DE Pizza Review: Pomodoro Pizza

Rating:

Final Composite Score: 6 out of 8 slices (rounded down from 6.3 average)

[Her: 5.5 out of 8 slices]

[Him: 6.5 out of 8 slices]

[Older Son: 7 out of 8 slices]

[PhillyCousinHer: 6.5 out of 8 slices]

[PhillyCousinSon: 6 out of 8 slices]

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

Actual pizzas, in their original boxes, consumed by your reviewers after this picture was taken by your correspondent.

Him:

This is our review of Pomodoro Pizza in Bethany Beach, and we need to start with two important facts.

First, this is the largest panel of reviewers we have ever assembled at DE Pizza Online. Joining Her and me are Older Son, PhillyCousinHer, and PhillyCousinSon. Five reviewers. Three pizzas. This is serious pizza journalism.

Second, people have been lobbying us to go to Pomodoro for a long time. Readers have told us to go. Friends have told us to go. Family members have told us to go.

There have been a few dissenters.

Her:

There are always dissenters.

Him:

But Pomodoro has probably been one of our most-requested reviews.

And there is something else you need to know before going to Pomodoro.

You need to know how to order. Fortunately, we engaged an expert.

PhillyCousinHer:

You have to call early.

Him:

How early?

PhillyCousinHer:

I called at 10:45 in the morning. They open at 11.

Him:

That is early.

PhillyCousinHer:

Sometimes they answer before 11. Sometimes they don't. But if you wait until 11 or 11:30, the phone can be busy for a while.

You call, tell them how many pizzas you want, and they tell you what pickup times are available. You choose your time, and then they give you a number. And do not forget your number.

Him:

I still have the number emblazoned in my brain.

PhillyCousinHer:

Good. Because the number matters. That is how they identify your order.

Him:

So ordering pizza from Pomodoro is roughly equivalent to securing a reservation at a top restaurant.

If you want prime time, you need to plan ahead.

Otherwise, you're eating at 4:45 or 9:30.

PhillyCousinHer:

Exactly.

If you call later in the day, you may still be able to get pizza. But you probably aren't getting the time you want.

And they only sell slices until late afternoon. After that, you're ordering whole pies.

Him:

Which brings us to the second half of the service experience: actually retrieving the pizza. Because Pomodoro is strictly a take-out place.

Older Son:

We discovered that the designated pizza picker-upper did not know the number for our pizzas.

Her:

I didn't know it was in the text.

Older Son:

We eventually found the number in the text messages, and everyone became much happier with us.

Then they put the pizzas on the counter, and a lovely Italian woman gave me a very discerning look that basically said, “you had better help your mother carry those three pizzas.”

I have a lot of respect for that.

Him:

As you should.

We were also slightly intimidated because the people in the car ahead of us picked up five pizzas. We had only ordered three. We felt outclassed.

OlderSon:

There was also someone inside trying to order pizza when we picked ours up, and he was told it would be at least an hour.

PhillyCousinHer:

People sometimes don't understand how it works.

Him:

They didn't have our expert ordering guide.

PhillyCousinHer:

It took us a couple of years to learn.

Him:

So consider this a public service from DE Pizza Online.

Call early. Get a time. Remember your number.

Now: was the pizza worth all that?

Older Son:

Before we even tasted it, I was impressed.

When we walked in, you could immediately tell this was a serious pizza operation. It smelled better than most of the places we have visited for this project.

Him:

To clarify, you mean the smell of the food.

We have had some other smells during this project.

Older Son:

Definitely the food.

They were tossing dough by hand. The guy working the oven was using a wooden pizza paddle and moving the pizzas around constantly. It looked like people who knew what they were doing.

And I thought this was far and away the best pizza I've had doing these reviews.

Him:

Far and away?

Older Son:

Far and away.

Everything was proportioned correctly.

The crust wasn't too thick or too thin. It wasn't too floppy or too stiff. It had the right amount of crunch.

The sauce tasted great, but there wasn't too much of it or too little.

The cheese was excellent, but the pizza wasn't excessively oily or overloaded with cheese.

It just worked.

We had three pizzas: cheese, mushroom, and pepperoni. I thought all three hit the mark.

Him:

What about the pepperoni?

Older Son:

They used the little pepperonis that curl up into cups. Those are a personal favorite.

