Luca's Ristorante

109 Harris Ave
Middlesex, NJ 08846

(732) 560-1292 

In our continuing quest for awesome pizza in central NJ, we decided to try Luca's in Middlesex tonight.  We ordered a large, half mushroom, pie and an order of mozzarella sticks and the order came to $18.99.  

The pizza was really tasty; the sauce was different from others we've tried, in a good way.  The crust was a little crispier than I tend to like up at the "handle" part, but overall the crust was a good texture, and the pie had the right amount of cheese. 

As for the mozzarella sticks, they were great too.  Sometimes. I find, sticks can be bland and I'm not willing to indulge, but that was not the case here.  The sticks inside weren't too melty, and the breading had flavor and crunch.

Stan's Chitch's Cafe

14 Columbus Pl
Bound Brook, NJ 08805
(732) 356-0899      

The other night, we planned to order pizza.  My husband said he wanted to try someplace new, so to the internet we went.  He found a place, but for one reason or another, that didn't work out, and I had it in my head that this was the place I wanted to try--maybe the name, maybe the reviews on yelp, which are sort of mixed--and so this is where we called.

We ordered a half mushroom, half sausage (which is VERY highly reviewed on yelp and elsewhere on the internet).  When it arrived, we were struck by it being on the small side.  But it was a gorgeous looking pie! 

It was a crisp pie; I tend to like a chewier crust.  But it was delicious.  The sauce was the perfect flavor, and though I don't like sausage pizza, the reviews were high enough that I asked for a taste, and I learned that I really DO like sausage pizza, but that I don't like the texture of the big chunks one typically finds on a sausage pizza.  Stan's, however, grinds them up REALLY small, so it doesn't have the weird texture I don't really like.

For the size of the pie you get, it is on the pricey side, but the taste is really unbeatable. 

Enzo's Pizza

585 Stelton Rd
Piscataway, NJ 08854
(732) 752-9552

We were out and about the other night, and decided to pick up a pizza.  We were in the area, so thought we'd try Enzo's.  My husband asked if we'd been there before, and I said we had, but about 8 years ago.  So, we decided to give it a try.  We got a half mushroom, half pepperoni.

It was your pretty basic pizza pie.  Nothing really special, I'd say the sauce was a little bland.  

Cici's pizza

We are not in the Cici's Pizza "zone"--the closest one (until recently, that is) is two hours away.  But yet we see their commercials ALL  the time.  We were curious.  So, when we were visiting friends and they threw out the idea of going here for dinner, we jumped all over the idea.

The good is that it's VERY family friendly (we went on Tuesday, which was kids eat free night) and very cheap (all you can eat for less than $6 per person plus drink, and college students with ID are like $3.99).  There are claw games and video games to entertain the kids.  I love variety--we had spinach pizza, mac n cheese pizza, buffalo chicken pizza, among others.  The desserts were pretty tasty too.

That said, the pizza isn't  good.  It reminded me of Little Caesar's.  Maybe living in NJ has me totally spoiled and those who don't know good pizza place pizza will think it's totally great, but we both proclaimed, "Well, we've tried Cici's and now we don't need to go back."  While the desserts were tasty, you can certainly find better in the freezer section of your local grocery store.  The salad was pretty disappointing, and the pasta with sauce reminded me of... I can't even think of what.  I guess the closest comparison is Chef Boyardee.

Pizza Ecco

458 Elizabeth Avenue
Somerset, NJ 08873
732-271-5700
http://www.eccobistropizza.com/index.html

We saw this place opened recently, and decided to give it a try.  M said this could be dangerous, we're breaking my cardinal rule of not going to a pizza place in the first month after they've opened.
Nonetheless, this was a really tasty pizza.  The crust was way thinner than I typically enjoy, but the flavors of the pizza were outstanding.  We got the Four Cheese pizza, and were both really happy.  Additionally, the large pie was $15, which is way less than we pay at a much closer pizza place for a regular mushroom pie.

Definitely good pizza at Ecco!

Stefano's Woodburning Pizza

1297 Centennial Ave
Piscataway, NJ
732-562-9696

We've been here twice now. The first time, it was just a regular mushroom pie for us, and that was pretty good. The second time, however, we ordered something off their old menu (they have changed names and remodeled the inside) and were really dissatisfied. First problem wasn't theirs... it was a white pizza, which isn't really our thing. We thought it was very dry and also on the doughy side. That said, we did eat the whole pie as leftovers, so it must not have been all that bad.

We'll keep going to Stefano's when we want something different or if we're in that area, but will probably stay away from white pizza.

Papa Johns

65 Raritan Ave
Highland Park, NJ 08904


I have been a longtime fan of Papa John's. It was an addiction in college, and I was so happy when they came to this area. I have been so disappointed since, though. The pizza is fine, I guess, but certainly not what I remember. using their online ordering SUCKS. You wait forever, so it's not even worth the time. We have stopped going to Papa John's and now just go to the local pizza places instead.

