Fortina - Rye Brook

After previously reviewing Fortina in Stamford & Yonkers, this is the 3rd of 4 Fortina franchise locations I have tried. I ordered a Classic Margherita pie, which I had reviewed at the Stamford location a few years ago. These wood-fired personal size Neapolitan style pies do not travel well. The dough is soft but also tough and chewy, particularly the crust, which tires out your jaw when chewing. Despite the decent char and smokey flavor, there’s no crisp whatsoever. All of these cookie-cutter Neapolitan pies are the same; mass produced, ready in less than 5 minutes, unoriginal clones. This is the fast food of higher end, slightly fancier franchised pizza. These pies are as generic tasting as most frozen pizza, just classier and more souped up with bells and whistles. Even though the sauce is sweet and somewhat tasty, it’s subdued by too much oregano. The cheese is way too sparse, cold & chunky, not nearly melted well enough. The overall taste of the pie is very basic and boring; the wilted basil does nothing to draw any extra flavor out of the sauce. This pizza needs more of everything: more cheese, more sauce, more crispness; the key components are embarrassingly scant. Maybe their specialty pies are better and need to be consumed on-site; but this pizza just isn’t my style.