Her:

Little cholesterol cups.

Him:

Exactly. They curl up, the oil collects inside, and suddenly you've created a tiny edible swimming pool of pepperoni fat.

This is a design feature, not a flaw.

Older Son:

It's actually difficult to talk about pizza when everything works.

I thought it was right on point. Very satisfying.

And I could keep eating it right now, even though I've probably already eaten two slices too many.

Him:

That is a strong endorsement.

Her:

I thought the cheese and sauce were terrific.

This pizza smelled and tasted more like New York pizza than almost anything we've had here. Henlopen Pizza Kitchen might be closer.

But I did have one problem.

Him:

The crust?

Her:

The crust.

I almost never leave pizza crust. I eat all of it. I have even been known to eat my son's leftover crusts.

Him:

This is true.

Her:

But I didn't want to finish this crust.

I'm not sure whether it was a little dry or slightly overcooked. The flavor was good, but something about the texture didn't work for me.

The rest of the pizza did.

The cheese was just right. I like a lot of cheese, so I wouldn't have complained about more, but it was very good. The sauce was excellent.

And the mushrooms were fresh and really well prepared.

Him:

That was one of the things that stood out to me. These weren't canned mushrooms dropped onto a pizza as an afterthought.

They were fresh mushrooms that actually tasted like mushrooms.

Her:

They may have been sautéed first. I'm not sure. But however they prepared them, they were good.

And I also loved the pepperoni cups of fat.

Him:

Cholesterol cups. We're adding that phrase to the DE Pizza Online glossary.

PhillyCousinSon:

I should point out that I recently spent ten weeks living in New York.

So I'm basically an expert.

Him:

Absolutely. It only takes about two weeks to become a New York pizza expert. The remaining eight weeks are just continuing education.

How often did you eat pizza while you were there?

PhillyCousinSon:

At least twice a week.

Him:

So we're talking about at least 20 New York pizza meals.

Your credentials are impeccable.

PhillyCousinSon:

I thought Pomodoro was very good.

The toppings were excellent. I agree completely about the pepperoni. The small pepperonis that curl up are the best.

The mushrooms were good.

And they didn't overload the pizzas with cheese. Everything stayed where it was supposed to stay.

Him:

That's what we call pizza engineering. I thought the engineering here was excellent.

The cheese stayed on the pizza. The toppings stayed on the cheese. Sauce wasn't flying around the table. The crust wasn't collapsing.

You could pick up a slice and eat it without having to reconstruct it first.

PhillyCousinSon:

Agreed. Very little flop.

My issue was that I found the crust a little too chewy. I prefer more crunch.

When you have to take too many bites just to get through the crust, it starts interfering with everything else you're tasting.

But overall, very solid pizza.

Him:

And by “solid,” you mean good. Not physically solid.

PhillyCousinSon:

Correct.

PhillyCousinHer:

I liked the thin part of the crust underneath the sauce and cheese. It was the outer edge that I had trouble finishing.

I don't know whether it was dry or chewy, but something about it wasn't quite right.

The sauce-to-cheese ratio, though, was very good. My only other complaint was the pepperoni.

Him:

You didn't like it?

PhillyCousinHer:

I loved it.

There just wasn't enough of it.

Him:

Now that is a legitimate complaint. You should not chintz on pepperoni.

PhillyCousinHer:

I've had Pomodoro's pepperoni pizza before, and I remember there being more pepperoni.

Maybe this particular pizza just got fewer pieces.

Her:

If the pepperoni weren't good, you wouldn't be asking for more.

PhillyCousinHer:

Exactly.

Maybe the person putting on the pepperoni just had smaller hands than the person who usually does it.

Him:

So, is DE Pizza Online now taking an official position against small-handed pizza makers?

PhillyCousinHer:

Only when they're applying pepperoni.

There were plenty of mushrooms.

Him:

Good. We should be precise about our discrimination.

I thought the toppings were one of the strongest parts of the pizza. The pepperoni was really good. The mushrooms had so much actual mushroom flavor that we could smell them in the car while we were driving the pizzas home. That tells you something.

Good pizza starts with really good ingredients and people who know what to do with them. And Pomodoro clearly has both.

The mozzarella may have been the best mozzarella we have had during this project.

Older Son:

There was actually a plaque inside saying that they use what they describe as the best cheese money can buy. I don't remember the brand.

