Hey fellow foodies! Today I’m back with Stevens’s favorite, Napoli’s, a classic Hoboken pizzeria. I think many who read this article have likely already tried Napoli’s, so instead, I’ll give a little history brief before diving into how extraordinary Napoli’s is. Frank Volpe originally worked at his family’s restaurant— Lombardi’s Pizzeria in SoHo, New York City— for 12 years before deciding to open his own pizzeria. In 2007, Volpe opened Napoli’s in Hoboken, drawing on inspiration from Lombardi’s. What makes Napoli’s special is the warm environment with tall brick walls and an open kitchen where you can see the pizzas being placed in the pizza ovens. They are then served on a stand fresh, hot, and steaming, which is the best way to eat them.
With pizza, it’s really easy to taste how fresh it is, and with Napoli’s, you can immediately tell that they use good quality ingredients and put skill into the pizza they are making. I’ve gotten Napoli’s for takeout during a cold day, and when eating after it’s gone cold, I’m telling you this pizza is meant to only be enjoyed when they serve it right out of the ovens. The cold pizza was okay, but you can taste the flavor much better when you sit down and eat there in the dimly lit environment. The crust of the pizza is always well-baked, the slices are huge, and the pizza itself is very thin. The pizza sauce is not too tangy from the tomatoes, but not artificially sweet. Instead, it is very fresh, like you are eating a garden salad. The mozzarella is also creamy, delicate, and really melty; you get some of the best cheese pulls with Napoli’s pizza.
The classic order is their margherita pizza, which comes with a thin layer of tomato sauce, melted mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil on top. I thought that was good on its own, but then my friend recommended getting the pesto sauce on top, and it was absolutely game-changing. The creamy pesto added so much flavor and richness with the right taste that adds so much to the hot margherita pizza already. The pesto sauce was thick and bright green, and they drizzled it over the pizza pie in a crisscross pattern, which allowed every bite to have the perfect amount of pesto.
Other than the margherita pizza, I have tried their chipotle chicken slice, which was super delicious. The sauce they have over their pizza is smoky and has a nice peppery flavor that tastes so good with chicken. The closest thing I’d describe the sauce as is like a buffalo sauce. The chicken was alright, it was on the drier side, but I believe that’s due to the fire-baked oven, and the pizza itself, like in true Napoli’s fashion, was delectable. There was one time I got their garlic bread to-go, and it wasn’t that nice. There was a strong garlic flavor, which I loved, but the bread was super hard and tough to eat. To be fair, this was the same day we walked a long time in the cold before we ate our Napoli’s pizza and garlic bread. The service itself in Napoli’s is super sweet, and even though the pizza takes some time to make, it’s because it’s being made fresh and hot with good ingredients, and the first bite makes it all worth it. Everyone I’ve met at Stevens loves Napoli’s, and I’ll just say that’s for a reason.
