Pizza Craft Pizzeria & Italian Specialities — Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale

Nestled at the west end of the 2nd ave strip, Pizzacraft is positioned in the perfect location to pull twenty-something IMAX goers and the pre-theater crowd from the Broward Center.

It's a charming little space with a dining area on one side and a loungey bar area on the other. We decided to give it a shot early on a Monday night so there was only a couple of tables outside, and no one inside. Obviously they had just opened for dinner (6pm), because there was still a stack of napkins and silverware on a table waiting to be rolled. Now when we arrived there was not a soul in the inside dining room, there was a cook behind the line and server propped up at the service well waiting on drink. No host, no manager, no one. So I asked the back of the server's head, "do we seat ourselves?"... "no we'll seat you" came the rather gruff response. So I went back into the dining room to wait...and wait...and wait....finally after he had picked up his drinks did he bother to seat us (strike 1).

We were sat at a small deuce next to a wall, which was a little awkward but oh well. The menu is pretty varied, there is a wide selection of apps, including platters of olives ($5), a Burrata and tomato salad ($14) and a few other options. After much haggling between the two of us we decided to do a Carbonara Pizza ($21) and a Nutella Pizza for desert rather than have an appetizer. Grumpy server returns to take our order and lo and behold the Nutella pizza is not being offered because they "haven't finalized the recipe" .... it's been six weeks since you opened, are you harvesting your own hazelnuts (strike 2)?

The Carbonara Pizza arrives and lo and behold it was right on point. The pizza is described as: cream, fontina, farm egg, pecorino, black pepper, EVOO (Rachel Ray would be pleased), Italian parsley and guanciale (a pig jowl bacon). First off let me say that I was expecting a super rich pie, It's not. Yeah, there'es lots of cream and cheese goodness, but it doesn't come across as heavy and bloated. Overall it's a very nice balance. The crust was nicely crispy with a very nice chewy texture. If I had to make a critique I would say 1) let the pizza hang out a the edge of the fire just a little longer before it's cut. The egg was just a tad under sunny side up, meaning the white was a just a bit too gelatinous and runny. 2) While i appreciate the "artisan" ingredients, I miss the smokiness you get from good American bacon in a carbonara. Yeah that sounds a little low-brow, but that's my preference. The guanciale is very tasty, but I think the flavor is just a bit too delicate when mixed with the cream...

I need to preface this review with the fact that I very rarely give places 5-stars on the first visit, but if I could give this place 10 stars I would!

First off, Apothecary 330 will always hold a very, very, very special place in my heart as it the place I was finally able to try Widow Jane bourbon. I had been in search for this particular bourbon for over 2yrs and in my hometown of Austin was unable to ever find a bar that served it. Some new friends of mine (literally I have known them just a few months, but consider them soulmates at this point) who live here in town whom I had shared my bourbon tale of woe with let me know that had found my bourbon holy grail here a few weeks back, but had killed the bottle. I was so happy and so devastated at the same time. Needless to say, when I arrived back in town a month later and we came here it was with bated breath that I waited to see if they still had a bottle...they did and it literally had just about 2.5 shots remaining...and with that sometimes its just Fate. And Widow Jane lived up to the hype! I was such a happy little sliver of human that night...

So, aside from helping me mark one off my Bourbon Bucketlist, this place is just incredible: from the ambiance, the quality of drinks, and the knowledgable bartenders. I was a smitten kitten with Justin (ok a lot probably had to do with the Widow Jane) because he not only knew what was what and is a cocktail whisperer, he was just all around on his stuff!

They accept the Hooch app here and I had one of the featured drinks, the lavender mojito (I am usually not a fan of mojitos because they tend to be made too sweet, but I am sucker for anything lavender) and it was awesome!

I also had the Dolce Vita pizza from the adjoining pizza joint, Pizza Craft, next door, and like a fatty ate almost the whole thing by myself in one sitting...it was that good!

I absolutely love this place and would gladly trek up to FLL any time I am in Miami to come back.

You should do yourself a favor and see what I am talking about...

I never suggest anyone go to this restaurant unless you want to be overcharged, disrespected by the general manager (Scott) and leave hungry from their small portions. During my experience tonight, I placed an order for two pizzas, both on special for happy hour at half off. When conversing with our waitress, we asked if they had a sausage special and she said yes and walked away like it was no big deal. The pizzas were so tiny, made up of mostly cheese and minimal meat toppings that left us still hungry. When it came time to pay for our 10 inch miniature pizzas, our bill stated the sausage pizza was $21!!!!! And the so called "half off happy hour" was only $7 off, which if you can do second grade math, that's a third off, not a half off as advertised. We brought this to the attention of our waitress, whom we assumed just made an innocent mistake on our bill. She replied that the topping pizza was a $7 up charge, and we should have just "known" this. Shocked at her poor response and inability to address the issue, we kindly asked for the manager on duty to discuss this with him or her. Scott was brought over to our table, where he rudely asked us "what did you expect?" And when we suggested the half off happy hour should actually be half off, he literally laughed, and said "yeah for the dough, not the toppings. The menu states that". We then asked him to point it out on the menu, and of course, he couldn't, because it is not listed there what so ever. However a sausage pizza for $16 is, which half off should have been $8, not $21 like we were charged. Now we aren't people to complain for any reason, nor are we people to write reviews, but the terrible communication by the waitress in combination with unreasonable, rude, and complete lack of people skills by their General Manager, Scott, has driven us to this point. Go to this restaurant if you plan to spend more than the food is worth, and be treated like you don't matter. We will never be back again, that's...