DE Pizza Review: Ava's Pizzeria & Wine Bar (Rehoboth Beach)

Rating:

Final Composite Score: 6 out of 8 slices (rounded up from 5.87 average)

[Her: 4.5 out of 8 slices]

[Him: 6 out of 8 slices]

[VisitingFriendHim: 6 out of 8 slices]

[Visiting FriendHer: 7 out of 8 slices]

Read the full "dialogue review" below these real-time pictures of your reviewers' pizzas.

Actual pizzas consumed by your reviewers and their visiting friends after this picture was taken by your correspondent.

Him:

This is our review of Ava’s Pizzeria & Wine Bar in Rehoboth Beach. And this was a somewhat different pizza experience for us. Normally, we go out for pizza at dinner. This time, we went out for pizza at lunch.

Her:

Totally different experience.

Him:

Completely different. And for the first time, we brought visiting friends along to partcipate in, and hopefully elevate, the review process. It raised the stakes.

VisitingFriendHim:

Or lowered them. Depending on your perspective.

Him:

So let’s just jump into our pizza analysis. We ate three pizzas: the plain cheese (called the "Boardwalk)," the Onion Tart, and something called the “Meatball Breeze.” Let's be honest: we ordered that pizza so we could say "Meatball Breeze" repeatedly in this review.

VisitingFriendHim:

I was captivated by the name “Meatball Breeze.” I mean, the idea of a meatball being breezy had never really occurred to me before.

Him:

That was your favorite pizza title of the day. And I get it. It's like the song "Summer Breeze," but meatier.

VisitingFriendHim:

Absolutely. “Meatball Breeze” is either delicious or something that happened to you in your twenties, probably at your request.

Her:

No. No, we’re not doing that.

VisitingFriendHim:

But despite the fleshy name, the "Meatball Breeze" actually turned out to be one of my favorites. It was Detroit-style — thick, square, airy crust — with sliced meatballs, mozzarella, provolone, spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes.

Her:

And the sun-dried tomatoes were surprisingly restrained.

VisitingFriendHim:

Exactly. It was almost like they lightly brushed the pizza with sun-dried tomato flavor rather than dumping them on top. The provolone added that smoky, salty flavor, and every once in a while you’d hit one of those pockets of saltiness that worked really well.

What surprised me most was how airy it was. For a thick pizza, it felt light — which I guess is the “breeze” part.

VisitingFriendHer:

I should say up front that I don’t eat pizza very often, so honestly I’m happy whenever pizza appears in front of me. [General murmurs of agreement from the others.] But I really enjoyed the Onion Tart. I had never seen anything like that on a pizza menu before.

Him:

The Onion Tart was thin pizza crust with Swiss cheese, caramelized onions, and what the menu described as crème fraîche on top.

VisitingFriendHer:

I love Swiss cheese, which may or may not be appropriate for pizza, but it worked for me.

Her:

It was definitely unique.

VisitingFriendHer:

I liked it a lot, although I don’t think I could eat a huge amount of it because it was rich. The same was true of the Meatball Breeze. Both pizzas felt heavier than they looked. Please don't ask me to explain how a breeze can be heavy.

Him:

So what did everybody think of the plain cheese?

VisitingFriendHim:

The plain cheese was … serviceable, maybe more than serviceable. But the top was oddly orange, which initially alarmed me a little.

Her:

We feel strongly that pizzas should not set off alarms.

VisitingFriendHim:

No, but it tasted better than it looked. In addition to the cheese, my issue was really the crust. I couldn’t decide whether I loved how crunchy it was or whether it became too dry after a few bites.

Him:

Just the outer crust or the whole slice?

VisitingFriendHim:

The whole thing. It reminded me of my complicated relationship with corn nuts. At first, the crunch is fantastic. By handful number eight, your mouth is a desert.

VisitingFriendHer:

See, I completely disagreed. I loved the crunchiness.

Her:

I was somewhere in the middle. The Onion Tart was my favorite overall, but I did think both it and the cheese pizza needed just a little more chewiness in the crust.

The Onion Tart also needed a tiny bit more salt. Maybe because the onions were so sweet.

VisitingFriendHim:

Those onions were really sweet. I honestly wondered whether sugar had been added. It made the pizza feel almost confectionary.

Him:

They may have been the sweetest caramelized onions I’ve ever had. I actually liked that about them.

