DE Pizza Review: Gio's Pizza Co.

Rating:

Final Composite Score: 5 out of 8 slices (rounded up from 4.5 average)

[Her: 4 out of 8 slices]

[Him: 5 out of 8 slices]

Read the full "dialogue review" below these real-time pictures of your reviewers' pizzas (so real we couldn't wait for the picture to start one of the pizzas).

Pictures by author of the actual pizzas consumed by your correspondents at Gio's Pizza Co.

Him:

This is our review of Gio’s Pizza Co. in Rehoboth Beach. And let me start with a quick note about how we got here, because it matters. We were not planning to go to Gio’s. We had another pizzeria in mind, but we couldn’t find it. It appears to have vanished from the face of the earth.

We have photographic evidence that it exists — or at least existed — but Google Maps was no help. It took us to an empty warehouse. So, in a moment of pizza destiny, we ended up at Gio’s instead.

Her:

Sometimes pizza finds you.

Him:

Or, maybe, on the Delaware shore, you can't drive very far without finding a pizza place --- some pizza place. So let’s talk about what we found.

We ordered two pizzas: a plain cheese and one called the “Green Haze,” which had broccoli, mushrooms, caramelized onions, and roasted green peppers.

Her:

And for the record, some of us ordered half without broccoli.

Him:

Some of us are emphatically anti-broccoli-on-pizza.

So, what did you think?

Her:

I thought it was… fine. I liked the Green Haze, mostly because I like vegetables. The vegetables were actually cooked really nicely. But the rest of the pizza didn’t really stand out.

The crust was okay — not bad, but nothing special. The sauce barely tasted like anything. It didn’t have much tomato flavor at all. And the cheese was kind of like the crust — just there. It didn’t have much flavor, and it was a little watery.

Interestingly, the cheese tasted a little better on the plain pizza, probably because there was nothing else covering it up. But even then, it didn’t have a lot of flavor.

Him:

I agree with some of that — and not all of it. I agree with you that the vegetables were good, but they overwhelmed the pizza. You might say, they put my taste buds in a Green Haze.

Her:

No, let's not say that.

Him:

Seriously, I think it's that the the pizza itself didn’t have much flavor, so all you really tasted was the vegetables.

Her:

Some of us like that.

Him:

Well, those people would be just as well off ordering a plate of vegetables with a side of bread.

That said, I liked the crust more than you did. I thought it had a nice consistency, a bit of crunch, and it folded well — which matters to me. This was real New York–style pizza structurally: thin, foldable, with a decent chew on the edges.

Her:

But it didn’t have depth of taste.

Him:

You are exactly right. It didn’t have enough salt, not enough of that yeasty, developed flavor you want in a crust. So it checked the boxes for structure and consistency, but not flavor. That's not what we're looking for, although it was better than some crusts we have had.

Now, the cheese pizza — I liked that more than the Green Haze. In fact, it sort of salvaged the evening. It had a better balance, even if it still lacked flavor.

Her:

“Salvaged the evening”?! You're not including the company when you say that, right?

Him:

No, this is all about pizza.

I also agree with you that the sauce on both pizzas was bland. Not tomato-forward, not rich — just kind of there. And the cheese, while it had the pull and texture of mozzarella, didn’t have the flavor you expect from good mozz.

Her:

It felt and tasted like a blend. Like mozzarella mixed with something cheaper.

You can tell when you bite into properly melted cheese — it has that salty, slightly crisp edge when it browns. This didn’t have that.

Him:

Exactly. It didn’t have that creamy, salty mozzarella flavor.

It had the structure of mozzarella — the stretch, the pull — but not the taste.

And that’s a recurring theme: everything was structurally correct, but missing flavor. The pizzas needed salt. They needed garlic. They needed something to bring them to life.

Her:

We also had a Caesar salad. I know DE Pizza is not a salad blog, but this salad was actually very good. And generous.

Him:

Yes — not just fine, but genuinely good. Crisp, fresh, creamy, well put together. I wish we could say the same about the pizza.

[Ominous music swells in the background] Let’s talk about the service.

Her:

Everyone was very nice. Very welcoming. But they also seemed completely exhausted — like they had just run a marathon before their shift.

Him:

Or maybe during their shift. There was a lot of, let's say, audible fatigue.

Her:

One of the staff members was openly complaining, sweating, and generally moaning and groaning as he circled around us.

Him:

Which, to be clear, does not create a fun and uplifting dining environment. Remember, pizza should be a celebration, and that includes the place where it is served.

Her:

No, not a contributor to fun.

Him:

The bigger issue, though, was that our order was incomplete. We ordered two pizzas, but only one came out. When we asked about the second, they had not included it in the order.

So they had to start the second pizza from scratch, which meant another twenty to twenty-five minutes of waiting for food. Which significantly increases the risk of gross overeating.

Her:

And that's always a risk for us with pizza. But — and this is important — the staff handled the problem perfectly.

Him:

Exactly. They comped the second pizza. No hesitation, no argument. We didn't even make a complaint. That is exactly what a restaurant should do when they make a mistake. And, of course, they could not have known we were going to review their restaurant.

Her:

No, they were very generous and very kind about it.

Him:

And despite everything — the chaos, the fatigue, the confusion — they could not have been nicer.

Her:

There were also a lot of regulars in there, which tells you something. People clearly come back. Which suggests that what we experienced may not be typical — or that the charm of the place outweighs anything else.

Him:

And let's be open to the possibility that other people are easier going than we are.

Her:

Don't include me in "we."

Him:

All right. Time to score. The number of slices we think Gio's deserve out of eight slices.

Her:

I’m giving it a four.

Him:

I’m giving it a five — but with a caveat. The free cheese pizza bumps it up. If we had paid for everything, I might have landed at a four as well.

Her:

The generosity bump.

Him:

The generosity bump is real. Generosity inspires more generosity. One of many life lessons from pizza.

So we’re calling it four and a half slices out of eight, which we will round up to five slices. Why?

Her:

Because we're generous and we love pizza and those who make and serve it.

Bottom line on Gio's: Pizza that’s fine, service that’s chaotic but kind, and a night rescued by a comped pizza.

Him:

And a reminder that sometimes the pizza you find is not the pizza you were looking for — but it still makes for a good story. That’s our review of Gio’s Pizza Co. in Rehoboth Beach.