Ernie's Pizzeria — Restaurant in New Haven

Our first time to eat at Ernie's after 24 years in the area! We like Zois Pizza Palace a lot, and it's close to us. First the Pizza... The crust is fantastic. As good as anywhere. I think Ernie skimps on the tomato base and there is something strange about the sausage that bugs me. Granular and the seasoning is not to my taste. It may be authentic Italian but I've not experienced the flavor or odor before. The rest was fine. Proportionally, I think there were too much mushrooms. They are also canned mushrooms. I prefer fresh mushrooms. We asked for garlic, basil, sliced Peperoncino's, and Pepperoni to be added. I thought there was not much basil on there were too many peppers. One slice of pizza was nothing but sliced pepper. I give a demerit for not spreading around the ingredients evenly! The pizza was cooked perfectly. It was quite good. It's likely we will return for a second try, without the sausage. The waitress was friendly and helpful. All through the meal she was available, even though there was a big birthday party going on. No issues at all with service! Atmosphere: Typical pizza joint. Clean, and seating was comfortable, but uninspired, as most are... What I found very cool, was that I got to watch "Ernie" make pizzas. A very educational experience. He is in the forefront, next to the registers, so many patrons speak to Ernie while he works. Again, this was our first experience, on a Tuesday night. They were about 80% occupied from 6-8 PM. We were asked if we had reservations! They have a very limited alcoholic beverage selection, but for pairing with pizza, the beer and wine selection was...

I'd heard good things about Ernie's so we gave it a try on a Saturday night. We got there around 5:30 and there were 3 or 4 booths available. Waited about 2 minutes and one of the girls showed us to a booth, not a big deal. Waited about 5-7 minutes before our waitress came over, again not a big deal even though it was not terribly busy inside. I did notice they had a bustling take out business, many customers walking out with 3 or 4 pizzas. We got our wine and water promptly, but had an interminable wait for our pie. It took over 40 minutes from the time we placed the order until it came to us. To make matters worse, a party of 4 came in and our server rushed over and seated them. About 10 minutes later, they had 2 pizzas brought over to them. I asked our server how that was possible and she told us they had pre-ordered before leaving home. What!!!!!!!!!! The pie itself was pretty good, we ordered spinach and it was fresh and flavorful. But the crust was bland and they put too much mozzarella on, it was too chewy. It's hard for me to fathom how they could not slip our pizza into the oven in between the take out orders. No chance of my returning here, I'd rather get a cold chicken salad sandwich from a convenience store than deal with this kind of...

As a native New Yorker I've got to be honest, I had no idea that New Haven was so renowned for its pizza until I actually lived here. New Yorkers think we've got pizza in the bag, but I've been in CT for the better part of the last 30 years and there's really no competition. NY doesn't hold a candle to CT pizza. But it's not all Pepe's and Sally's. Whatever you do, DO NOT SLEEP ON ERNIE'S PIZZA! The crust is thin, but not flimsy. The sauce is not too sweet and not too marinara-y. It's not brick oven, but it's cooked to perfection - never undercooked and always one notch below too well done. I'm telling you, it's among my all time top 3 for the best pizza (one of those is my NY childhood pizza joint, that is most likely based on nostalgia, but nonetheless still maintains its position). I favor the meatball and fresh garlic, which came recommended by one of the waitresses our first time there years ago, but never ever disappoints. While these days we mostly do take out, the staff has always been kind and friendly and waitresses are great! Try it, you will...