Cicero's Pizza — Restaurant in San Jose

There are these local Bay Area eateries that are patronized by so many of your friends and acquaintances that you have to give it a shot. One such place is Cicero’s Pizza in San Jose. Pretty much everyone I know who lives in Cupertino and Saratoga area has told me or written about Cicero’s. So we decided to give it a shot. It was a weekday evening and just the three of us. We landed fairly early at about 6:30pm. The place was not very busy with a few tables empty for us to get seated. The World Series was on and people were seated closer to the TV’s as were we.

Cicero’s has a small menu of pizza options with customization in the form of toppings. We ordered a medium spicy vegetarian pizza with one half not spicy for the little guy. While we were waiting for the pizza, the little guy amused himself with the arcade games located in a small area on one corner of the restaurant.

It took about 15 minutes for the pizza to arrive, piping hot. We were hungry alright but the pizza surpassed my expectations in a big way. The crust was thin and the cheese was generous. The “spicy” in the spicy vegetarian was due to a good helping of jalapenos. I lapped up my slices pretty fast. As far as mom and pop pizza places go, this one definitely was one of the better ones I have had in California since I moved. Having gotten used to excellent pies in the suburbs of Philly, I have not found very many good places in California that satisfy my pizza urges. This one definitely did. Unfortunately, the menu does not boast of many creative vegetarian pizza options. If it did, I would be a repeat customer. For now, I am a happy customer who will definitely be...

This is one of the Bay Area's best pizzerias. The reason I have to give it 5 stars is that it has the inverse relationship to most pizzas. What do I mean by that?

See - I love pizza. I really love pizza. Neapolitan, Deep Dish, Pan, Thin & Crispy, New Haven, New York. You name it, I love it. And the thing with pizza is I can't wait to take that first bite of oozing hot deliciousness. The only problem with it is that the more you eat the more the flavor saturates. So while I am in love on bite one, super happy with my second slice, by slices three and four I'm just eating for the sake of eating and not for the joyful harmony of pizza deliciousness.

That's where Ciceros becomes the most unique pizza I've ever had. I actually started out not sure about it and thought it was mediocre at best, but with every bite I took I grew to love it more and more. Normally we take home half the pie but I couldn't stop eating this as it anomalously grew more delicious. I was stuffed and said "I must stop eating" but I couldn't until there was no pie left. Even though I was stuffed I don't have any Buyer's remorse. We will...

I am very particular about my pizza so to give Cicero's five stars is big. I shared the medium sized, all meat pizza with a guy friend and it was enough for both of us that there was still a slice left when we were done. It was also delicious. My favorite parts were the crumbled sausage and how thin the crust was (and still maintained it shape).

Keep in mind it's a regular family pizza "let's go here after the kids' soccer game" type of place so I wouldn't suggest it for a fancy date night. The staff were very friendly , pleasant and accommodating - they even reserved us a few tables (little signs and everything) so that our (~10 person) party could all sit together.

I was going to write that it's a bit far out of my way to go regularly but who am I kidding? The pizza was worth the extra time and effort to...