Trevi Square Pizza + Kitchen — Restaurant in Watchung

UPDATE 6/9/2024 I am changing my review to 5 stars. I've ordered 4x in the last 6 weeks and each time the food has been great. The staff has been super friendly(they always were), but the food has been delicious. I got their Monday special for a large classic pie for $10 and it tastes way better than my encounter (found below) from last January. Glad to see their leadership has taken control and changed the quality of food. Will definitely be coming back , also really happy because they are conveniently located for me. Love to support local business.

UPDATE 1/9/23 Ordered a large pie and there was a piece of pretty long string baked into the crust , under the cheese and integrated into the sauce. I attached photos. Takes away from the entire experience of eating. Not wanting to figure out what else could be in the pie, I discarded it. It's a shame, I keep trying to give this place a chance, it's been hit/miss but these definitely left a bad taste in my mouth (pun totally intended but also sad because it's accurate).

OLD REVIEW Ordered 3 items 1 slice of Margherita pizza = pretty small piece maybe 5" x 2.5" what i got instead was white pizza with some pesto on it and a spoonful of sauce . 1 eggplant Parm sub = large in size but seemed like everything was out of the freezer and fried, not crisp or flavorful. 1 appetizer I never heard before called long hot peppers and fried potatoes = this was $10 so keep that in mind. Please see the photo. The photo was taken after I ate 3 fries. So 20% was steak fries, 80% was the long peppers. The ratio seems a bit off, the entire dish seems off, figured it was going to be fried peppers and fries (no description is given , so my fault for assuming) but 4 potato wedges vs all those peppers seems totally off.

I really wanted to like this place, recently moved to the area, was looking for a "go-to". It has a great location, I didn't understand why it was a ghost town in there. Until after trying their food. Of course it might have just been an off day, so I will go again (everyone deserves a second chance..., false, a third or...

Little Italy. I wonder if they stole a chef from there! The Chicken Parm was just like I get in NYC. Nicely balanced marinara sauce with real breaded, hand fried chicken cutlets. (Not the processed kind you get from a large food distributor.) Topped with the right amount of fresh mozzarella and fresh basil, it came over a lot of good penne pasta. I forgot to take a picture and by time I thought about it, I had eaten half. The other half I took home because it is way too much food for me. My adult son blew right through his, and he is a pain in the a… with food. It more than passed his critical palate.

The rolls and the salad were not my focus, so take my opinion lightly, but I'd say they were nothing special. Spaghetti bolognaise is not my thing, but that is my wife's favorite. She obviously enjoyed it because she took home what she could not finish. Typically, she'll just leave it if ho-hum. It is in a pink-cream sauce, reminiscent of vodka sauce. Has fine ground meat, which although good, was a little less than expected. I tasted and found it pleasant, but radically different than other recipes that offer a ton of meat and totally different kinds of sauce. It is probably chef's own dish.

They have a ton of different pizzas. Plenty of pasta options. However, the entrées are limited to six chicken based dishes. Well, to me do what you do best and don't add more for the sake of filling out a menu! So this is just right.

The ambiance is quite different than I'd expect with food this good. It is casual. Limited table service and a lot of DIY things. You can pick up your own salt, pepper and such, get your own utensils, fountain soda (when you pay for it), to-go containers, bags, and you even get to bus your own table if you want! But you don’t have to. If you ask, the staff will take care of you.

The only criticism I have is that I don't really need TVs blaring sports events. If I wanted that, I can go to a bar. A lot of people don't seem to mind, but I am used to having a more peaceful environment with gourmet...

The food is their own unique thing, not like the standard pizza style of the area. It's like a really gourmet version of Ellios. The crispy fried cheese on the edge of the square crust is memorable and different than the soft bread stick that traditionally encircles a NY/NJ slice of pizza, and if you have the open mind for it, it's good. The sauce wasn't wildly spicy like Pizza Hut or Papa John's but it also wasn't a tangy tart layer of razor thin marinara, like it would be in the regional style. It was mellow and I detected a saltiness that could have leeched from the chest. The crust is why I said Ellios. It isn't NY Sicilian style nor Chicago in thickness, but reminds me more of those blowing alley pizzas of the last century.

The staff were very friendly. The seating is spacious and comfortable. But - the color scheme is muted, like the penitentiary feel of a 2023 McDonald's. I would have given more points for friendly red and white checkerboard patterns or even just the lack of the color black. Trying to appear new and hip shouldn't mean making people's seasonal affective disorder worse. Buy a can of red or green paint and go nuts, guys. One more cookie cutter hip black restaurant is like one more pair of white briefs on the pizza arse of America.

Update: I went back to try that chicken. It came in the form of a Chicken Parmigiana sandwich, which had a nice sauce but fresh mozzarella, which is tasteless when melted. Indeed, it does have seasoned breading, and all the more interesting that it's seasoned panko bread, which deserves recognition for being seasoned despite...