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Facci, Italian with Wood-Fired, Neapolitan Style Pizza in Fulton and Ellicott City


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I could have sworn there was a thread for this. Please merge if there is one.

Went with some friends last week. It was....good. Not great. The space is nice. Got seated at a booth (a little tight). The thing I did not like about the initial experience is that you cannot make reservations -- it is first come, first serve....period. So you go and you wait. On a mid-weeknight, with an early dinner time (6 was the target), you would think there would be little, if any wait. Wrong. 40 minutes. FEH!

The calimari was good, bruschetta was acceptable. Some kind of shrimp thing on bread (good) and a carpaccio (heavy on the salad, light on the carpaccio and accompaniments. I had a pizza, which was tasty and good, but the crust was very floppy in the middle. They either did not properly handle the dough when shaping, or made it too thin in the middle. Or they were not keeping the oven temp high enough. Or I made the mistake of getting toppings on my pizza instead of going for the classic margherita. Still, the toppings were very, very good (sausage, pancetta, etc).

Service was good, except when they brought out the wrong bottle of wine later in the meal. I didn't notice it until after opened/poured, but the mistake bottle was good, and cheaper.

My friends had dinner salads of sorts and/or pasta with fish and they all seemed to enjoy their dishes.

I'd go back, but would focus on a later or even earlier start time to the meal -- I hate waiting. And next time I will try the margherita.

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Ate here last night. Started with the rapini pizza - white pizza with sausage and rapini. The sausage wasn't anything spectacular but the pizza was very good overall. Fresh grated parmesan on top is a nice touch. As Pool Boy noted, the pizza is soft in the center. The waitress described their pizza as crisp on teh outside, soft on the inside and talked about how the imported wood-burning oven is kept at 1000 degrees so their pizzas cook quickly - I really have no idea what any of this means.:lol: Anyway, I wasn't really bothered by the soft interior and enjoyed the pizza, but I'm certainly not a pizza expert by any means

I got the bolognese for my entree, which I really enjoyed - very rich and meaty when you had a saucy bite. It looks like they import a special flour to make their pizza dough, but the menu didn't note whether they also make their own pasta and I forgot to ask. My friend got the dish taht had the speck, peas and mushrooms in a rose sauce over fettucine. Also good, but I enjoyed mine more.

Garlic bread was non-descript, wines we had were good given that they were cheap bottles and the mark-up seemed reasonable.

We didn't arrive until late, probably 8:45 or so and it wasn't crowded at all. We were seated immediately outside on their patio. Given how close it is and the reasonable prices (we spent $55 each, which included a glass each with the pizza and a $37 bottle with our entrees) I would happily eat here again. It's not outstanding food, but everything was very good, service was very attentive, and the setting is nice given the area.

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Facci, at 29 and Johns Hopkins Road between Fulton and Columbia, is pretty good, but it is always crowded and their prices are a little insane. They also do not seem to take reservations, which is agony for people hating to wait a nebulous '15 to 80 minutes' or whatever they tell you to basically keep quiet until they call you, but the food is good. Sometimes really good. The pizzas in particular.

How long has it been since you've been there? I hadn't been in a while but returned a few weeks ago to find that they had grossly expanded, I am guessing into the space next door so there is now a ton of seating. We chose to eat at the bar and had no issues plopping right down on a busy weekend night. I was very happy overall with the experience. My only complaint, while the pizzas are always delicious and the crusts are nicely cooked with the perfect imo slight char, the interiors are always soggy. I really like the place overall, especially given the dearth of good eating in the area.

I forgot to mention, when the California Tortilla closed (at the corner of Contee and Rt 1 shopping center), it was finally replaced with a Sardi's. Ummmmmblergh.

This is a perfect example of how unobservant I am. I was just in T&N nails last week, essentially next door and didn't even notice. Probably for the best. :P

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[Could someone help me out here? This area has changed *so much* since I used to live here - Montpelier Road was *not* north of Fulton, but apparently it is now. The website says this is in Laurel, but Johns Hopkins Road, to the best of my knowledge, is more Columbia than Laurel, and north of Route 216. What gives? Or maybe I'm thinking of Montpelier Mansion on Muirkirk Road.]

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There are two Montpeliers. Montpelier Drive, located in the Montpelier subdivision near Montpelier Mansion (the neighborhood I live in) is one. Montpelier ROAD is off of Johns Hopkins Road by JHUAPL in between Fulton and Columbia on 29.

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There are two Montpeliers. Montpelier Drive, located in the Montpelier subdivision near Montpelier Mansion (the neighborhood I live in) is one. Montpelier ROAD is off of Johns Hopkins Road by JHUAPL in between Fulton and Columbia on 29.

Ah! That explains it.

Our morning jog was on Montpelier Drive.

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I'll forgive you for this comment since we haven't had a meal together so you couldn't know with certainty that I can put down food like a champ. ;)

Have you been to Facci? That's another good option in that area next time you're considering meeting up with them. And you're welcome. :)

Facci is pretty good. We have not been for a while. It sounds like I need to change that!

And I believe you on the other comment. I think everyone that comes here to this site can probably do that. :)

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With Pasta Plus at first closing, but then re-opening, my wife and I sought out a variety of other places to source a regular dinner of ours on Fridays - pizza.

We tried a variety - Three Brothers (because it is super close to us in Laurel - It's OK), Coal Fire (In Ellicott City, we alway enjoy it, but it's a hoof fro us), Bertucci's (Columbia, when I need a Sporkie fix), Trattoria e Pizzeria (In columbia, a schlepp, but it's near our vet and doctor's office so we hit this with some frequency - always very good), even Ledo (close to us in Laurel - my wife needs a fix every now and then - I am not a fan as their sauce is too sweet, but their pepperoni is well flavored).

But my favorite of the non-Pasta Plus places is Facci. Excellent crust and char, and their Franco Palma pizza is excellent. We never really dine here, certainly not during the pandemic, but generally if we're going out to dinner, we usually end up in DC or close in.  Anyway, recommended. PS. My wife has had some of their pastas and gnocchi and gives these thumbs up as well.

PPS: We do now get a Pasta Plus pizza fix (only on Wednesdays, the only day they are open), and it is still as good as ever - just it's on a Wednesday (and my wife and I now have x # of days back in our respective workplaces to points south so the desire for PP pizza only on Wednesdays make it more complicated to pick up your assigned time due to the randomness of DC traffic delays.

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