Ippolito's Cucina Italiana and Pizzeria — Restaurant in Lakewood Township

This place is a taste of my childhood... except even better than that. Quite honestly, this is my favorite Italian restaurant in the world. It's not fancy, it's family. It's one of the few family OPERATED places left. The restaurant scene has become a formulaic wasteland of franchises, gimmicks, poor service, increasing prices, and constant disappointment. I eat out a lot, and I can tell you that much more often than not, a 4+ star restaurant on here will end up being more style than substance. I frequently overpay for ambiance, plating, and mediocre small portions. I stumble along, thirsting for real homemade recipes, prepared and served by real people who actually care what their food tastes like. This is my oasis. Absolutely delicious tasting homemade Italian food made by a real family that cares about the quality and taste of their food, as well as their customer's satisfaction. Fresh and consistent food. Bread, dough, desserts, sauces, everything is homemade. Who still has scungilli, tripa, and manicotti on the menu? They do, and it's all fantastic. Pasta is cooked to perfection. Veal parm sub, meatballs, eggplant, manicotti, risotto... all fantastic. Pizza, consistent. You don't have to worry about having a great pie one night, and a floppy mess the next. It's consistently great. And on top of all this wonderful food, you get to know a wonderful family that you can't help liking. I wish I lived closer so I could eat here more often. If you live anywhere close and you don't, you're missing out. Please support family joints like this and share them with your own family. It's getting increasingly harder for family-run, small businesses like this to survive in this world. You deserve real food, and they won't be...

On this our 2nd order we encountered yet another fail by Ippolito. The first time we ordered 1 large pizza pie, and was told it would take about 1 hour for delivery. The order came and the pizza was actually cold. For clarity, it was cold not warm or hot.

We decided to try again since the reviews were good. When I called and actually shared my cold pizza experience with the man on the phone. He sincerely apologized and tried to explain because we ordered on a Friday night originally, it's such a busy night that the pizza may get delivered cold. That should have been my clue to not place our order again; but this time with his assurances we ordered 2 large pies AND paper plates. To understand why that's important is to share that the house we ordered the pizza to is in the process of being completely packed up and emptied for a long distance move. We have no kitchenware!

When the pizza came we told the driver after tipping that the plates were not here. She said, oh, I'll go get them and be right back. Do you think she ever came back? You are correct! She didn't. 1 star is generous at this point and even though we are moving want to share our experience so you can decide for yourselves on ordering from Ippolito in the future.

It may seem like a small petty and insignificant detail but when the pizza isn't cheap and other options exist, service is everything. Ippolito failed in service 2...

Anyone from Jersey knows that you can find a pizza place around every corner. Ippolito's is one of these places that genuinely has very good food. Not too surprising, as Jersey is home to many great italian restaurants and pizza places, however, this is the first one of those places that I am leaving a review for because the owners and staff are genuinely nice and caring people. They don't know my name, they don't know who I am, but the two times I have been here I have gotten amazing pizza and a bangin sausage parm all in one of the most comfortable and friendly atmospheres I have seen in a restaurant. Both times I have gone, I have seen older folks come in and reminisce about the first time they came when the place opened around 2006. My friend Sean introduced me to this place, and I genuinely won't go to any other similar restaurant in the area because I can't find a single fault with Ippolito's. The food, service, ambiance, and experience set the bar for similar...