Al's New York Pizza — Restaurant in West Virginia

This is such a hidden gem! Yesterday I, my wife and our son went to Al's, it took me a while to come as the reviews was mixed. I figured we could try it for ourselves and I'm so glad we did! If you've been to New York and had pizza, soon as you walk into this place, you're right back! The biggest difference to me or what I could tell was Al's is 10x cleaner than any place in New York (Probably any place around here, it was spotless). The decor for sure put you in the big city. The waitress came, took our order and the food was out in no time. My wife got a salad and some deep fried mozzarella, myself and my son had pizza. The salad was as fresh as it could be with a large helping. The pizza....the pizza!!! It was amazing ! The ingredients was top notch, you could taste the freshness and quality. The pizza slices was only $3.50 each and two had me throwing in the towel. Al came over to our table after preparing our amazing meal and talked with us briefly. The atmosphere, food, service, everything was absolutely amazing. Overall I would rate Al's as the BEST NY style...

It must have been an off night. I’ve eaten pizza here before and it was good. However, tonight the pizza had no flavor. The dough tasted like cardboard. The sauce and cheese were bland. Maybe they forgot seasoning? I would say that they were cutting corners but $33 for an 18” cheese pie that can’t be the case.

The owner wasn’t there so maybe that had something to do with it.

I grew up in NJ and this pie was not representative of NY/NJ. Not even close. My girlfriend from WV said Red Baron frozen pizza had better flavor! Ugh, it was hard trying to defend this pizza.

I hope the owner fixes this.

To top it off, I saw them put another pie in the oven while paying for mine. The guy, not the owner, lifted up the edge of the dough and blew under it! It looked like he was trying hold the pie while pulling the pizza peel out of the oven. Honestly, no clue what he was trying to do. But I don’t anyone blowing on my food.

Quality, value and food handling need to improve.

Bad...

If you had kidnapped and blindfolded me, driven me around for a couple of hours and had me try this pizza, I would swear I was back in the city. I’ve moved all around the US and tried countless “NY style” pizza places, but all failed to deliver until I stumbled here. This is more than a “style” it’s the real deal and I couldn’t be happier being new to the area that this place exists. Crust was crisp on the outside but still tender on the inside. Perfectly thin but still able to fold and hold itself together with all the ingredients. If you’re homesick, this is the place to be. Only thing that’s missing is to be able to buy by the slice, but I think i’ll just order the large every time. Our waitress was very attentive, kind and offered great suggestions, we will be back soon.

Edit: I stand corrected, they offer pizza by the slice T-F...