A&S Pizza

A & S Pizza
(732) 828-8981
940 Easton Ave, Somerset, NJ 08873

We were, once again, jonesing for pizza on a Sunday night. We compromised with a Sicilian pie (hubs wanted pan pizza from Pizza Hut, I preferred not) and decided to try somewhere new. The pizza was fine, prices were ok, but my complaint is the service.

I called the order in around 5:45, and was told 15 minutes. I waited about 5 minutes before leaving the house. I took me about 10-15 minutes to get there from the house. I went in to pick up the pizza and was told it wasn't quite ready, a few more minutes. So I sat down. At some point in my wait, I saw that the clock said 6:15. My pizza didn't come out until 6:30. That means it was AT LEAST 15 minutes from the time I got there, and at LEAST half an hour from the time I called in my order.

Sooo, it really didn't matter to us how good the pizza was, the wait means never again for us.

Panico's Pizza

94 Church St
New Brunswick, NJ 08901

A friend and I were out and about in New Brunswick on Friday. We walked by Panico's and it smelled so good, so I came home and told BAJ that I really wanted to try them some day. Fate intervened on Sunday when Food Network showed The Secret History of Pizza, which sparked off a pizza craving, particularly for Wood Fired Pizza (which happens to be my favorite).

So we agreed to order from Panico's. We checked out their website and ordered a large bruschetta pizza. We placed our order online. The instructions given were to call if we hadn't gotten a confirmation call within 10 minutes. We didn't, so I called them.

They had received the order, but never made the call. I asked how long until it would be ready, and was told 10-15 minutes. Apparently that meant from the time they started making the pie (which was 10 minutes before I made the call), so by the time the pizza got home it was barely lukewarm (we live about 10 minutes away).

The first thing the hubs said when he returned with the pie was that "Unless this is amazing, we're not going back there." He said that the customer service was kind of crappy--this is in ADDITION to the confusion about the online order.

Anyway, the pie WAS amazing. The crust was so darn good, and then the wood fire flavor was just great too. The flavors on this pie were excellent, with fresh mozzarella, lots of garlic, and red onion in addition to chopped tomato. I felt that the prices were a little bit on the high side ($17 for a large pie, after tax), but the fresh ingredients help to justify that. After trying the pie, hubs said he WOULD like to try them again, maybe as an eat in.

Lesson learned? Never use online ordering!

Fratelli's Pizza

201 Stelton Rd
Piscataway, NJ 08854

It's possible that the quest is over. The purpose of this blog was to track all the bagel and pizza restaurants we've tried in our quest to find the best in the area. Fratelli's might just be it. They aren't the closest to our home (That's Romano's, which is a 2 minute drive), but it's really very good. We tried them after reading rave reviews online, and we were very pleased with our meal. We've tried a half mushroom half pepperoni and their vegetable special, and they were both very good. Their prices are pretty comparable with the other pizza places in the area, although I can't remember exact numbers.

We'll certainly continue our search, but are very happy with Fratelli's!

Stelton Pizza

1315 Stelton Rd # 3, Piscataway, NJ

This used to be our favorite pizza place. Even though it was 10-15 minutes from home, it was well worth the drive. We actually used to live really close to this, so would go there all the time.

Then we ordered two pies... a large mushroom and a large pepperoni. The cost was nearly $30 (I think it was $28 to be closer to exact), which seems like a lot. Further, the pies we got that night weren't that good.

So, used to be good but now too pricey and too far to be worth it.

Ray's Pizza

408 Renaissance Blvd, North Brunswick, NJ

This was on our way home in our last apartment. It was pretty good, and the price wasn't anything we ever commented about. Their mozzarella sticks were kinda gross, but my husband liked them. They did have this sandwich that I really liked... we liked it enough to be "regulars" when we lived over there.

Jersusalem Pizza

231 Raritan Ave, Highland Park, NJ

When we first came to central NJ, we saw this place on route 27 in Highland Park. My Jewish husband was super excited to see such a place, but we never got there.

Now, we live pretty close--about 10 minutes--and so decided to give it a try. We ordered a large pie with peppers, mushrooms, and black olives. It came to $18.99 after tax.

We decided that it was good, but far too pricey for us.

As an aside, it seemed that those coming to Jerusalem Pizza were not there for Pizza. Nearly everyone who came in got hot dishes rather than pizza; I think I was the only one there to pick up a pie.

Romano's

9 Plainfield Ave, Piscataway, NJ

One mile from home? Can't get much better than that. Their pizza is ok, but nothing to write home about. I go there if I'm all alone or if we have a need for something super fast, but are willing to drive farther from home in our search for better pizza.