Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana — Restaurant in West Hartford

The first time I came here was with my father to celebrate a special occasion. After standing around waiting for what felt like 5 minutes or so we could not get the table cleaned as the person cleaning left to the kitchen and decided not to come back. We decided to give up and walked out annoyed and irritated as the place is not close to my house. And it was rather a bummer as we were wanting to come try out that "best pizza in New England ". After leaving a review, I was promptly contacted by a manager and asked to come back and give them another shot. This time on them. Which was rather generous offer. After some hesitation and persuading, I finally got my old man to agree to give the place another shot. We decided to bring my mother as well as she couldn't come the last time we tried. So what is there to say? The place was clean. The tables were ready. And staff was polite. Nothing spectacular, but very pleasant for the evening out with my parents. But then the pizza came. The tomato sauce was vibrating with herbs and flavor. The sausage. The bacon. The cheese. Even the dough, which looks (at best) "alright" on all the pictures I saw thus far on their site and reviews, was just perfect. Even the burn spots gave it that extra crisp that was not necessarily needed but welcomed nevertheless.

Bottom line... It was probably... No. It WAS the best pizza I've ever had. And I am sure the place will see more of me from time to time when I'm in the area.

Thank you Darrell. You've changed my mind. And most of all you changed my father's mind. And made it a great evening...

9pm on Friday started using the online order system to order delivery, however, I had to do it over again because I thought I was ordering delivery but after checking out it was "take out". I called the restaurant, and they told me I had to order take out through the online portal since they work with door dash, So I had to do it over. I did, and upon checkout found out, I couldn't order the clam pizza for delivery. So had to start over and do it again. Placing the order was difficult enough and then I kept getting error, that Ive tried placing the order too many times so try later. By this time it's 9:30, and now I am getting an online error that take out and delivery are no longer available online. So.. I try calling the restaurant again, to place a take out order since I could not longer do it online, and knew it was getting close to closing time. no one answered for the entire 1/2 hour. They close at 10pm. So no pizza tonight and now not ever from Pepe's. That was a horrible experience. At least they could have 1 answered their phone, and 2, maybe she could have let me know when I called when they would take their last order, my stupidity thinking if a place closes at 10pm, it...

I have been going to Pepe's for years! I used to say if I ever was going to have a last meal, I would want it to be the Frank Pepe white clam pizza! Sadly the pizza is no longer what it once was. I went a few months ago and got a white clam pizza for takeout and was so disappointed with the amount of clams they put on the pizza. They used to put the entire shucked clams on the pizza with the whole bellies. There was nothing like it on this planet! I went again last week and it was the same issue. Almost no clams on the pizza. Both of these pies came from the West Hartford location and have been an embarrassment. The clams are all cut up and there are hardly any on the pizza. The pizza was a whopping $40 with tax! I don't think I will be able to justify the cost of this once incredible pie anymore. I used to wait outside in New Haven for more than an hour just to get into Pepe's " the spot" and whenever a friend came to town this was our go-to dinner. I am so very sad to see what it has become. My only hope is that they read more reviews like mine and get back to the Pepe's of old. Right now after these last two pizzas it seems like they are resting on...