Inferno Pizzeria Napoletana — Restaurant in Gaithersburg

Food critics call it the best pizza in DC metro, but after 3 yrs of visits and plowing through no less than 100 pizzas, can I weigh in?

Best on the east coast.

For starters, the dough. This is a homemade, proprietary blend of flour, and it is other worldly. There are times I swear there's butter in it but there's not. This is the only pizza place in the USA where I religiously ask to take home all my family's left over pizza crust at the end. That becomes dad's midnight treat with olive oil. As I sit there eating 3 hr old leftover pizza crust, I wonder how it could be improved. I honestly don't know.

This is the difference at Inferno: Tony cares. This is not about reaching that one millionth slice sold; it's about quality. A James Beard nominee is making every single pizza by himself. Wut? He flies through them, and to watch him and team is mesmerizing. I find it therapeutic to sit at the bar just to watch pizza after pizza sliding into the brick oven. And the smells!

Proper Napolitano dough takes at least an overnight rest to get it right, so when it's out it's out. It's not like staff can just ask everyone to wait while more is made. This is part of the allure; it's part of the experience. Get there early and expect a line at 5pm, because those who know better do not show up at this place at 8:30 with a party of 15.

The hours: only dinner and they do close for summer vacations and special events. I've shown up before and it's been closed. Instead of offering a poor review, I decided to be objective. I'm stupid... why didn't I check their site for announcements. Oh right. Look at that. It might be in bold letters on the front page. They told the world they'd be closed, but I didn't check. Shame on me. I have never had to wait more than a few min and never been told something was out of stock.

The pies: fresh ingredients, amazing balance, and new ideas. Tony is so good about picking local, seasonal produce to create new pizzas. I've lost track of how many times I have tried a new pizza, and then told my wife it's my new favorite. It's actually a problem. Truffle egg pizza, nduja, potato, fennel. I struggle to decide sometimes with all these great ingredients. I start thinking of how great that butternut squash probably pairs with the other ingredients, and I must try. I have never had a pizza there that was not worth the price of admission.

The rest: One night my wife and I went and only ordered apps. They are that good. Roasted beet salad, fennel salad, burrata, snow peas, califlour. These are fine dining plates. When the first one hit my table for the very first time (3 yrs ago), the smile drained from my face. Stuff got serious. I realized that Tony Conte came to Gaithersburg not to mass produce pizza but to put the entire city on notice: this is the best restaurant in the area. Try the burrata, wipe away the tears of joy, tell me I was right.

The results: I am a Gaithersburg regular. As food critics (and maybe something called the James Beard Foundation) took notice, this place got busy. It turns out that citizens from multiple states wanted to see what I had been seeing. It's possible the line is out the door at times. Just know that. Step up your game and go early - that's what I do. Don't show up at 6:30 and bang out a bad review because it was full. Of course it's full! It's the best dining experience around. The place is gorgeous and always clean, but keep in mind, it's pizza not a Michelin star white table cloth. The atmosphere and staff are casual, friendly, and very little turnover in 3 years. That should say a lot about the owners.

I don't work there, I don't own stock, and I am nothing special. From a selfish perspective, I hope the average reader doesn't believe my review. That's just 1 less person to claim my seat at such...

I hate giving out anything less than 5 stars unless it’s terrible, but I felt like I had to for this because of the overhype.

It’s good pizza, and worth trying 100%. That is true, and the cost is great. However, I’m not sure if all the rave reviews and awards are really that accurate. I didn’t walk in expecting my life to be changed, but the pizza was a lot more “regular” than I was hoping.

The dough was the highlight as you can tell it was fresh. Great Neapolitan style dough.

However the toppings need a bit more work to really represent the reviews and rewards more accurately. We got the margarita and Bianca pizzas. The margarita pizza had a good sauce and felt fresh, but then it was topped with maybe a piece of basil each. Honestly needed more than just that… I know a margarita pizza should be simple seasoning but in that case you need the sauce to be just a little more. It felt like it was on the right track with the balanced sweetness and freshness but it was just barely there.

The Bianca pizza…. Cheese was good but the prosciutto was missing its usual taste. We eat prosciutto all the time at home and for us it’s usually a very distinct taste and can add a nice punch to dishes. I’m not sure I really tasted the prosciutto like at all. And it being small minced meat made it seem like it almost wasn’t there. Either a more aged one or leaving it larger crispy strips would have added to it. The arugula should be a little more prepared. It came basically raw and a little wet as if just washed and tossed on. Maybe a light oil on it to flatten it down and give a little more taste would be perfect.

Overall good texture but missing a bit in the flavor profile especially in terms of toppings. While it’s not bad pizza, it’s not anything that stood out to me compared to pizza around DC. The dough, while very good, could not carry the lacking toppings. To be honest, this is an overly critical review, but I thought it necessary due to the standards advertised by not the other eaters (can’t really have a say in that) but the restaurant itself. While a place like this would have gotten 3 stars, I think the pricing really saved it as it’s not a crazy expensive fee which would have gotten major points deducted for me.

We waited about 20 minutes to get in on Saturday at 6pm, so no problem there.

In total, good pizza place and would wait 15-20 to be seated, but not really worth waiting any...

If you didn’t know, October was national Pizza 🍕 month and I was on a Pizza journey trying to eat a slice or make pizza every day for the whole month of October! If I get a whole pizza that will last a few days, lol! 😂 Then I can make my breakfast pizza. It’s basically just like having egg on toast with a little cheese unless you have pepperoni or sausage or chicken on there also. 😱 Anyway, for day, six of national Pizza month I went to this awesome pizza joint and is now One of my new favorite pizza places to go that make Neopolitan style pizza was Inferno Pizzeria Napoletana! One of the best pizza joints around andone of the top 50 best pizza joints in the US!👍👍👍

And also they use one of the best ovens made in the US right here in Baltimore called Mara Forni. And they have a Pizza University that I went to and got to also take a tour of this massive 80,000 square-foot facility that builds these beautiful brick pizza ovens.

One of the best pizzas I’ve had in years located in Darnestown, Maryland. Not too far from Rockville! You have to check them out, and there’s always a line. So I would advise to go early evening after the line dies down unless of course you wanna be a part of the energy and stand in line for a few.

I am working on a video of my evening there. And Will, the guy pulling the pizzas from the oven, was a maestro with Pizza. Chef, Tony, the owner, put his heart and soul into making his awesome pizza and it’s a pizza joint you can enjoy and feel lots of good vibes and energy. When you watch into the kitchen and see from the photos I took this is a high-quality pizza joint. There’s about 29 or so tables available so seating is limited. But it is a sit down restaurant.

The thing about Neapolitan style pizza is that it’s very easy to eat and digestible. It doesn’t fill you up like regular pizzas. You might get at other joints. It’s a lot different than New York style, it’s lighter has a chewy exterior and sometimes the ends have a nice crunch. You can fold it and eat the whole pizza. Margarita and Bianco are their favorites. That’s the one we ordered, but I added a little sausage to the Bianco pizza. We also got an appetizer with some veggies.

If you love pizza like I do, you won’t be disappointed. And if you’ve never had Neopolitan Pizza, give it a try! #neopolitanpizza #PizzaNight...