Him:

Well, it tasted like they spent the money. This was mozzarella. Not “pizza cheese.” Not cheddar. Not provolone pretending it belongs there.

Mozzarella.

It was creamy. It was salty. It had flavor. It had the right texture.

And I think that cheese was one reason the pizza engineering worked so well. Good mozzarella adheres properly to the sauce and crust instead of sliding off in one giant sheet when you take your first bite.

The sauce was also very good. Not too much. Not too little. I would have liked it slightly sweeter, because that is my New York/New Jersey background, but it had plenty of flavor.

And unlike some of the others, I liked the crust.

Her:

Of course you did.

Him:

I did.

The edge was salty and crunchy. Interestingly, it was the bottom of the crust underneath the pizza that I thought was a little soft. But overall, I thought the crust was very good.

And this is where I come back to all the people who told us we needed to try Pomodoro.

You were right.

Her:

That's dangerous to admit publicly.

Him:

It is. We've had people lobby us to review lots of places. Sometimes the lobbying turns out to be more impressive than the pizza. Not this time.

I don't know that Pomodoro is the best pizza we have found on the Delaware shore.

But it is really, really good.

You could put this pizza beside a lot of New York pizzas and it wouldn't be obviously the worst pizza on the table. Would it be among the very best pizzas in New York?

No. Not even close.

But this is high-quality New York-style pizza, and it belongs near the top of what we've found on the Delaware shore.

Which means it is time for scores.

As always, one slice means you should get out of the pizza business. Sell plumbing supplies instead.

Eight slices is Pizza Nirvana. Metaphysically perfect pizza.

Who wants to go first?

Older Son:

Seven.

Him:

Seven slices. Explain yourself.

Older Son:

I'm going to get a little esoteric.

Him:

Esoterics and pizza were made for each other.

Older Son:

There is a saying from a famous chef—I can't remember which one—that great Italian food is about simple dishes made with fantastic ingredients and executed extremely well.

Pizza may be the perfect example of that. And I thought Pomodoro did that very well.

Really good ingredients. Properly prepared. Everything working together.

I'd happily go back and try more. Seven.

PhillyCousinSon:

I'm giving it a six.

The flavors were good. The cheese was good. The toppings were good. Minimal flop.

But the crust wasn't my favorite, and the pizza wasn't cut very uniformly. Some slices were bigger than others.

Good, but not great.

Six out of eight.

Him:

Did ten weeks in New York change that score?

PhillyCousinSon:

No.

Him:

Fair enough.

PhillyCousinHer:

I'm going six and a half.

Him:

Half a slice? You are actually cutting a slice in half? I hate when people do that.

PhillyCousinHer:

I'm sticking with six and a half.

The pizza was very good. Probably the best of the pizzas I've eaten down here.

But the crust keeps it from going higher.

Him:

That's also fair.

Her:

I'm giving it five and a half.

Him:

Wow. You are a hard grader.

Her:

I thought it was a really good approximation of New York pizza. But it wasn't special enough to me to score it as highly as some of the other places we've visited.

And I left crust. You know how unusual that is.

Him:

Extremely. I rarely see you leave any food on your plate, but pizza crust is particularly unusual.

Her:

Yup. So five and a half.

Him:

I am going six and a half. I was tempted by seven.

The mozzarella was outstanding. The toppings were excellent. The sauce was very good. The ingredients were clearly high quality, and the pizza was beautifully constructed.

But I'm not quite sure it belongs at the absolute top of the pile with the best pizzas we've had. So six and a half.

That gives us quite a range, from five and a half to seven.

But for the largest panel of reviewers in DE Pizza Online history, there is actually a remarkable amount of agreement here.

Pomodoro makes very good pizza.

Older Son:

A lot of pizza places around the Delaware shore need to come here and try this pizza.

PhillyCousinSon:

That's true.

Older Son:

Because I don't know what some of you are doing, but this is how it should be done.

Him:

And on that warm and diplomatic note, we have reached the final note from this chorus of pizza reviewers.

Pomodoro required advance planning. It required an ordering expert. It required remembering a number. And it required enduring the humiliation of watching someone else pick up five pizzas while we had ordered only three.

But the people who kept telling us to go to Pomodoro? They were onto something.

And that is our review of Pomodoro Pizza in Bethany Beach, Delaware.