Pizzeria Bianco — Restaurant in Phoenix

On the way to Bianco, my fiance noticed an In N Out on the other side of the street and jokingly suggested we go there instead.

Oh, how unknowingly correct she was.

My fiance and I have been to the downtown location before and had high expectations. Artisan pizza, with high quality cheese and crunchy crust. Delicious appetizers and high quality service. This location failed almost all these expectations.

To Bianco's credit, we were seated outside and had our order taken very quickly. However, this is where the trouble began: with the prosciutto board.

When we were given the board, we were astounded to see the lack of variety and quantity. We were only given two breads each and a small thing of olive oil. On the board, there was only one thing of meat, stacked like the stuff in Lunchables, and one cold slice of brie. And the vegetable selection was awful. BEETS? Who gives one of the dirt-iest tasting veggies on a variety board? And others like sweet potato and pickles had us concerned for the rest of the meal. I've had plenty of boards from other pizzerias and this was, by far, the worst.

This is where the service failed. I was given my pizza, but when I bit in, I failed to recognize the flavors of the Wiseguy. No meat, no onion. I essentially just had a cheese pizza with arugula. Two confused slices in, the waiter came by and informed me the pizza I had was for the woman behind me and immediately fixed the issue for her. However, my fiancee's and my pizza would take another 15 minutes of waiting.

An hour after being seated, our pizza arrived. The star of Bianco. And what a disappointment. My fiancee's Sonny Boy fell apart immediately on pickup, leaving behind a plain crust. Her crust was burnt and the flavor was "alright". When I ordered my Wildguy, I was informed it didn't have tomato sauce, but it was still great. How foolish I was to take them at their word. The pizza was nothing more than bland and tasteless. Worse, the crust was soggy, not reminiscent of the delicious crunchy crust of the downtown location. We were both severely disappointed.

When I received the $80 bill, I felt essentially robbed for amateur pizza. I've made flatbread pizza at home in minutes that had a better flavor, didn't fall apart, and had the right amount of crispness. What I had that night was the product of someone's first time making a pizza.

I understand this single review won't make a dent in Bianco's notoriety and presence in the fine dining pizza experience. But I urge those looking for that experience to skip this location and head downtown. This pizzeria just seems to have lost the magic that makes Bianco so prominent. Truly...

After reading so many stellar reviews of this restaurant and all the articles in the local news about their numerous awards, we finally took the plunge and met another couple there for lunch. The atmosphere was a bit rustic inside, not a problem, but since the weather was nice we sat outside. The sun started beating on us and our server Ana saved us, moving some umbrellas to provide some shade (we didn't even have to ask, she offered!).

We had a Margherita and a Wiseguy pizza. Now, here is where I have to be honest, and I don't want to be too brutal. Was it good? Sure, it was good. There's nothing bad about it. Was it rave worthy? Award worthy? Mrs and I may have had unrealistic, built-up expectations, but we think it was good pizza, not spectacular. We agreed the pizza at Pomo, Lamp, and Spinato's is better. Maybe that's just us.

Some interesting side notes. I perused their menu on their company website prior to lunch and noted the Margherita was $20 and the Wiseguy was $22. Upon arrival they were actually $22 and $26, respectively. One draft beer was $8 which is pretty typical, but a single can of Diet Coke with a small glass of ice was $4. Two pizzas, one beer, one Diet Coke, tax and tip, $80 lunch.

Another couple of interesting quirky things ... On their company website they seem to be taking reservations via Open Table. Unfortunately, every day around lunch it claimed there was no availability. Mrs called them and asked what was up with that. Oh yeah, we don't take reservations for lunch. Just show up. Which makes one ask, why doesn't the website simply say reservations are only for dinner? Next quirk; when we arrived ten minutes prior to the other couple and announced we were a party of four but the other two weren't here just yet, we were advised we could not be seated until everyone was present. We sat outside and waited and were then seated when they arrived. Alrighty then.

Yes, good pizza. Not crazy great. Glad we tried it. Will we go back? On our own It's incredibly unlikely. If it was a favorite of a friend who wanted to...

Best Pizza Ever!!! This was a special occasion for my birthday and we had watched the Netflix movie on the pizza restaurants. The reviews are all over the board and I contribute this to the time of day and how much wait staff and when you dine In. We had no reservation and arrived at 11:30 am or so and were seated right away. The restaurant has several places to sit. We sat in what looks like an old Italian style dinning room, with chandlers hanging and some low lighting. Also, on nice days they have outside seating. The menu is nothing fancy but a breath taking ONE PAGE menu and on the back is the list of wine, beer and some deserts. How hard is it to mess this up? Thank God this was not pages ad pages of a old Italian style menu. Simplicity at its finest. Our server came very quickly and got our drink order and brought back great sour dough bread with olive oil to start. Then our starters came out, fresh homemade Mozzarella, basil and tomatoes, fresh green salad to share. Since this is a pizza place it took a little longer to get the pizza we ordered, but gave us a chance to sip our wine and have a great conversation. The Margarita Pizza is absolutely to die for!!! It’s every dream of mouth watering pizza that melts in your mouth, charred bits, fresh tomato sauce and the best part is the Oooeey Goooey Cheese. I ordered another pizza to take home but since they don’t have take out they brought the pizza to the table on a plate and then gave me a take home box. I can’t wait to come back and eat pizza. The next day i put the cold pizza in the Air fryer and put some Prosciutto and it was just as crispy as yesterday. This restaurant makes pizza just as good as in Naples Italy.

We returned for another visits and the service was exceptional. We ordered a bottle of wine, many side dishes and pizza. the best part the...