's salty, flavorful and elastic, yet it does not get in the way. To me, it exemplifies a very specific balance that bespeaks a deep culinary understanding. As the base of the pizza, it has what you're looking for in every dimension.

The sauce is clean, bright, and light, yet flavorful but still straightforward. It is a lightly spiced mixture and it really tastes fresh. I don't know the actual story, but if these tomatoes came from a can, I'm in line to stock my pantry. It is delicious in every way.

The mozzarella is a perfect match for the crust and sauce. It's in no way greasy or heavy -- it's airy and has real texture; miles away from the globby mouthfuls that are so often explicitly marketed as desirable. Again, it's a pointed decision that defines the pizza as one thing and not another, rather than attempting to turn the end result into something that resembles eveyone's idea of a pizza.

These three points are what place Marco's pizza above everything else in town, and what make his pizza an absolute rival to any pizza anywhere. It's pizza with a real heart and soul, and it is magnificent.

I haven't approached toppings, and the reason is that I'm not that familiar with Marco's topped pizzas. I've had them and they're good, but extra toppings never seemed to me to be what made Marco's pies shine.

For me, it's always just been the pure simplicity of the three components I described above (plus fresh basil!) that drew my attention.

As others have said -- great beers, great staff. I also love the Greek salads; Marco's dressing is really nice. And sure, things may take a while sometimes, but the staff is über-friendly, and you really can't rush quality.

The decor suits the vibe, and I suppose I probably should have put Excellent for both that and the service, but there are a few tiny details that could be addressed so let's leave a little room for improvement.

Besides, perfect is boring, and a perfect pizzeria would not be a pizzeria, it'd be a factory run by robots. Marco's is a real pizzeria, and it's as close to...

Went on cold rainey Friday night around 6pm. The pizza place was located in a plaza of other shops ,took my friend who is in a wheel chair. The waiting area very small, seated maybe 6 people near the door but no place to wait for us, except I found a corner next to table of diners who were really nice who did not mine us parked near thier table and water pitchers .We waited the 30 minutes until a table was ready .I made sure the people sitting at the table near us did not mind .We ordered the white cheese pizza. The oven baked crust was amazing .This is a family owned business for years with staff friendly people .There were only 2 bathrooms with 1 tolet in each one.waiting for one to open up presented It's own issues having to park next to more diners and enterence for the servers . The path to the bathroom was a little challenging but do able .bathrooms were very large and had handicap bars .Enjoyed the family feel of the restaurant. I would say if you are with anyone in a wheelchair or handicap it is a little challenging but go during nonbusy hours or make reservations . They do not have a beeper device to be able to wait in your car as an option .even if you were Not handicaped the waiting area is tiny. I would eat here again here with my friend provided we had a place reserved or...

I ordered a meatball Parm with mozzarella. If you had used Italian bread, it might’ve been acceptable. The sub bread that you used was way too soft did not have the crust on it like the Italian bread has. The meatballs tasted like they were leftovers and the sauce did not seem to have any herbs in it at all. Or maybe it was that the sauce that tasted like it was leftover. All in all it is not the Italian meatball hero that I remember from New York. As you said in your ad, this is New York style. I have no idea what the salad cost but all it was was chopped up Romain With stale croutons and if there was Parmesan on it, they just waved it over It. Need I say more I was not happy.

This is the fourth or fifth restaurant that I have done takeout and it seems that they feel that they can give you anything that they want because by the time you get it home and find you don’t like it, it is too much trouble to take it back. And of course by then you’re so hungry the box or bag would taste good and probably better.

I will take this down in a few days. I am not out to destroy someone’s business. I just want to let them know where they...