Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana — Restaurant in Waterbury

August 27, 2021 - Car wipers pounding in time to red brake lights as we crawled south along I-84 through Connecticut. The neon lights of Frank Pepe Pizzeria cried out, STOP! 🛑

A masked employee at the door directed my wife and I over to a table by the windows. The pizzeria seemed 2/3’s full at 7:30 on a Friday night in Waterbury. Julia, our server, appeared in minutes with menus, silverware, and a smile!

Wasn’t long before Julia returned with 2 fresh garden salads, in a light olive oil vinaigrette dressing. Then the “Napoletana” or “Neapolitan” style pizza was delivered by the manager!

(Note: Napoletana/Neapolitan refers to coming from Naples, Italy 🇮🇹)

Three minutes later, the manager stops back at our table and inquires about the pizza? I replied, “The service is excellent, and this pizza is very good. . . among the Top 2 Best pizzas ever !” I rate Frank Pepe Pizza as a solid 4.9 ! 🍕👍🏼🍕👍🏼

(Note: My FAVORITE pizza was Ledos in Adelphi, Maryland, near my alma mater University of Maryland. . . original Ledos started in 1955, now franchised to over 100 locations. The quality is “ hit or miss” at franchises? Warning to Frank Pepe as you grow your business locations, don’t let your quality slip????)

Do You Know Your Pizza Styles 🍕🍕

Neapolitan/Napoletano: From Naples, Italy -Oldest style dates to 18th century -Thin crust, tomatoes, garlic, EVO -Cooked in coal/coke oven, 1,000 degrees

New York: Thicker crust than Neapolitan -Can add more toppings -Add oregano, garlic, red pepper flakes -Cut in big slices, like to fold as you eat

Chicago: Deep dish 1 to 2 inches thick -Mozzarella in dough -Oil in pan allows crispy crust -Add meat, veggies . . . cook 30-35 mins.

Sicilian: Thick crunchy crust, cut in squares -Robust tomato sauce -Cooked in wood/coal oven -At 425 degrees 15 - 20 minutes

Greek: Thick crewy, puffy crust -Not as thick as Sicilian crust -More sauce, less cheese -Olives, feta cheese, red onions

Detroit: Thin crust cooked in square pans -Spread dough to edge of pan, then sauce -Spread Wis. cheddar cheese to edge -Cook 500 - 550 degrees, 10 - 15 min.

St. Louis: Thin crust like cracker w/o yeast -Cheese mix ( Swiss, provolone, cheddar) -Sweet tomato sauce -Cook on pizza stone, lowest oven rack

California: 1970’s by Chef LaDou -Thick or thin crust -Be creative with ingredients -Try mustard, goat cheese, artichokes, etc.

Who’s Who . . . Frank Pepe v. Franco Pepe? (People at times confuse the two)

*Frank founded Pepe Restaurant *Frank was born in Maori village, 1893 *Frank immigrated to the U.S. *Frank started restaurant in 1925 *Frank’s family has 11 restaurants *Frank died in 1969 *Frank Pepe voted Best Pizza, which list?

+Franco Pepe currently lives in Italy +Franco owns restaurant Pepe in Grani +Franco’s restaurant north of Naples, Italy +Franco won Best Pizza 2017, 2018, 2019 according to 50 Top Pizza List ! +Franco considered Best Pizza Maker, world

The Criterion from 50 Top Pizza List: Quality of dough Quality of Bread making Quality of Ingredients in Toppings Quality of Service Quality...

My husband and daughter raved about the New Haven location so we decided to try out Waterbury's Pepe's. There seemed to be too many people in the kitchen, quite a few staff just standing around and not very many customers. So we were quite surprised that it took over an hour to get our pizza. The table next to us had arrived before we did (not sure how long before) and hadn't received their food until a bit after we did. We had ordered a half pepperoni and half bacon pizza. The bacon was raw except for some burnt/black edges. We said something to the waitress and she said it's because they put the bacon on fresh(raw). She asked if we wanted her to have them throw it back in the oven however we thought the pizza would then end up burnt. As we are eating the pizza (mostly the pepperoni side at this point) we realized that the dough wasn't cooked either. So when the waitress returned, my husband pointed out the undercooked pizza(the table next to ours was also undercooked). She immediately got a snippy attitude and said "well I'll just have to go get my manager" and huffed away. The manager came over with a similar attitude however he offered to replace it. We initially refused because we didn't have another hour to wait (and it lacked flavor in my opinion). He said he would take the pizza off the bill and talked us into taking a pizza home. The waitress brought our bill with the same snippy attitude. We handed her the payment along with her tip. She changed her attitude quickly after seeing that we left her a decent tip and came back with the replacement to go pizza a minute later. The overall experience was not good. I don't think we will be going out of our way to go there again...

We've been ordering from frank pepes for a few weeks now and here is the results: Inconsistent pizza. Our last order did not taste up to standard at all. When it's busy things don't come out consistent. While the dough has a very good flavor, it's very tough. Tough to the point where your jaw hurts after chewing a while. If you want to order to go during the busy times, the wait is close to an hour, which isn't a problem and to be expected. The problem is when you show up 45-50 mins later to pick up and are told it's in the oven as the clearly didn't make it yet. Don't make something up, just say give us 10-15 mins more, the truth is always better than me standing there watching you now make the pizza. This was happening to alot of people walking in to get their orders. We get it, it's busy. This is a pet peeve of mine. The guy that's slicing the pizza can slow down for 10 seconds to do a better job. Every damn time it's sliced in all different sizes from 1 inch wide to 5 inch wide. It looks like someone blindfolded him and told him the pizza was trying to steal his wallet. One pizza cutter. Waterbury has a huge mix of cultures and people. You have people who don't eat certain things and don't like their food contaminated with it. Pork is an example. People who don't eat pork may not like to know their pizza was cut with a tool used to cut pizza with pork toppings.

Their pizza is probably the best in waterbury. Most waterbury pizza is low quality sauce and cheese on overly thick dough. The veggie pizza especially is very good. Just a few...