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Emilia's Pizzeria
Category: Restaurants Pizza Pizza [Edit]
2995 Shattuck Ave(between Russell St & Ashby Ave)
Berkeley, CA 94705
Neighbourhood: South Berkeley
(510) 704-1794
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Quiet
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
218 reviews for Emilia's Pizzeria
Review Highlights
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"Chewy thin crust + simple delicious topping = tasty take..." In 36 reviews -
"fancy restaurant pizza + giant new york style size." In 11 reviews -
"The basil and tomato sauce are a very good combination." In 24 reviews
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218 reviews in English
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Review from Joy K.
San Francisco, CA
Updated - 5/21/2012
Hands down, Emilia's is still my favorite pizza place in the East Bay. I've been a devoted, and I seriously mean DEVOTED fan of Emilia's from the very beginning from the time that I first read about its opening until I actually got to taste the first amazing bite of pizza heaven, so maybe I'm a little biased. And if you have anything to say to the contrary, whatever I say to all you naysayers, you clearly don't know what's up.
In the years I've been a loyal eater of Emilia's, the pizza has never failed me. It is always consistent in quality, flavor and deliciousness. The crust is unbeatable - a perfect balance of chewy dough. The sauce is similarly spotless, not too salty, bursting with tomato flavor and not so overwhelming that it detracts from the other flavors or toppings. Did I mention the hand crushed red pepper?!
The one man show who is the owner/pizza master/maker of pizza dreams truly cares about producing amazing pizza with fresh, quality ingredients. If you doubt me, take a bite and you'll see what I'm talking about. If you haven't tried Emilia's yet, you are definitely missing out. Seriously.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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9/10/2010
Emilia's is one of my favorite pizza places, if not my #1 pizza place in the Bay Area. After reading… Read more »
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Review from Keturah A.
Berkeley, CA
5/2/2012
Best pizza in the Bay, hands down! Love this place so very much. The owner is super sweet.
You will be happy if you remember to call ahead and if you remember they are cash only. Also, check their website because sometimes they are closed on random days. For example, they are closed this Saturday for Cinco de Mayo (it's a mystery to me too).
Anyways, you will not be disappointed, I promise. An amazing pie awaits your taste buds. -
Review from Chia L.
Berkeley, CA
Amazing amazing pizza.
The crust is chewy, crisp, delicately browned, and the perfect balance between thick and thin. Everything is fresh here. You choose from a short list of toppings and wait 25 minutes for your fresh-out-the-oven slice of yeaaah baby. The fresh leaves of basil on top of the pizza is very refreshing against the savory sauces and cheese.
This place is super hard to miss: across the street from Chevron gas station, if you didn't come here for Emilia's you might never have noticed. There is limited seating inside, so you should probably call in first to order and then pick up later. The wait can be up to hours. The owner is always very nice and friendly!
Absolutely my favorite pizza joint, over Cheeseboard even because it's not too oily and the crust doesn't give your jaw a tough day of workout. -
Review from Casey S.
4/27/2012 2 Check-ins Here
There's fresh, and then there's Emilia's fresh. When you've got access to some of the finest ingredients via the Berkeley Bowl across the street, you're bound to have an amazing pie.
And what a pie it is. The tomato sauce is tangy without being acidic, the crust has just the right amount of chewiness to it, and the whole thing manages to not be too greasy while still having that signature New York style to it.
Two caveats that prevent this pizza joint from reaching god-tier status:
- You NEED to call it in a few hours in advance. Just do it.
- A small part of my pizza was burnt (could be a fluke though) -
Review from Stephanie P.
Oakland, CA
4/5/2012
Good pizza for a good price.
High-quality ingredients, like TASTY tomato sauce even in the off-season.
Friendly service.
MUST KNOW: Can be a long wait. Don't expect a quickie turnaround. I guess they're popular enough to get backed up?
A fave in the local pizza rotation. -
Review from B H.
Oakland, CA
3/7/2012
this place makes great pies... light crust, very fresh, good ingredients, good use of cheese, nice sauce...
They have one size, which is a bit limited, and you need to allow some time when ordering - can take over one hour for pick up. Also, they do not have anything but pizza - no salads or anything else.
Nice friendly service too... -
Review from Anthony R.
Somerville, MA
2/27/2012
Seriously rockin', quirkily served NYC-style pizza at a fair but not outstanding price. Definitely scores a place near the top of my take-out list.