Her:

The Detroit pizza surprised me. I liked it much more than I expected to based solely on the name “Meatball Breeze,” which sounds like a yacht rock album.

Him:

But not a very popular one.

Her:

I thought it needed sauce. I don’t think a meatball pizza works as a white pie.

Him:

Interesting.

Her:

The sun-dried tomatoes weren’t enough to give it that burst of tomato flavor. They were more like a garnish. I wanted actual red sauce somewhere in there.

Him:

I was more positive about the pizzas than you were. As a committed New York pizza devotee — and I mean like I was recruited into a cult, but way more fun — I was surprised by how much I liked this Detroit-style pizza.

Her:

You know you just committed heresy.

Him:

Not afraid to be a food heretic. The crust was fluffy and airy at first bite, but the slice was surprisingly filling. They drizzled olive oil on top, which probably contributed to that richness. I loved the browned, charred cheese around the edges of the slice. That's a very nice little touch.

VisitingFriendHim:

That crispy cheese reminded me of the charred rice at the bottom of a paella.

Him:

Exactly right. That’s a very good analogy.

Her:

My bigger issue was the cheese blend overall. The plain cheese pizza tasted soapy to me.

Him:

That's a very good observation. I had the same reaction without quite knowing how to articulate it.

Her:

Nothing in these pizzas tasted homemade. The dough, the cheese blend — it all felt familiar in a generic way. Like pizzas we’ve had in a hundred other places.

Him:

To Ava’s credit, they are entirely transparent on the menu that the cheese was a blend. But I don’t want provolone on a plain cheese pizza, unless you are doing some specialty pizza like a Phill cheesesteak pizza or a sausage and roasted pork and broccoli rabe pizza. I want good mozzarella on my pizza. Real mozzarella is a critical ingredient.

Him:

The sauce was better than the cheese, but not enough to rescue the pizza. It was good. It was not great.

VisitingFriendHim:

I’m still convinced that what they called crème fraîche on the Onion Tart was actually sour cream.

Her:

It absolutely tasted like sour cream.

VisitingFriendHer:

I didn’t mind that, though. I think it added richness.

Him:

We asked the server and she checked the menu to confirm it was crème fraîche. I accepted their version of events at the time, but now I’m worried I am too trusting.

Her:

One thing everybody agreed on: the service was lovely.

Him:

Completely delightful. And the atmosphere was equally lovely. We sat by the open windows with the sea breeze coming through, and the entire atmosphere was warm and welcoming.

Her:

We had an actual sea breeze to go with the Meatball Breeze.

Him:

Maybe that's enough breezes for now.

VisitingFriendHer:

I would also like to note that the women’s bathroom had a very flattering mirror.

VisitingFriendHim:

I was pretty upset that they had a mirror in the [redacted].

Him:

We are redacting the mirror discussion from the official review.

VisitingFriendHer:

I stand by it.

Him:

But genuinely, the service was very nice. There were a few little hiccups — including completely flat soda with no carbonation — and the server and the manager handled everything immediately and graciously. No defensiveness, no frustration. Just apologies and quick fixes.

Her:

Everybody was charming.

VisitingFriendHim:

Honestly, the overall experience may have elevated the pizza in my mind.

Him:

I think that happened to me too. This was one of those places where the experience may actually have been better than the food justified.

VisitingFriendHer:

But I would absolutely go back.

VisitingFriendHim:

Same. If I were staying in Rehoboth for a week, I’d happily go there for lunch, sit by the window, have a pie and a glass of wine.

Her:

Wine at lunch?

Him:

As we have learned repeatedly in our role as reviewers, wine and beer tend to improve the pizza experience.

All right. Time for scores. One number from one slice to eight slices for the entire experience, but mostly for the pizza.

VisitingFriendHim:

I’m between a five-and-a-half and a six.

Visiting FriendHer:

I’m giving it a seven.

Her:

Four-and-a-half.

[Wordless expressions of shock and horror.]

Him:

Wow, that's rough. You are a tough grader.

And I’m also at a six.

So Ava’s lands somewhere in the middle-to-upper range for us: a place with excellent atmosphere, lovely service, some interesting ideas, and pizza that may be held back by the quality of its ingredients.

Her:

Which is somehow both a compliment and not a compliment.

Him:

We are not afraid to live in a state of ambiguity at DE Pizza Online!

That’s our review of Ava’s Pizzeria & Wine Bar in Rehoboth Beach.