La Festa Brick & Brew — Restaurant in Dover

Wifey and I went for the first time after finding La Festa to be the best pizza on the NH Seacoast according to many people on social media.

We arrived at 4:30 and loved the large variety of choices 12+ of NY style slices. We got two, white buffalo chicken, which according to our order taker is super popular and one of three always available, and a sausage pepper and onion, and four knots: 2 garlic & 2 cinnamon sugar.

The NY style was pretty true, with the exception of being a little to toasted on the bottom (maybe due to being reheated in the oven - it was 4:30 and surprisingly busy, but not busy enough to keep so many pizzas hot out of the oven), and the pizza was smaller than a real NYC pizza.

Due to the recommendation by the order taker I expected to find the white buffalo better than average, but that was all it was. Not much chicken, not much buffalo, generally not spicy at all. For a much better, albeit not NY, but heavier and greasier Greek style buffalo chicken pizza try Nick's in Seabrook. Independent of the Green style, for our taste they get the quantity of chicken and spicey buffalo sauce right. The pepper, onion and sausage was good, better than average, but the sausage seemed to be cut with a deli cutter - super thin. So thin that it lacked flavor. Nonetheless, it was a good slice. The knots where great, dense doughy bombs of great flavor. We're glad we got them.

The service was okay at best. Our order taker didn't know what was on several of the pizzas on display for slices. I wanted to try the other crust styles, but slices where only available in NY style. When I asked if I could see a grandma's or Sicilian I was told I had to order an entire pizza. I saw some wood fired being made for others, but no Sicilian or Grandma's.

We paid $13.50 for the 2 slices and 4 knots, which was not expensive and not cheap, okay by us. I didn't include the drinks, no cocktails so one restaurant preparation. I generally tip well, but was a bit put off by the request for 10 or 20% on the credit card reader. These guys didn't really go out of their way to help us, had more help than they needed while we were there, and didn't leave behind the counter: we ordered there then returned to pick up the reheated pizza. What's the tip for, underpaid employees? There's no table service at all, not even just to bring our order over. The soft drinks were even self service. Enough is enough, let your employees actually help people or stop asking people to pay...

After working in upstate New Hampshire for the day, I was craving one thing and one thing only, CAZONE! I didn't want to stop at the first place I came across but Instead looked on google reviews to see what the locals were saying about pizza shops in the area and stumbled across La Festa Brick and Brew Pizzeria in Dover New Hampshire. Soon as I walked in I knew this was going to be a good experience as their place was packed with people of all ages all seemingly very excited for what they were about to eat.

There are two different lines one just for pizza slices and the other for pretty much everything else which keeps the lines moving fairly quickly. The menu is quite large and their options for calzones sounded excellent especially the white buffalo calzone which consisted of Spicy buffalo chicken, buffalo sauce & mozzarella, and bleu cheese dressing on the side. I couldn't wait to try this month watering calzones in Fort Wayne that's where the four stars and not five come into play.

I realize it was a Friday night however I was in line waiting for my food for approximately 30 minutes while seemingly everyone else number was called before mine, I even asked the woman who I ordered from about 20 minutes prior how much longer it would be and she stated that it would be coming right out, not so much. When I finally received a calzone I was psyched and brought it in my car as I would be eating it on the road as I had a 3+ hour drive ahead of me, I opened up the box and the calzone which looked very good was not cut into pieces whatsoever which I thought was very strange, so I had to cut it with a plastic knife I had in my car while driving, not ideal and for $9.50 was surprised about this omission.

I would definitely go back for the atmosphere as well as the great tasting food however just be aware that wait times are quite excessive and if you're in a hurry you may want to call ahead or just grab a beer at the beer counter while you wait and talk to the locals as they are very friendly, one of them actually recommended the calzone to me, which I appreciated.

Come for the tasty pizza and calzones, grab a beer, enjoy the scene and music, and don't get caught in the wrong ordering line else you'll be banished to the back of the other line, "no pizza for you, you come...

Based on the recommendation of others and the on-line menu, my husband and I thought we would have an inexpensive lunch at this comfortable pizza establishment. We were amazed at the selection of pies on view when we entered and informed the server behind the counter that this was our first visit. I asked for a small pizza and was told that they didn't have small pizzas and only had 16" and 18" pies, so we ordered a 16" cheese with onion and pepper with 2 garlic knots and one slice of cheese. When I saw the price of the of the pizza $22.00, and a total of $28.00, I was curious and questioned the server Amelia about the prices displayed on the on-line menu when she delivered the pizza to the table. "Oh those are the 12 " Brick." When I answered, I wasn't aware of the difference because as we said this was our first time here, she responded, "Well you got the Italian and didn't ask for Brick" We felt she was snippy and rude and still didn't take the time to explain that the Brick Pizza was wood fire roasted which is what we thought we were ordering to begin with. It was early afternoon and the place wasn't busy. I looked around for a paper menu, but did not see one. The patrons at the next table were enjoying subs that looked delicious, but we didn't know that was an option. I must say that the Italian pie was a good flavor and a very generous size. It should have been in the oven a bit longer as the underside of the crust was very pale, but I will pop it in the oven to enjoy for dinner tonight. We most likely will return for a Woodfire Pizza that we thought we were ordering, and take home one or two of the subs. Only wish that the server was a little more sensitive to first time patrons and explained prior to ordering what the restaurant offered. I hope the owner...