DE Pizza Review: Mancini's Brick Oven Pizzeria & Restaurant

Rating:

Final Composite Score: 4 out of 8 slices

[Her: 4 out of 8 slices]

[Him: 4 out of 8 slices]

[Goodfriend Her: 3.5 out of 8 slices]

[Goodfriend Him: 5 out of 8 slices]

Read the full "dialogue review" below this real-time picture of your reviewers' pizza.

Him:

This is our review of Mancini’s Brick Oven Pizzeria & Restaurant in Fenwick Island — a place that was completely new to us before this DE Pizza Online project began. We were looking for place in the southern part of our pizza geography and came across Mancini’s in our research.

Her:

We want every community to be represented.

GoodFriendHer:

Not even on my radar before this. It sort of appeared out of nowhere.

Him:And immediately, before we even got to the pizza, we had our first cultural moment at the front counter.

Her:

Yes — the mysterious bread. There was what looked like a delicious flatbread at the counter, and when I asked what it was, the man said something that sounded like “fussatcha.” Then, I asked  our waiter and he called it “foskatcha.”

Him:

Which we eventually translated to focaccia. Or at least we think so.

GoodFriendHer:

Maybe in Delaware it’s pronounced three different ways.

GoodFriendHim:

Or maybe the Italian restaurant wasn’t staffed by Italians.

Her:

They were also selling marinara by the jar at the front, which we made a mental note of — depending on how this review went.

Him:

Spoiler alert: we passed on the marinara.

So let’s talk about the pizza. We ordered three pies: a white pizza with ricotta, mozzarella, and spinach; a pizza that the menu calls “margherita” (we don’t agree); and a “trio pizza” with sausage, pepperoni, and fresh mushrooms.

GoodFriendHim:

Starting with the crust — the edge was okay, but it wasn’t really charred or crispy the way you expect from a brick oven. I like that blistered, slightly burnt crunch, and this didn’t quite get there.

Her:

That was true across all of them. The crust was sort of in the middle — not crisp enough to be exciting, not chewy enough to be satisfying.

Him:

Which is surprising for a place that highlights the “brick oven” label. You expect intense heat and that slightly charred structure, but it felt like the oven didn’t quite deliver.

GoodFriendHer:

Of the three, I actually liked the white pizza best. The ricotta was creamy and tasted good.

Him:

Agreed — the mozzarella had real pull (that stringy thing that happens to the cheese when you take a bite).

GoodFriendHer:

But the spinach wasn’t fresh. It tasted like frozen spinach, which made the whole thing a little watery.

And it needed salt. A lot of salt. Maybe some red pepper flakes helped, but the base flavor wasn’t strong enough.

Him:

Exactly. It tasted like the spinach hadn’t been sautéed with garlic and oil the way spinach on white pizza usually is.

GoodFriendHim:

The margherita was disappointing. The cheese didn’t seem like fresh mozzarella — more like a mix of cheeses, maybe including what the grocery stores call "Mexican cheese."

GoodFriendHer:

And the herb situation was strange. It looked like basil, but it tasted like oregano. A lot of oregano.

Him:

When you order a margherita, you expect fresh mozzarella and basil leaves. This was more like a regular cheese pizza with herbs sprinkled on top.

GoodFriendHer:

Honestly, they should just call it cheese pizza.

GoodFriendHim:

Then we get to the trio — the sausage, pepperoni, and mushroom pizza.The toppings were actually pretty good individually. The sausage had flavor, and the mushrooms were fresh.

Her:

The sausage looked like scrapple.

Him:

(Laughs.) It really did.

Her:

And in Delaware, it’s hard to know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Do we think there's anyone selling scrapple pizza? [NOTE: Readers - let us know if you have come across scrapple pizza.]

GoodFriendHer:

The pepperoni didn’t stand out much, and everything together made the pizza feel overloaded.

GoodFriendHim:

Yeah, it became what we could call the “dump pizza” — just a pile of ingredients.

Him:

And structurally, it didn’t hold up. The slices collapsed when you picked them up.

GoodFriendHim:

Definitely an engineering problem. And, you know, I am an engineer. You had to fold the slice and support it with your fingers just to eat it.

Her:

And even with all those toppings, it still didn’t have much flavor.

Him:

That was a recurring theme. Across the board, things just didn’t have enough flavor.

Her:

Exactly. The basics weren’t strong enough — and the toppings didn’t compensate.

GoodFriendHer:

The crust itself wasn’t very distinctive. A little crunch at the edge, but not much flavor.

Him:

Interestingly, the crust wasn’t consistent. The white pizza’s crust was the best — slightly crunchier. I liked it. The trio and margherita were softer and a bit soggier.

Let’s talk briefly about the Caesar Salad.

GoodFriendHim:

Very good.

Her:

Very garlicky — which we liked.

GoodFriendHer:

Some of us thought it was too garlicky.

Him:

But crunchy, fresh, and flavorful. Honestly, the best thing we ate.

And the service?

Her:

No one was unpleasant, but we did feel rushed. We were asked to hand over the cocktail napkins underneath our drinks while we were still drinking.

Him:

Which is awkward when you’re clearly still enjoying your company — and it wasn’t closing time.

Him:

So let’s score it. Out of eight slices?

GoodFriendHim:

I’d say five.

GoodFriendHer:

Three and a half.

Him:

Youch!

Her:

That feels right to me — below average. I would give it a four.

Him:

I’m landing at four. Maybe a generous four.

So, Mancini’s average score is four slices out of eight. Not terrible, but not memorable either — and for a place built around a brick oven, we were hoping for more.

Her:

And we still don’t know if the sausage being scrapple-adjacent was a feature or a bug.

Him:

Would that change the review?  Maybe our readers can tell us.

And that’s our review of Mancini’s Brick Oven Pizzeria & Restaurant.