Roma Restaurant

🍕HISTORIC PIZZA ALERT🍕 Founded all the way back in 1931 by George Tavolilla, Roma is now run by his grandsons Michael & John Tavolilla who still serve their signature thin crust brick oven pizza with exceptionally crispy texture & exquisite crunch. The dough is terrifically thin with a beautifully blackened & crisped undercarriage to go along with a phenomenally crunchy & thin crust. Tasty & firm, the dough provides an incredible canvas for the other ingredients. Fairly tight & modestly rigid in some areas, the shredded mozzarella cheese blend still maintains a moderately melty & relatively creamy consistency to go along with a rather pungent & sharp taste. However, the flow & flavor are interrupted by a substantial amount of excess oil, infiltrating the mozz & rendering a slightly salty taste. Since the pie is so thin, the significant volume of grease disrupts the balance of flavors among the ingredients. While the cheese blend isn’t bad, I feel like a fresh mozzarella would yield way less oil & be more compatible & complimentary to the texture of the dough. Light & subdued, the sauce also takes a backseat to the crispness of the dough & doesn’t shine as brightly as I had hoped. Possibly compromised by the grease flow, the sauce doesn’t pack as much punch & pizzazz as I’d prefer, with the seasoning falling a little short. Subtly sweet & mildly tangy, the sauce may just need a slight boost in volume to combat the saltiness from the extra oil & make its presence felt. A sweeter or spicier sauce would light this pie up like a Christmas tree, rocketing the score into the 8s easily. As it stands, this pizza is carried by its otherworldly texture. I respect the history & old school charm of this joint; but the cheese & sauce need to get on the same level as the dough in this classic battle of texture vs taste.

crust is solid. Sauce is mild but good. Cheese - good coverage, flavor.

Roma is crispier, but Polpettina has the better sauce. Similar pies, but the latter edges them out slightly.

Roma is the second oldest pizzeria in Westchester with a claimed establishment date of 1931, but likely starting in 1929. That's almost as old as Johnny's in Mount Vernon, who underestimates their establishment date by a couple decades (it's really 1922 not 1942). I got the Roma grandpa pie, which was an off menu version of their plain for decades until they put it on menu a few years ago. It has pecorino romano, garlic olive oil, sauce on top, and mozzarella. It's tasty. This is totally the pie for folks who like a really thin, crispy, crunchy type crust. But with more flavor with the added garlic oil and sheepy pecorino romano. It think sauce of top also makes for a more flavorful pie and a great distribution of sauce to cheese. No flop on any slice, well done on the bottom, it doesn't look great in the picture because it's dimly lit. But this is a must try pizza in Westchester. Best way to describe the crust is somewhere between Johnny's in Mount Vernon (but not as crispy) and a more typical slice joint pizza but crunchy instead of chewy.

Amazing pizza everytime.

Portnoy was right on with his review. Pizza is paper thin and has zero flop. Solid and fresh ingredients. Also, a place that has been around forever, and is a nice family owned business.

This small meatball pie was quite lovely, the crust was firm and thin and airy, the sauce was excellent, the meatball was excellent. Worth the price, definitely one of the top pizzas in the area.

Finessed 🙌

Just really really good pizza been around for a long time great pizza

Thin. Crispy. Light. Perfect! Get here dave.

Very good

Excellent flavor and crisp really holds up nice. No flop. Highly recommend.

This place came out of nowhere, though I guess it’s been there for 90 years. Super thin. Good crisp. Not too much cheese. Tasty sauce, though I could do without the oregano sprinkle. Very light. I could easily take down a whole pie. My 10 year old son had 7 out of the 8 slices and gave it an 8.8. It’s legit pizza. Will definitely return.

Clean, crisp, paper-thin pie; ingredients were fresh, most notably, the mozzarella. Only knocks were that the pie was on the oily side and it could’ve used a little more sauce. Be prepared to wait; waited an hour and 30 minutes (granted it was on a Friday at 5 o’clock during Lent. I would still say it was worth the wait.

Great pizza!...Thin crust pizza that would make Dave Portnoy salivate!....better than Johnny's in Mount Vernon, which was my favorite!....This is the best kept secret in Westchester!...Gambino Approved!