Virtuoso Pizzeria by David Losole — Restaurant in Omaha

First of all, thank you for putting up with my pizza snobbery in this review. I was born and raised in New York City and have eaten a lot of great New York style pizza in my life, not only in the North East, but in cities across the country. I particularly miss slice places like Virtuoso now that I live outside of NYC.

I have a few suggestions for Virtuoso that I hope are good constructive criticism. I want to start first with what I really enjoyed. The atmosphere and service were great. It reminded me of the hole-in-the-wall slice pizza joint I know and love from where I grew up in all the best ways I can mean it. The crust was good with a solid crumb (all the bread inside the crust), the toppings were of good quality, good cheese, and the sauce was tasty. That being said, as a pizza place that precooks pizzas and reheats individual slices when ordered I'm not expecting gourmet level pizza but the kind of pizza that is a good greasy slice of comfort food. In this way the pizza meets the mark.

Now a couple of issues that I think need to be addressed. While the pizza slices are large I believe the cost per slice is way too high, especially for a reheat slice place. I went with two friends and between the three of us we had 5 slices, four tiny salads, and 3 or 4 beers and our bill was $100. I'd expect to pay that at a sit down place that is making us fresh pizza in a wood or coal-fired oven. I've been to other slice places around the country with comparable quality and a lower price point of 2.50 - 4 dollars a slice compared to Virtuoso's 5 - 6.50 a slice.

I ordered two slices, a cheese and a meatball. The cheese slice came out great; it was hot and delicious. The meatball slice had one issue that impacted my enjoyment; the bottom of the pizza was charred to the point that it was hurting the taste of the pizza. This was a warning that I had gotten before I came here "they burn the pizza." I wonder if the oven temps are high to try to get slices in and out quickly but this risks some burning if they aren't closely monitored. Whatever the reason, that dough killed the enjoyment of an otherwise tasty slice. Those meatballs are really good and I would look forward to having them again.

If you read this, thanks. Lots of people have written great reviews of Virtuoso and I believe they have a good product that can be great if they address some of the flaws I mentioned. As far as price point, obviously if people are coming and are okay with paying the more power to Virtuoso and their fans. As it stands now, for me, I don't think am willing to pay the cost for the kind of product I received.

I wish the best for Virtuoso because they have...

Saw a review of this place popup on TikTok and thought I'd give it a try. The food alone I agree is worth 4 to 5 stars easily, but it was the few other negatives for me that brought it down to an overall 3.

The good: pizza tasted great and was large portioned; friendly staff; clean place.

The negatives: limited seating; waited long time for food; and general parking issues. Do not recommend going if you have trouble standing for long periods (at least not when it's busy).

Food taste and quality with the pizza was fantastic. The pizza dough has just the right flavor and texture, not to mention great char spots that a good slice should have. Toppings compliment the rest well and make for a great pizza (recommend getting some hot honey on the side if you like a little heat and sweet to your slice) and can definitely tell fresh, quality ingredients are used. Did have the garlic bread, but for its price, felt it was okay at best.

The biggest critique I have of Virtuoso is its very limited seating. I don't fault the place for being small and limited on space, but just be prepared if you go and plan to sit in to eat, especially if you have kids They only had 4 small booths that could fit about 4 adults at best, and 1 table that can seat a party of up to 8. They also have a few circular standing tables both inside and out. This isn't terrible if you are a small party of up to 4, but anything bigger, expect some, if not all, members to be standing. When we came, all booths and tables were full and had to stay at a standing table. Wouldn't usually mind, but had a family member with a disability and a cane making it a challenge. It took about an hour from the time we ordered for our food to come out too so was over an hour of standing for some of our family. A booth did finally open up (after about 40 minutes) and part of our group was able to sit down, but the rest had to stand at the end of the table and eat. Overall, I wouldn't usually be too critical for the limited seating, but the combination with long wait for food probably means I wouldn't want to bring my family back with me and would either call ahead for an order to go, or go solo.

My family and I love supporting local owned family businesses and you can tell that the owners David and Brenda are great people, passionate about what they do, and make some really good food. While this review may be a 3-star overall, highly recommend visiting if you can to help support...

Our party of 7 will never eat here again. We walked 3 blocks from a event in the area passing other great places to eat to try this place, we were excited. We had just got done celebrating one of the party guest birthday so we where carrying her cupcakes saving a trip walking back to the car. Right away before a thanks for joining us, they said just to let you know it is a $2.00 charge person to have those cupcakes. WOW!! Okay in front of 3 kids 5 - 8 - 11 not kid friendly. We tried to order our pizza asking them to cut the pizza in party size making it easy to serve the kids. And was told they only do that for orders to-go. WOW!! Okay so we sit in your restaurant order drinks, salads, sides and a full pizza that was charged in individual slices. Spending more money dinning in then if we would have taken it out! (but can't cut a pizza to dine in) Then charges us for sides we did not get, after saying something you take off two sides. Then the owner comes to the table and all of us where just shocked, thinking he was going to try to save this whole mess. Well that didn't happen, 7 guests out of 7 will never have a good thing to say about this place. Sad to say but Little Caesars put the pizza to shame. I guess if it would have at least taste good but we will stick with Momma's Pizza. We didn't want to say anything bad, but after getting home and seeing my credit card emailed receipt of all the extra charges leaving three sides on the bill that we didn't get and charging us for PLATES for what our food??? I was advised by all the guest we had to leave a review to advise others to beware if you eat...