Sally's Apizza — Restaurant in New Haven

Honestly, one of the worst experiences I have ever had at a restaurant. I never write reviews because I don't like to bash local businesses, but good lord.

I don't think I've left a restaurant starving before.

I haven't been to Sally's in a while and my wife has never had Sally's so I was explaining to her how good it was.

She is 9 months pregnant and we decided a nice chilly Monday night would be a good time to head down to New Haven... boy were we wrong.

Waited maybe 45-ish minutes to get inside, no problem. That's expected. It's busy, not Saturday night busy, but decently busy.

Waited 15+ -ish minutes to be greeted, fine, no problem. It's busy enough, no big deal.

We ordered a large pizza and a small pizza. Wait another 30 minutes or so, again, no problem. To be expected.

Now here's where things start to fall apart.

We got our small pie, but our large pizza is missing.

Okay, again, no problem. We'll work on the small one first. We wanted to have 1 piece each of the small pie and then take that small one home for lunch tomorrow. But that's okay.

The large missing pizza is taking so long that we just decide to eat all of the small pizza, we figured we could eat half of the large when it arrives, and take that other half home instead.

So at this point we both ran out of our drinks, haven't seen anyone since they first took our order, we still don't have the large pizza, and things are going down hill.

Finally get more drinks, still don't have the large pizza we ordered that was our main entree, again, wanted to take our small tomato pie home but winded up eating all of that while waiting for the main pizza.

The thing that bothers me the most is no one explains why our other large pizza is missing. We just know it's missing. So we wait another, idk 20 minutes?

Now we're getting annoyed, we ate our small pie, still waiting on the main large pizza, my wife is heavily pregnant, and spending almost 2 hours collectively waiting on pizza on a Monday night in a wooden booth isn't exactly ideal for her.

My wife decides to use the bathroom, which, pregnant women are known to do... and while inside the bathroom (bathroom is right next to the kitchen) she can hear them talking crap about us and how we're waiting for them to cook the pizza, and they're laughing at us.

I know it's hilarious, y'all are cooking pizzas, not gourmet NYC 5-Star steak dinners. It shouldn't take this long to get our 2nd pizza. Put new guest's pizzas on pause for a minute and toss our missing one in. Cause I'm seeing people that came in way after us get their pizza. So that tells me someone dropped the ball. Idk If ours got burnt, or ruined, or didn't get rung in, whatever. I would have understood. But no one told us what was going on. That's what bothered us. What a joke.

(I hadn't known they were talking crap yet, didn't find that out till she got back from the restroom) but while she was in the restroom, I had asked for the check and for the missing pizza to be removed from the Check.

The best they offered was to put it in a to-go box... Ah, yes, let me eat my $30.00 pizza out of a cardboard box, cold, after waiting in line, waiting at the table, waiting for a pizza, waiting for a missing pizza... No apology, nothing comp'd, no manager came over, nothing.

I worked in the restaurant business for 10 years when I was younger, I know that's not how this should have been handled. After almost 2 hours (if not 2 hours) of collective waiting, we never got our main entree pizza. Ridiculous.

So my wife STILL hasn't really had a Sally's pizza, and probably never will after this experience. I wouldn't really count the small tomato pie as a legit full sally's experience. Which also couldn't really be much smaller for the price. The size of a small tomato pie is laughable.

Anyways, in conclusion of the: Mystery of the missing pizza... was there ever truly a pizza? Who knows. Like Bigfoot, I never frigging saw it. Save yourself the time, the money, the aggravation, the embarrassment, and go to Pepes up the...

Having had access to great pizza all over NY for a few decades, I was very excited to try what some have said is the best pizza in the country at the New Haven institution - Sally's Apizza (pronounced a-beets).

tl;dr good, not great. Read on for details.

THE WAIT: It started with a ~1 hour wait on a line around 11:30am on a Sunday. If it weren't for the direct sun, it wouldn't have been bad at all - they have a couple of umbrellas as you get really close to the entrance, but before you get there, you are simply cooking in that sun at lunchtime.. so throw on a hat, wear some SPF, or grab an umbrella, because it's going to be a minute, or many.

INSIDE: This wouldn't be as much of an issue if you then walked into a nicely air-conditioned pizza shop - but unfortunately, you will not (as of Aug 18, 2025). There is zero circulation in there, with no cool air whatsoever. After asking around, the A/C has apparently been out all summer. So you've just cooked outside, and now you'll cook inside as well.. while you're eating hot (and maybe spicy) food.

