Crust & Craft — Restaurant in Delaware

UPDATE: When I first read that Crust & Craft had been bought by the SoDel Concepts group my only worry was that the pizza would change, thankfully the only changes have made my favorite Rehoboth restaurant even better. I love the addition of a large list of nightly specials, the menu seemed rather limited before the switch. There are lots of new pizzas on the menu and as specials and while we were in town for Dewey's Golden Jubilee we finally broke out of our comfort zone and finally tried the pasta. Thursday night is half price pasta entrees so I ordered the Seafood Bucatini & hubby got the baked Fusili. Both dishes were absolutely delicious, the sauce on my Bucatini complimented the mussels, shrimp & crab meat, allowing the seafood to be the star of the show and I usually don't eat mussels but these were perfection, tender and flavorful. Hubby's fusili was equally as yummy, the smoky flavor of the braised bacon, the tender chicken, caramelized onions & spinach all dripping in a deliciously cheesy Alfredo sauce. The only thing that could have made this meal any better would have been to include a piece of warm piece of crusty Italian bread. We head back down to Rehoboth this week for the Sea Witch Festival and my mouth is already watering thinking about which pasta dish I'm gonna get Thursday night.

Friends who live in nearby Long Neck couldn't stop raving about how awesome this place is and after reading all the reviews hubby and I couldn't wait to try it. On our first visit we went with The Goodfella Pizza which consists of crushed tomato sauce, spicy sausage, mozzarella, roasted bell peppers, sharp provolone and it was delicious. A few days later we were back to try the "You Say You Are From New York" pizza which has crushed tomato, buffalo mozzarella, pecorino, sharp provolone, parmesan and fontina and from that point on I was hooked. While the Goodfella was very good, the different cheeses on the You Say You Are From New York Pizza come together like magic in my belly and how often can you really say that about a pizza with no toppings, the cheeses are the main attraction and well worthy of all the accolades. I'm a huge fan of Ricotta so I eventually want to try the Sweet Dreams Pizza but right now I'm still heavily crushing on the NY Pizza so it might take awhile. I was so enamored with this heavenly pie that I had hubby bring me back for lunch the next day and dinner 2 days after that, just to get my fix. We usually start with the Chopped Romaine Caesar with extra tangy Caesar Vinaigrette and always topped with handfuls of fresh parmesan and it has always been the perfect way to start the meal. The staff is absolutely amazing, very friendly, personable service and they all seem to work well together to make sure everyone in the restaurant is taken care of and happy. Our first visit was in October and we have been back well over 8 times since and every time has been sheer perfection. Looking forward to visiting again when we go back down to the beach for my birthday weekend the end of January. Truly the best wood fire style pizza I have...

The menu is very enticing. They have several specialty pizzas that all sound really good. If you ask for a plain cheese, you'll get what they call a New Yorker, which has a five different cheeses. If you ask for a pepperoni, you'll get what they call a Roni, which has pepperoni of course but also adds Calabrian chilis. It's not super spicy, but spicier than plain pepperoni, so just be aware. We also got the Funghi, which has mushroom and caramelized onion and a bechamel sauce. The flavors on all of these were fantastic. They use a wood fired oven, so there's just a bit of char on the crust. The only thing that I wasn't thrilled with was the fact that the bottom of the crust wasn't crispy. In fact there wasn't much color on the bottom at all. It was definitely cooked, but pretty white still and the dough was rather chewy. With a wood fired oven I would have thought the bottom crust would have been cooked better. And it wasn't just one that was like that. We ordered 5 pizzas, and they all had the crust cooked the same way. So that must just be their style. But again, the flavors were really very good.

We ordered take out, which we had called ahead for. When we arrived at the restaurant, the pizzas were ready at the time they had specified. But when we got the pizzas we realized we really should have ordered one more pizza for our group back home. So we asked the hostess to add one more to our order. She said it would probably be 5 or 10 minutes, and we were fine with that. But literally within one minute she brought another pizza to us. We were shocked and delighted. I'm sure what happened was that she grabbed another pizza that was going to someone else and gave it to us. But I don't think it really caused a problem for the other customer because it was pretty busy in there and they were pumping out pizzas at a steady clip. I thought that was great customer service on the part of the hostess.

Although we had take out, the restaurant looked very clean and pleasant on the inside. I would have no problem eating in another time.

Overall we had a great experience there. The only negative was a somewhat chewy crust, but that may just be a matter of taste. Everything else...

• • UPDATE 10/21/2023 * * * Management connected with me and made amends for the less than stellar experience we experienced. Their gesture was unexpected and most appreciated. Looking forward to our next visit to Crust & Craft!

A usual go to for take out as it convenient and the meals are prepared promptly. However, our most recent experience was a disappointment. The food was barely warm and we had to reheat everything. My wife ordered the Fungi pizza. All the mushrooms were piled in the center, the pie was barley warm and haphazardly put together. We ordered the “home made” mozzarella sticks. Generally they aren’t our thing, but the last time they were extraordinary. This time, very ordinary and nothing like the previous order. First order were obviously home made and the mozzarella was creamy and delicious. This time they were shaped like typical frozen sticks, rubbery texture to the mozzarella, basically they type that makes them not our thing. I ordered the mushroom stroganoff. The roasted onions had a nice flavor. Other than that it was pretty much flavorless. Too much flour, as the bechamel was a little gummy. For the price, it could have had a lot more mushrooms. The portion was generous, but still, a very overpriced meal. Ordered a side of meatballs. Received two. I’m certain they used to serve three per order. They weren’t horrible, but just not what I remembered from previous orders. The service was excellent and when I picked up the order it was quite lively as they had a nice crowd. We’ll give them a break for a while and maybe give it another shot sometime...