I came here after lazing out of being able to cook and tiring of always ordering pizza from Cheese Board. I wanted some meat on my pizza, damnit! I was totally taken in my the quirky, just-enough-nonsense Emilia's website. The website, unlike many local biz sites, is a very accurate reflection of the place itself. Earnest, quirky, cash-only.
The pizza is truly excellent -- thin, chewy crust with just the right amount of sauce and cheese. The topping list is limited, but it's well-curated. This isn't the place to load up your 'za full of stuff: pick the one or two toppings you know you like best so the simple genius of the crust, cheese, and sauce shine through.
I called in at 7:15 and was told I could pick up at either 8:15 or 8:40 -- I picked the latter, showed up right then and received my pizza right on schedule. Nice! -
Review from Luisa L.
South Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
4/26/2012
Fresh ingredients + good cheese = amazing pizzas, call in early to reserve your pizza for the night. Cash only.
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Review from Suzy S.
2/9/2012
I don't know if I'd say it was the best pizza ever but it sure is up there with the best of them. All the ingredients were fresh and paired well on this thin crusted pie.
The phone was answered by a soft spoken, super-polite fellow who quoted a pick-up time in 1.5 hours. Good thing we weren't starving. After reading past reviews I guess we were lucky we didn't have to wait longer. It wasn't ready when we arrived but we were out the door in 10 minutes with our pizza. Unfortunately when you live in Hayward your pizza is cold by the time you get home. I know it would've been better hot but still it was quite tasty. Considering the call in procedure it is doubtful that we'll give it another try, unless we reserve a table there to eat it piping hot. I can eat cold pizza locally and don't have to wait so long to do so. -
Review from Monica S.
1/10/2012
Did we hit Emilia's on an off day?
I had been looking forward my first Emilia's pizza greatly - in part from the glowing reviews, and in part because I had tried twice to order by phone only to be met by an impenetrable busy signal. Still, I had high hopes. Anticipation is everything, right?
We finally were able to place our first order, a simple cheese with red onions and mushrooms as a baseline. We went to pick up the pizza right as it was pulled from the oven, walked 5 minutes to our house, and opened the box to indulge.
However, the results of our experience were overwhelmingly underwhelming.
Crust: perfectly thin, but lacking softness and crispness, a little gummy, as though the crust had been baked a few hours before and simply reheated with the toppings. We also found the crust to lack a depth of flavor - like it needed (much) more salt.
Cheese: I've made fresh mozzarella before, and I know how a fresh, springy wad of cheesy goodness can have perfect texture and absolutely no flavor before you add some cheese salt. That is more or less how the cheese seemed here - definitely fresh, high quality ingredients, but lacking some essential flavor that makes all the difference.
Sauce: The sauce was fantastic - naturally sweet and singing with ripe tomatoes. Sadly, this ingredient alone couldn't carry the otherwise lackluster flavors of the slice.
Etc: Onions, basil, mushrooms - added some color and a smidgen of flavor, but otherwise were not notable.
All in all, I spent the meal wishing we had spent the $24 at Addie's down the road. I'll give this pizzeria another chance - they have all the trimmings of a place I would like (good ingredients, good technique, walking distance from home, and a quirky demeanor), but it's not worth it if I need to doctor up the pizza from home in order for anything to register on my taste buds. -
Review from Fatty A.
San Francisco, CA
4/5/2012 1 Check-in Here
This pizza here is delicious. The dough is on the chewy side but after eating half the pizza it was amazing. I would def recommend grabbing a pie if you are in the area but Tony's Pizza in SF still has my fatty heart.
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Review from Monica D.
12/19/2011 1 Check-in Here
My visits to Berkeley are always, for lack of a better and less cliched term, relatively epic. When enjoying said visits with a new surreptitious incarnation of a foodie partner in crime, said visits are always ABSOLUTELY epic. Past partners long gone include Mcchubb, Fobert, Angie B., Baby Brian, and now, the great Senator Franken himself, Nicolas Nolan. A rainy day sojourn to check another off the unofficial culinary bucket list brought myself and Mr. Walder here to Emilia's.
The man, the myth, the legend, the goods. Emilia's Pizzeria off Shattuck.
Let's put a long story short: we ordered late, guy says come to pick up our pizza at 9:30pm, takes Nic's cell phone number.
We pull up promptly at 9:30pm, we pay in cash, we run to the car to get more money (me), we make awkward small talk with guy (Nic), we drive home, we indulge.
