Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana

Ok. So I tried Frank Pepe about 2 hours after trying Sallys. Wanted to basically try a head-to-head review. Franks is getting the same score as sallys for different reasons. First, Franks crust is just better. Second, Their sausage was also better. More flavorful. That being said Sallys was more flavorful basically stemming from the sauce. If you could put Sallys sauce on franks crust you would have a masterpiece.

No line, seated immediately, ordered quickly and the pizza came out in seemingly no time. Ordered an Original Tomato with Mozz. Bake was a bit lighter than usual (and lighter than what the photo looks like), so only the outer rim had any crunch and the rest was chewy and soft. But crust flavor and moisture were spot on. Sauce was tangy but a bit bland - needed some granulated garlic (on every table) to push it to its best. Cheese was just right in terms of distribution and flavor, and there was little oil on top - perfect! A little harder bake and this is at least a 9.0.

Yeah…solid 8.5. Great pizza! It screams welcome to New Haven…we got you…and your taste buds.

Sally’s Wins!

Hot waitress but sadly mid. Needed more sauce and didn’t fw garlic taste. Good crust tho

Waitress Special - great crust, plain was alright but the Pepperoni & Ricotta was a move!

We went to the Pizza Mecca and had 3 pies, an original, a clam and meatballs & Riccotta. Of the 3 we liked the original the best, it needed some salt but overall it was a good pizza, cooked with some char, stiff crunchy crust the way we like it. The clam was good but ( hard to say this, a little to clammy smelling ) you know what I mean? The meatballs & ricotta very good but again lacked seasoning.

I'm originally from New Haven CT. All my family are also from the New Haven area going back to late 1800s. We're a Pepe's abeetz family. After having moved to Arizona, I get to Pepe's once about every 5 years and it has never disappointed, always as excellent as I remembered, until now. I can't even believe I'm writing this. I just had a large mozzarella abeetz (7/27/2026) at the location on Wooster Street and it was not good at all. The crust was chewy and thick (hardly any crisp). Also, the mozzarella and sauce where less flavorful. It tasted more like Papa John's pizza then an abeetz from New Haven. It pains me to write this, but Dave Portnoy needs to do another review of Frank Pepe's because they've changed their recipe.

Me likey

I tried Frank Pepe’s one week after trying Sally’s, both for the first time. Frank Pepe’s was very good but not up to Sally’s. Staff was very friendly, even suggested I do the sign up for the app to save a few bucks.

Phenomenal