Zella's Pizzeria & Italian — Restaurant in Florida

Native NY-er and self-proclaimed pizza snob here. Since moving to FL 6 years ago I’ve been on the hunt for decent pizza and after trying all the “New York style” pizza joints I came upon, as well as restaurant versions of pizza, I gave up my search. I resigned myself to the fact that food will never compare to what I grew up on, and despite the constant Friday crave, I rarely bother with pizza anymore. Well, I’m happy to report the pizza drought is over. I ran into someone from Jersey and I asked the quintessential question: have you ever had a good pizza in Central Florida? To my surprise he said Yes, at Zella’s. So we hopped in the car and drove 40 minutes to try just one more pizza. Walking in to the tiny store we looked at each other and said, Well, if it isn’t good then we just won’t come back. I’m here to say—and I couldn’t wait to post this—that our low expectations were more than exceeded. We were greeted and served by the nicest lady, Angel, who made us feel welcome and appreciated. The menu had quite a few options for toppings including fresh garlic which seems to be a rarity these days. The hyped up, high-priced NY pizza joint in St. Augustine’s didn’t even have garlic powder let alone actual garlic as a topping. Another place we recently visited failed to put any garlic at all on the pie and wouldn’t even reverse the $2.50 charge because “the chef remembers putting it on.” Ok, back to Zella’s: we each got a personal pizza to start small (since we had our doubts). Hubby had the specialty garlic and herb crust with mushroom & garlic toppings, I had the regular crust with basil. To say the pizza was delicious would be an understatement. They were both cooked to perfection, the sauce was seasoned just right with evidence of real plum tomatoes, the cheese was abundant and stringy, and above all the oil was exactly what we’d hoped for. It all came together in the closest to NY as you’ll find in Central Florida. We will be back! And if you haven’t tried Zella’s yet, please do. You’ll...

Tucked in a plaza just south of the intersection of US highway 441 and Se 92nd Place Road is a new pizza hot spot!

We ordered a large pepperoni pizza, medium Bianca pizza with pepperoni and cheese bread to go. The sauce is the highlight of the standard pizza. You can tell it’s a robust in-house made sauce with a great balance. I would say this was the single best tasting pizza I have ever had. This pizza is on the juicy side in the middle with a perfectly crispy crust bottom. As you work your way up there’s a nice garlic brushed outside crust. The Bianca had a nice blend of Ricotta, Parmesan, Feta and Mozzarella. I definitely recommend stopping in. There’s a few unique offerings that I’m excited to try. Please try them out!

Please be careful when locating this address. At times Google Maps tries taking you way north. This business is located in Belleview just north of Santos elementary school on the west side of the road in a plaza with The Coupon Kid Sales...

I’ve been to this place twice when they opened and both times I got a large cheese and wings. Both times were exactly the same. The staff was nice, but the food was not good. The sauce for the wings was very watery and didn’t stay on the wings at all and the pizza was not a NY pizza at all. Being from NY and eating real NY pizza I know 100% that anyone who thinks this is NY pizza is completely delusional. It’s very greasy, like dripping off the pizza greasy which normally means they use cheap cheese and the sauce was weak and was bland as well. The only thing it had going for it was the garlic crust, but other than that it’s 2 stars at best. I do however salute them for getting something in Belleview as the options there are limited and like I said previously the staff is awesome. Hopefully they can adjust. I’ll go back for my 3rd and final try, but it won’t be...