wiseguy NY Pizza

Hello! Why not deliver? First of all thanks to our valued customers we have enough business. The number one reason why we are not doing delivery is: We will have to sacrifice service for the people who are coming to dine in and take out. So for the service issue we refuse to offer delivery or work with any outside delivery companies. However Postmates does it without our knowledge as pick up and then they deliver. We are even debating to stop Catering Delivery as well because when the lunch times hits it's very difficult to manage big catering delivery orders when the place is already full for dine in as well as take out customers. And I know the difficulties of delivery business because in past I had 5 pizza store focused on delivery. About 90% delivery. It's just that you can't combine all ( dine in-take-out, delivery). Focus will go away and then the restaurant will lose service and quality. So I say no to short term gains for long term losses. How to reheat a slice It's preferred to have pizza stone and you can buy it online or places like Bed and Beyond for $20 to $30. If you don't have a pizza stone then this is what you do: #1 Preheat the oven 450° with a cookie sheet pan on bottom shelf. Make sure oven is hot and ready. About 15-20 minutes preheat. #2 Place the pizza slices on the cookie sheet pan for a minute or two so the moisture can evaporate and the slice will get nice and crispy. But don't leave it in there more than 3 minutes otherwise you will have a cracker crust pizza. --- Reheating Pizza (mr food)

Jonathan, No problem at all thanks for responding. I was mainly disappointed with your feedback regards to you saying; we are using extremely low quality products. However can you please give me a product name (tomato sauce, flour, cheese) thats better and more expensive than what we are using for NY Style Pizza? I am just curious. Also it's okay you did not like my pizza , not everyone likes my pizza which is perfectly normal but I am staying firm on thinking that your taste buds stuck with Neapolitan type of pizza. You were looking for burned/ leopard spots edges and bottom crust like Neapolitan in NY Pizza but it is not possible in traditional Ny Pizza. Because that slice picture from "JSnake" has every characteristic of NY Style Pizza. I think you just couldn't differentiate the different characteristic of each styles. Todd Kliman only expressed his thoughts of our NY Style Margherita Pizza like many other Yelp reviewers who shared the same thoughts as him. I am in this business over 20 years and it's not so abnormal to get some recognition say last 1,5 year for my NY pizzeria that's less than 3 years old. Also I am not saying we are making the perfect Pizza every single time. No one can say that, it's impossible because there are way too many variables, for example: pizza man decides to pulls out the pizza too early, putting less sauce than necessary or putting more cheese than required, oven temperature is not there because pies after pies makes the stone to cool off........ Restauranteurs fallows certain type of styles because of proven success in taste and then some adds their own spin to it. That's what makes it more unique instead of staying strict regulation and standards given by VPN. So it's not about marketing. Some pizza hardcores also criticize me for using chicken on pizza and yet I have 4 pizzas with chicken and we sell them a lot. Buffalo Pizza being on the top of the list among them. Pizza is love and it's spreading fast and getting better and better everyday by people who puts their heart and soul to it.

Hey Jonathan, You haven't responded yet that must be because of Mother's day weekend business. Today me and my wife had a dinner at Ghibellina for the first time and now I feel your pain. I think you are just mad because you are not getting the recognition you deserve for serving great Neapolitan Pizza. And the strange thing is somewhat I was ready to criticize your pizza but I end up loving it. It was really good not much different than best I had in NY, CA and in Napoli and it wasn't soupy as some of them.. But let's not mix NY Pizza with Neapolitan Pizza, they are different pizza and each style has its own characteristics and charisma and can't be compared. I love them both when it's good. With that said ring-edge was little too thick which made bottom crust to be little thinner. But still dough was perfectly proofed/fermented so edge was not doughy at all. Also dough stretching issue could happen to any pizzeria so I am not deducting any point for that. However I still want to see a better quality grated cheese especially when you are talking about quality. You are using Grana Padano and Pecorino Romano and yet Parmigiano Reggiano is better quality and more expensive and will be perfect match for your Neapolitan Pizza. It will just make it better. We use Parmigiano Reggiano all over in our Pizzeria. Also I did not like the oil you served on your table. It did not taste like Extra Virgin Olive Oil, It tasted like Soybean Oil. I am sure you are using E.V.O.O on your Pizza why not use the same oil on tables. Little note: The calamari/fish appetizer wasn't great. The question is; if you are serving a great Neapolitan Pizza, perhaps one of the best in the area then why are you not getting the recognition you deserve? Here is my 2 cents; Because consumer doesn't think you are an authentic Pizzeria. Based on my dinner experience at Ghibellina it's the wrong place to prove your pizza because the whole setup is like a bar not a Neapolitan style Pizzeria. Yes the whole restaurant is beautiful and I can see they spent good amount of money for renovation but design is not for a pizzeria. I had pizza almost in all the Neapolitan Pizzeria in the region and why do you think I never visited Ghibelllina until today? Because I had no idea you were serving great Pizza. Every time I pass by from there I am thinking it's a restaurant that focused on selling more alcohol then food. So if you want the recognition of "Best Neapolitan Pizza" in DC then the restaurant should look like pizzeria and to get some idea I can suggest you to visit few Neapolitan Pizzerias: In NY; Keste, Motornio, Paulie Gee, Roberta's and Lucali(none traditional Neapolitan) In CA, I can recommend Pizzaiolo, Pizzeria Mozza IN AZ. Bianco Pizza If you want to go oversees in Naples:Napoli I could recommend, Pizzeria Presidente, Da Michele, Pizzeria Trianon I have been to all those places and it will give you lots of ideas how the Neapolitan Pizzeria should look like. The common thing for all these pizzerias are they all showcasing their oven right in the dine in area and they all serve the best Neapolitan Pizza in my book. To CanY: I did not know someone would follow me the way you said it. So thanks for your kind words and good luck. Owner Wiseguy Nuri Erol

