DE Pizza Review: Soho Slice NY Pizzeria

Rating:

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

[Her: 3 out of 8 slices]

[Him: 6 out of 8 slices]

Read the full "dialogue review" below this sumptuous picture of non-drippy, but still foldable pizza.

Photo by author. Actual pizzas consumed by your correspondents at Soho Slice NY Pizzeria.

Him: This is our review of Soho Slice NY Pizzeria. And we have to start with why we would go to Soho so early in this project. It's a fairly new entrant into the Delaware shore pizza race. There are much more venerable places we could have reviewed now.

The reason is simple: the pizzeria at which we spent the most time when we lived in Montclair, New Jersey, was Soho Pizza and Grill — and we absolutely loved it. We ate there or ordered delivery constantly. We became friends with the owner, Chazz, who was also the pizza chef. We used to joke with him that our family paying was funding his kids’ college tuition. Soho Pizza provided the pizza for every kids' party we hosted, pizza night, Dad-and-the-kids night — it was a staple of our diet in Montclair.

Her: You were the pizza night Dad.

Him: Exactly. So when a place called Soho Slice opened on Route 1 in Rehoboth, we felt obligated to try it. Not because we expected it to be the same as Montclair — we didn’t — but because we hoped it would be really good. If you’re going to call yourself a New York pizzeria, you’re raising the bar. You’re saying, “we’ve got pizza that's just like the best pizza in the United States.” As evangelists for NY pizza, we wanted to test that proposition.

Quick aside — because this is not a salad blog, it’s a pizza blog — but the Caesar Salad we started with was really good.

Her: Honestly, that might have been my favorite thing.

Him: I should warn our readers that this might be the first public pizza fistfight you and I have. We haven’t really disagreed much so far, but I think we might here.

Her: I don’t think it needs to come to blows.

Him: Fair. We're definitely "make pizza, not war" types. One more thing before we review the pizza: the service. Our waiter was polite, attentive, good-humored, and the pizza came out very quickly. He gave us what we needed without hovering.

Her: Except for the moment when he asked if we wanted a box while we were still eating.

Him: Yes. A premature box offering. No question. Hate that.

Her: For me, that’s rushy. And there were only two other tables occupied in the whole restaurant.

Him: True. He had a lot of spare time. So, one big demerit for that aspect of the service. Okay — what did you think of the pizza?

Her: I was not super excited about it. I went in hopeful, but I thought the crust was just okay. I would have liked it to be more chewy and more flavorful. Compared to some other places we’ve been, it was probably better than average — but still not great.

We ordered a plain cheese pie and a puttanesca pie that had artichokes, olives, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and mushrooms. A lot of stuff. And I actually preferred the plain cheese to the puttanesca.

Him: I’m going to jump in, because I had a very different experience. I thought the crust was one of the best we’ve had so far. It was crispy, very thin, but also chewy. It had a lot of flavor — and this is one of my biggest pet peeves — it actually had salt. You could taste it. I thought the crust was really delicious.

We should also note that Soho Slice serves twelve-inch pies cut into four slices, not eight. That’s a little heretical, but I am willing to overlook the occasional faux pas. And they advertise their slices as foldable, which is essential for New York pizza. These slices were, in fact, foldable.

Her: They were, but they weren’t New York City-sized slices.

Him: Great point. They were shorter and wider than a typical New York slice.

Her: And they didn’t need to be folded the way New York slices do. In New York, you fold because the cheese, sauce, and grease are dripping. Nothing here was dripping — and that was my biggest issue. Everything felt kind of dry.

Him: That's fair. Dripping is a distinguishing feature of New York pizza. But I definitely liked the crust more than you did. I agree with you about the cheese pizza. I didn’t dislike it, but the crust was the star. The cheese was fine, not excellent.

Her: The sauce was thin and didn’t have much flavor. It tasted like chopped tomatoes with maybe some oregano waved over them. The sauce didn’t feel cooked down with herbs and spices to make it cohesive.

Him: Right. It wasn’t thick or rich.

Her: It just tasted like chopped tomatoes from a can.

Him: I felt like the cheese pizza wasn’t built to be eaten as a cheese pizza. It tasted like a base that was meant to have toppings added to supply the flavor. That said, they use real mozzarella. You can taste that.

Her: Yes. It wasn’t as milky or gooey as some mozzarella we’ve had elsewhere, but it did seem like fresh mozzarella — maybe medium quality, like grocery-store mozzarella.

Him: Ouch. Grocery store! Not what you want when you go out for pizza. So what did you think about the puttanesca?

Her: I thought it was really disappointing. There were too many ingredients, and they weren’t integrated. It felt like everything was just piled on top. Even with all those toppings, it still felt dry. There were clumps of oregano and other things that didn’t seem distributed. It was like a salad dumped onto pizza. I love vegetables, but this didn’t work for me.

Him: Okay, this is where the verbal fistfight happens. I loved this pizza. I think it’s one of the best pizzas we’ve had so far. It was incredibly flavorful. Every ingredient had its own voice, but they worked together. I’m literally salivating talking about it. It was substantial without any meat, filling, and delicious.

In a way, it proved the point that the cheese pizza needs toppings. I enjoyed the puttanesca much more because the toppings brought flavor and depth. I’ll also admit I’m a sucker for sun-dried tomatoes — and there were plenty of them — but I thought it all worked beautifully.

Her: You're wrong. Puttanesca is supposed to be salty, spicy, bold, and cooked together. This was just separate vegetables dropped on top. They never became one thing.

Him: We’re going to have to agree to disagree. So let’s score it. On a scale of zero to eight slices, what do you give Soho Slice NY Pizzeria?

Her: I give it a three.

Him: I’m giving it a six. The puttanesca won the night for me, and the cheese pizza was disappointing. Your three and my six average out to four and a half, which we round up to five. We round up because we’re pizza lovers and pizza cheerleaders. We want pizza places to succeed.

Her: Yes. I am a pizza lover. But I think it's possible Soho Slice won't succeed. It was pretty empty at dinner time.

Him: So that’s our review of Soho Slice NY Pizzeria. Anything you want to add?

Her: I just wish it was better.