Pizzeria Violetta, Piedmont Ave — Restaurant in Oakland

We visited opening day and sampled four different slices: Sausage and Mushroom, Hot Italian, and a good ol' slice of Cheese. All were tasty, but my favorites of the day were the Hot Italian and the Cheese slices.

Pizza people have strong pizza opinions, myself included. I'd describe these slices as somewhere between New York style (large slices, foldable) and Neapolitan (flavorful thin crust – a little more floppy than NY style, toppings include Calabrian chiles) and I'm here for it. The tomato sauce leans sweet, complementing savory flavors and salt levels. Slices and whole pies, rotating Farmers Market toppings, beer, and wine for now – gluten free options, salads, and sandwiches to come. I look forward to my next visit and seeing how Pizzeria Violetta evolves.

Everyone was super friendly – we even had the opportunity to meet owner Jonathan Ruppert and his family, including The Violet, for whom the shop is named. This is a welcome addition to the neighborhood in my book. 🍕

Note: 5 stars is reserved for extremely mind blowing experiences. 4 stars here is a positive vote for...

Absolutely swinging for the fences, this small pizzeria, in Oakland's cemetery-adjacent Piedmont neighborhood, is now my new favorite Oakland Pizza. With a slice, perfectly calibrating flat dough crunch, with a chewy delicious after effect, sauce that is perfectly acidic and just a tad naturally sweet, and with high temperature cheese melted perfectly in an actual pizza oven, (you'd be surprised at a lot of places don't really have a new york-style pizza oven, it's a thing) these slices are 10 out of 10 for flavor, texture, and presentation. Cannot speak highly enough of this local Pizzeria.

Querying Jonathan, the Pizza Chef, (as I am known to do) it was revealed to me that the dough is allowed to preferment, and is a mix of doughs, perfectly combining the flavor profile of sourdough, with that with a more neutral dough, like a New York slice. Great pizza, great people, great atmosphere, this tiny place represents what to do right...

I have looked high and low, wide and far, for good, tasty pizza in the bay. Although I'm a Chicago pizza style (thin crust) fan, I enjoy a good NYC style slice here and there and this place was fantastic. Well balanced, great flavors, nice crispy crust, quality tasting ingredients, and not Overly soggy or greasy. I would venture to say this is one of the best NYC style pizza locations in the Bay Area I've tasted thus far. They also have a fantastic homemade Mint Lemonade that was quite tasty. It was on the sweet side, but add a bit of water and its like you have Two drinks. Service was prompt, and straight to the point, I think the host was very friendly and talked with me a lot about the options. Ambiance was pretty causal, not too loud, plenty of seating with street facing stools with reminded me of the new your pizza...