Nic was absolutely right: had we been there maybe 5 minutes prior, the pizza would have been more fresh and therefore more enjoyable. But I'm not gonna lie -- in a whirlwind random mecca of topping combinations gone wild, styles leaning toward the traditional thicknesses of crust, and quantity's importance beginning to rival that of quality's -- Emilia's is awfully nice.
Paper-thin crust (doesn't TASTE exactly as special as real nu-yawwkk, but definitely closest in consistency), a tasty tomato sauce that boasts real tomatoes and a delicate blend of spice, amazingly fresh cheese, and just a nice rest from the deep dishes and exotic toppings of the Berkeley pizza world. I dig it.
Admittedly the best part of the experience was Nic having to talk to the dude. As much as I enjoy random conversations with small business (especially restaurant or pub) owners, I can't deny that I was tickled pink watching and hearing Nic's tete-a-tete with the singular dude that IS Emilia's Pizzeria.
To give you a bit of insight into this awkward awesomeness, take a look at the website. Yep. Functional, genius on many levels, but just very socially awkward. Gotta give it up for the mystique and "WTF?" surrounding Emilia's. As long as you are prepared to deal with the massive amounts of time involved in the process, I promise your taste expectations will all be blissfully met. -
Review from Vince M.
Castro Valley, CA
2/6/2012
Great pizza, but man get into a bigger place
with more seating space! -
Review from Henry H.
El Cerrito, CA
1/16/2012 1 Check-in Here
called at 4:00 line busy....called until 4:30...pizza ready at 7:25, perfect we'll go shopping at berkeley bowl before we get there.
We arrived at 7:20..."your pizza will be out of the oven in a few minutes"...out the door at 7:25 sharp with our hot sausage and onion, right frickin on time!
Get home, first bite....yeah that was worth the 3 hour wait for sure! Best thin crust I've had in Berk...cheese board with the soggy oily crust not even a blip on the radar anymore. -
Review from Omar K.
Berkeley, CA
12/14/2011
Simple and light. Very, very nice place.
It's too bad that any non-heavy pizza is 'wrong' to my stupid palate though, ugh. -
Review from Tiffany Z.
Berkeley, CA
12/2/2011
5 stars for a perfect Margherita pizza (by my standards of course :) ). A soft, pillowy dough with just the right amount of crispness, a zesty, not overly sweet, not too chunky tomato sauce interspersed with molten fresh mozzarella, and a sprinkle of basil and olive oil. I haven't had a pizza this good since Lombardi's in NYC. Definitely worth the crazy ordering procedures :) Check it out!
My husband and I gobbled down the entire pizza (normally, I only eat a slice or two of pizza...but I just couldn't stop). We were pleasantly chatting away but once the pizza arrived at our table, I don't think we said another word until the pizza was gone :)
It's not what I would think of as "NY Style" as some people have mentioned -- NY Style to me means those oversized, super greasy, fake congealed cheese-looking slices that I steer clear of. My husband loves that style, too, though -- if that's what you're in the mood for, try Arinell's in Downtown Berkeley.
There's only 2 tables in the pizzeria (a 2-seater and a 4-seater) -- you have to call in at 4 PM to put in an order and reserve a table for later that day. Your pizza will be just coming out of the oven at your reservation time -- so, don't be late :) -
Review from Tanishia B.
Oakland, CA
11/8/2011
I was house sitting for my friend in Berkeley and had a craving for some delicious pizza. The reviews on yelp were excellent but I almost didn't order because of the long 2-3 hour wait time. But I'm glad I did.
The shop is small and seems to be run by 1 person, he was friendly, only accepts cash and made my pizza to perfection. I ordered a pepperoni pizza which was also topped with fresh basil. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait 2 hours to get my pizza and it was ready in an hour. I brought it to the house and had to stop myself from eating everything in one day. The crust was crispy on top and soft on the inside, the ingrediants and flavors were orgasmic. When I took my first bite, I stopped and looked at the pizza to make sure it was real, haha!
My dad is the reason I have a slight obessesion with pizza, I've eaten pizza across the country and the world, including Italy. So I think it's safe to say that I've had some amazing Italian food but this pizza is a VERY strong contender against the best I've had in NYC and Italy. I've told everyone I know about Emilia's and intend on going back for more. -
Review from Jonathan T.