Hello! Let me try to clarify couple of things about our pizzeria so we don't get the wrong information. Some highlights: We make our own fresh mozzarella from Grande Cheese Curd and we use it on Margherita Pizza and on several other pizzas. Then we got regular Grande Pizza Cheese which is used on regular pies. We cook our own Marinara sauce from freshly packed canned tomatoes. We import Parmigiano Reggiano from Italy We import our Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Italy. We use the most expensive Natural Pizza Cheese except Buffalo Mozzarella which can't be used in NY style pizza joints. We make our own dough using specilly filtered water to match NY quality tap water. Jonathan writes: "And after I ordered and ate and judged, I had the privilege of watching their delivery come in and was equally disappointed by the extremely low quality tomato product (see full red tomato sauce) and flour and cheeses that were being carted in." Pizza Sauce: What makes you think we use extremely low quality tomato product? Stanislaus tomato products known as the best quality and the most popular Tomato products in the pizza industry and in this Country. Are you comparing San Marzano tomatos from Italy which are commonly used in Neapolitan Pizza Joint and its required by VPN association with some other strict requirements. Let me also say this no famous pizza places in America makes their own sauce from fresh tomato including Di-Fara. Maybe it used to be that way because good quality canned tomato was not available 100 years ago? Anyway freshly canned tomato sauce gives better taste then fresh tomato. Has anyone tried to make a pizza from fresh tomato instead of canned tomato? Taste and see. However each pizzeria adds their own spices to their pizza sauce. Flour we are using General Mills and it is the best quality flour for making NY Style Pizza. NY Style Pizza joints never uses 00 flour if that's why you meant by low quality flour . The 00 Flour is used for Neapolitan Style pizzas and its more expensive Cheese: Grande is the most expensive pizza cheese you can buy in this country and it's widely used in famous Pizza joints in America. I think you are comparing Buffalo Mozzarella, which is used for Neapolitan Style pizzerias not in NY Style pizza places. Buffalo Mozzarella is very soupy but tasty cheese and mostly imported from Italy. As a pizza guy and a guy who has lived in both Manhattan and Brooklyn, I have to agree to disagree. Sorry but just because you lived in NY doesn't make you a Pizza snob. Maybe you were raised with bad pizza and you got used to it. There are more bad pizza slice joint in NY then the good ones. Not every pizza joint in NY is great. I got three different slices and thought them all to be mediocre at best. It reminded me of mediocre NY slice joints, not good Or great NY slice joints. I think you got your slices on the cold side where it was not heated properly so I am sorry for that. I strongly suggest you give us a 2nd chance and I am confident you will change your mind 100% And the photo above, might have some dark on the bottom from the deck of the oven, but it has absolutely no char or yeasty goodness in the lip of the pie. The Char like Leopard spots will be on Neapolitan style Pizzas because of 00 flour and Wood fired oven but not on NY Style. NY Style will be very lightly charred. As for killer slices in New York, I often inhabited Bleecker Street (especially their Sicilian) when I worked at the Spotted Pig, and La Pino Forchetta in Park Slope when I worked and lived in BK. Also DiFara if you just take it for what it is...a slice joint, not pizza nirvana. I have been to all those pizza places at least 3 times except L.P.F. Di Fara Sicilian one of the better ones but you got to wait 1 hour to get a slice after paying $5.00 and smelling like a pizza cook and chance of completly burned pizza. But yes it's definelty worth it. As for DC...I'm stumped. If have to compare Alberto's or jumbo slice with wise guys when sober or drunk to evaluate. Ohh you are not serious. Mr Jonathan I think you are really confused about style of pizzas and what product used in each style. Street NY Style (Joes, Bleecker, Di Fara, Supreme Pizza..etc) Neapolitan Style( 2Amys, Pupatella Motorino, Paul Gees, Keste..etc) or original none-slice NY style places like Grimaldi's, Totonno's, L ombardi"¦ where they use grandfathered coal ovens. I think your taste buds shifted from NY Style to Neapolitan style and you forget about what is NY Style. I have been researching tasting famous pizza places all over America and I have tasted all the great Pizza places in NYC and I can truly say if my pizzeria was in NY I could be easily on top 5. At last for you to say we are using low quality products is not true and does not justify. Thanks