MORE WAITING: After you sit down, you'll wait again - our wait for 3 small pies was about 45 minutes - I was told it could be anywhere from 30-60 minutes.

THE PIZZA: Then comes the pizza. We got a Mozzarella & Tomato pie, a New Haven Original Clam Pie, and a Calabrian Stinger pie. I was really looking forward to the charred, crispy crust I'd heard so much about on New Haven style pizza - but sadly, it wasn't that crispy or charred outside of a few areas.

CLAM PIE: The Clam pie was fine, but fairly bland.. the clams were tiny, the seasoning was light, and without much charred flavor/texture, this was a miss - 4/10.

CLASSIC PIE: The Mozzarella & Tomato pie was good, not great - this one was more charred, but it didn't make up for the blandness unfortunately. The sauce was nicely balanced, but there were only pockets of it near the crust, not spread evenly throughout like I saw for other diners. The bites with sufficient sauce were good, so I would imagine the Tomato Sauce pie would be a better option - but decent slice shops in NYC have more/better flavor than this pie had - 6/10.

CALABRIAN STINGER: The Calabrian Stinger was the only pie that had a significant amount of flavor, and it had a lot of it - it comes out drenched, so much that the slices flop like a Neapolitan slice as soon as you lift them - so there's minimal crunch on this one, but the flavors of the nduja, salami, and hot honey combined with their sauce definitely works here - 8/10.

INTERIOR: The interior is classic - much of it seemingly remaining from the 1938 opening of this legendary shop.

SERVICE: The service was very good - I just feel badly for them having to work in that place without air-conditioning all summer. At least get some ceiling fans (like the shop used to have in the photos) if the AC will be down for an extended period.

OVERALL: All in all, there were some highlights, but the pizza didn't make up for the wait / conditions, and we left underwhelmed, as did the couple who stood in front of us in line for an hour. Maybe it was an off-day, but after this experience, even if this place were next door, I'd rather walk up and grab any number of slices in NYC - more...

It absolutely kills me that I am writing a review that is less than 5 stars for Sally's.

I think it is time to break up with Sally’s, for good. It was a great run for decades, but we’ve grown apart. The last seven years have been rough. Before that, Sally’s was always amazing. In the last 7 years, there’s been some great times, but also many times where you are not what you once were. Yes, I am making this sound like a bad abusive relationship, because that is how it feels to me and folks I know like me who literally grow up with Sally’s as our go-to pizza place.

For context, I was a true Sally’s loyalist. I grew up on it. Every visit came with a hug from Flo. My family had the secret phone number to skip the line and preorder. To me, all other pizza paled in comparison. I am not just some guy who discovered Sally’s thanks to some list of great pizza places, or a Barstool video.

Since the acquisition, prices have gone way up and quality has become inconsistent. I used to write it off as growing pains or adjustments to the craft. Sometimes it was still very good, almost like the old days. But other times it was surprisingly bad.

The last couple of years have been especially disappointing. The issues with the pizza are now consistent and clearly the result of intentional changes to the product. They are very busy, thanks to strong marketing, so I doubt the current ownership has much incentive to care or improve (N.B. I have reached out to multiple folks in Sally’s management multiple times with concerns and I end up with a lot of “oh thank you for your passion!” type of lip service).

I used to think Pepe’s wasn’t even close. Now I think Pepe’s is great. Did Pepe’s improve? No. Sally’s is just not what it used to be. Pepe's is more consistent and less expensive.

Is Sally’s terrible now? No. But it’s nothing like it used to be. It’s not worth the eye-watering prices or the hours-long waits. There are better options in the area with better food, lower prices, and faster service.

Small plain tomato with garlic at Sally's is 18.25. At Pepe's, the same is 12.25. 9 Years ago, at Sally's, before the acquisition, it was 7.75. I wouldn't give a crap if Sally's charged me 30 today for that, if it was damn good like it used to be.

Why all the glowing reviews then? Marketing. And with that comes a flood of new customers who never knew what Sally’s was at its peak. Most of the people I see in line these days are first-timers. They just don’t know what they missed.

This is what happens when private equity takes over. They are in it for money. The product can suffer cuts as a means to making more money. They are optimizing for profit, and the product has absolutely suffered.

The old Sally’s, under the Consiglio family, was the opposite. Yes, they made a living off the pizza, but they never sacrificed quality. It was their passion, their family, their legacy.

RIP Sally’s. You were a New Haven icon. But the pizza that made you famous has been ruined by...