Ah-Beetz New Haven Pizza-Delray Beach — Restaurant in Florida

The state of this restaurant itself can be described as piecemeal at best. To be nice, it's modular; to be honest, it's unplanned. Inside appears to have started with an oven and the kitchen was built out from there as needed. Later when customers arrived, it seems it was decided that tables might be needed, which are all outside on the plaza sidewalk.

Tables can be an hour wait on any given day after 3, which will give you some time to explore the parking lot out front. The restaurant that clearly inspired Ah-Beetz theming (down to the sheet pan service) is opening up shop in Delray in May, so this might change. Or Ah-Beetz can take another page from their inspiration and step up their game... maybe open a dining room in a nearby vacant storefront because their take out restaurant became too busy.

BOH staff here works like clockwork. Every pizza seems to be out within 15 minutes or so, always cooked perfectly. FOH staff needs some training; they seem to get flustered when it's busy.

That's not to indicate I didn't enjoy my experience, but our server probably didn't make the nice list. There was a moment where my (New Haven originated) family and our server chatted about things in Connecticut that we missed, and things that are just better in South Florida. Good talk.

But when your customer asks for a new plate because there is visible grease on the one they have, don't yell that you hand wash all the dishes going through each one saying, "See! See! ...", just bring a new plate. That's easier, faster, and makes everyone happier. Call your customer whatever you want in the back room once they leave if you don't agree, but don't cut off your nose to spite your face. Former CT residents can be good tippers.

A screaming match broke out next to us when a customer said their pizza doesn't have enough garlic. The garlic in question looked to be that peeled, jarred, flavorless minced garlic... so probably an overreaction on both sides to possibly a legit complaint. Acting like this will only make a bad day worse (except in some rare instances when you get to brag about it).

As alluded to earlier, Ah-Beetz must realize that Pepe's is coming to Delray soon. Maybe try to hang on to a few customers now? I'm far from all mighty here... in my day I have worked in infamously mean places that were very busy. Customers do sometimes consider this as theming... but you need some clout to pull that off, and you need to read the room. Pepe's on Wooster can get away with it, ditto the original Regina's of Boston; Ah-Beetz of Delray probably needs to be nice to stay afloat as competition escalates dramatically.

But it's all about the pizza. Everything else can be ignored. Ah-Beetz wouldn't quite feel at home on Wooster Street, but could exist in New Haven county. The dough is lacking some trace salt grains from the oven (pro tip: mix a little crushed rock salt into your corn meal) and cake yeast flavor. It's more of an Abate's family dough rather than a Bimonte family recipe.

Of course, those New Haven county mainstays make their own sauce with San Marazano puree and hand crushed plum tomatoes. I mean... they use a cranked stainer, they don't actually crush tomatoes in their hands. Anyway very little is added to the sauce, and certainly no sugar.

Cheese has two flavors in New Haven: freshly ground Romano sans sawdust, and whole milk Grande mozzarella.

The sauce is a bit too sweet (but lightyears from the Prego the NY places are dumping on pizza) and the cheese is lacking that classic New Haven buttery liquid. This leaves the plain pie with a bit of an Ellios flavor and the Mozz pie sweet and dry. Sometimes this style can work with complex toppings; maybe some specialties would shine. No joke: vegetarian or not, try crumbled Morning Star sausage patties, diced fresh green peppers, and a dash of Oregano with this sweeter sauce.

As mentioned, everything is cooked to perfection. Despite some flaws, this is good pizza, but if Ah-Beetz stepped up their game they could be part of a New Haven renaissance right here in...

My approach with restaurants has always been that it doesn’t matter how good the food is if the service isn’t good at all! I won’t be back!!

My husband and I heard about this place and figured we’d try it out, as it claimed to have the best New Haven Style Pizza in Florida. We arrived at 6:30 to order a pie for his bday and then was told that it’d be an hour wait for the pizza, which we understood given that there were numerous take out orders. No problem, completely understand.

We pay for the food and then we’re told to come back at 7:30, ok fine.

We hang around in the area for an hour (we live 35 minutes away) and then arrive back at 7:30. The pizza wasn’t ready yet, and we were told roughy “7 minutes or so more”. Okay, no problem at all, we understood they were busy.

We then sit at one of their inside tables and wait. Roughly 25 minutes go by and my husband goes up to the counter and asks if it’s be any longer. The young kid at the front who seemed to be the manager said, “oh it just came out of the oven” (which I don’t think it did given that it wasn’t hot). Again though, no problem at all. We are understanding people as you can see I don’t post reviews at all.

This next sequence is what did it for us though! Completely wrong. My husband takes the pizza and asks the manager for some plates as we weee going to eat it at the table we had been sitting at for 25 minutes (remember we live 35 minutes away) and wanted to eat it hot.

The manager then tells my husband that he couldn’t have any plates because they were now closed LOL. Keep in mind, the restaurant still had FULL tables outside with people finishing there meals, and literally the table next to us just got their food 10 minutes prior and weee eating a full course meal (salad, wings, 3 pies). We weren’t people who just came in 10 minutes prior or AT closing time. Us eating our pie at the table would have done nothing to interfere with them closing. As I mentioned, the restaurant was still packed.

This is horrible customer service and we won’t be back. Would be good for the owner to know this is his manager is...

First of all people have trouble finding the entrance and when I found it I coke in to see this little kitchen and giant oven. We’re trying to read the menu and this heavy set girl with a mean looking face rudely asks us if we’re getting Carry out or dining in I wanted to dine in but not be served by her so I’m trying to order a regular cheese pizza but couldn’t really fi ks it on the menu I guess a plain pizza is just a flat disk with sauce. Anyways after finally ordering I get the pizza and. Take it to my car the pizza was paper thin the cheese was non existent and the sauce tasted like chef boyardee and that was pretty light too. It tasted like burnt leather. Im a fat guy and I eat everything and anything I ate a couple slices almost crying with every bite becasue I paid for it my gf had one slice and she was done. Never in my life have I ever threw pizza away throwing out pizza is sacrilegious I’ve always eaten all pizza or save It for later when I got home there were two slices left. Of a small pizza that I purchased and I tossed it in the dumpster. I came to the pizza place because of Dave portnoy and it’s funny this is the second pizza okave I came that he rated highly and it’s garbage so I won’t be goikg to his recommended spots anymore. Also there is no place to wait for your pizza my gf and her friend had to sit on baby chairs that were pink from the preschool next door. There. Is only 6 tAbel’s in the whole restaurant. The waitresss that was rude to us was rude to everyone else I thought maybe she had a death in the family or something. But when she goes in the kitchen or is at the counter with the co worker she is all smiles and laughs. But the minute she approaches a customer or is asked a question she gets this horrible ugly look on her face and this monotone disturbing tone with one word answers. I would not recommend this place ever save your money...