April 20th, 2019
Merrick, NY
After we had our nice lunch in Port Washington at Salvatore’s Coal Oven Pizza, we were about to head back when Eric had the idea to drive across Long Island to Merrick, to stop at La Piazza for a second lunch. We were pretty full, but James seemed happy still and we saw that La Piazza sold slices. Eric reminded me that we could drive an extra 30 minutes then, or we’d have to drive all the way back out to Long Island another day. So we got into the car and headed over to Merrick.
La Piazza didn’t get ranked as highly as Salvatore’s, but they seemed to be most famous for their square slices. Specifically, the Grandma slice. So that’s what we went for. We got one Grandma slice and one Sicilian. We noticed that it had been ranked on the top 101 back in 2013 as well, although only at #100.
When we walked in it was clear that this is a family Italian eatery. There’s a takeout spot for slices, with high tables and a few lower tables. Then there’s the sit down area with table service. La Piazza doesn’t just do pizza – it does pastas, salads, panini, although of course we are here to review the pizza so we can’t speak to how good anything else is. While we realize that pizzas are usually the best freshly made, we really didn’t have the time (or room in our stomachs) to order a whole new pie.
Even though James should have been full of meatballs, he was very excited to try this Grandma slice. I was less excited, as I have had many more Grandma slices in the past few years than James has, and this one didn’t seem to me to be anything worth raving about. It was an OK slice, as was the Sicilian. Both were a little greasy, a little chewy. They may have been sitting out a bit too long under the glass counter. We didn’t think that they were bad in any way, but they also weren’t as good as many slices that we’ve had recently in the city.
Also, someone commented on our instagram post that they live in Merrick and had never heard of this pizza. So while we aren’t saying that you shouldn’t go there, if you’re going to drive out to Long Island, you should probably hit Salvatore’s instead.
To visit:
La Piazza
2191 Merrick Rd
Merrick, NY 11566
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