San Diego, CA
8/25/2011
There are few things more personally infuriating than the concept of equating inaccessible, hole-in -the-wall "charm" with uncompromising, non-commercial quality, the practice of which often elevates places of middling quality to legendary status (see: Ike's sandwiches). Even more infuriating, though, is when the perception holds true.
Enter Emilia's. Neatly etched in a corner booth behind that hippy bait, funky-produce gargantuan (who needs that many kinds of apples? Seriously.), Berkeley Bowl, it is, despite--or in spite of, depending on how you look at it--its appearance, heaven on earth.
Every day, starting at 5:00 pm, Keith, a pasty, bespectacled food artisan, readies his paltry kitchen to churn out one the best New York pies this side of...well...actually... the world. Before any of you bust a nut, I've got street cred. Having lived in New York for a substantial part of my life, I've sampled all the proclaimed sovereigns of thin crust--the Lombardis, the Grimaldis, the Totonnos -and Emilia's is comparable to them all, if only slightly worse. The sauce is understated and light, but is perfumed beautifully. The cheese, silky like lactoidal velvet, is melted masterfully in nonhomogeneous blobs, the sign of a true napolitano pie. The result is a pizza that is delicate, but not overly runny, with a delightfully chewy crust full of body. The relative lack of char is a personal preference, but I could go either way with that.
Sure, there are like, three seats in the entire place, sure, there's no beer to enjoy alongside said pizza, sure, there are no anchovies on the menu (or, for that matter, countless other topping staples), sure the call-in system is endlessly frustrating, but even a cup of water and a slice of Keith's cheese pie, ordered two hours ahead of time and enjoyed on the sidewalk would be gratifying enough. And this is no small feat of admission for me, as I am famously prejudiced against plain cheese pizzas. To go cheese is to squander something as gastronomically versatile as any dish could be. It's like purchasing a '57 Am. vint. strat, only to strum power chords on it. For shame.
So do me and Berkeleyan pizziology a favor; next time some kid proclaims cheeseboard as the best pie in the area, raise the right corner of your mouth into a douchey sneer, accompanied by a disparaging "feh". Then, after substantial pause, mention Emilio's. Force their hand. Make them so angry, so ready to prove your smug ass wrong that they take the next 51B double bus down post-fork Shattuck. There, they will learn the true meaning--no, the true quintessence of pizza. And the world will be a little more right.
BTW: 4.5 stars, rounded down, for all the hoops you have to jump through just to get a fucking pizza. Even if it is this freakin amazing. -
Review from Heather C.
San Francisco, CA
7/27/2011 1 Check-in Here
Must order two hours in advance! =X Call them to ask what time the next round of pizzas go out. My initial thought was "Are you freakin' serious, we have to order two hours in advance for pizza?"
Thank goodness I wasn't hungry when we called in to order our pizza so I DID NOT mind waiting the two hours. When we got there to pick up the pizza I was a little surprised at how small this place is, I think there were two tables inside and maybe six chairs so seating and space is very limited here (you're better off taking your pizza home to devour).
Emilia's is NY style, which is my favorite because I LOVE thin crust pizza. Most places I've been to make their pizza crust paper thin BUT NOT Emilia's (hate when places make their crust so thin that the damn thing cracks in half and all your toppings end up on the floor). Ingredients are fresh and the pizza as a whole was one of the best pizzas I've had so far (I've tried many, many pizza places in SF). =X
I am now a fan of Emilia's, even if I was sitting there with an empty angry stomach and craving pizza, I'd still be willing to wait two hours to get my pizza fix from Emilia's! =)Listed in: FOOD!!!! OM NOM NOM NOM
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Review from Andrew S.
2/5/2012
This is a pretty good pizza establishment. I really like the whole small, business "I care about my food" mantra. You have to call ahead which is pretty annoying but it makes sense. We actually sat down and ate here and the people were really nice. Pizza is super thin crust. I would rank this as below Cheeseboard and Arinell's but above all that other crap.
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Review from Eric G.
Berkeley, CA
8/1/2011
Welllllll. Pretty good.
I liked that it wasn't swimming with grease.
I liked the quality of the sauce, cheese, and pepperoni.
Flavor was very good.
The crust. I don't think the oven is hot enough to crisp the edge. It gets a nice char, but it gets a little too chewy. Yes, this is nitpicking.
Skimpy on the cheese.
Ordering is a hassle. They're so slammed that you can't ever spontaneously just want to pickup a pizza. Forget that. (Unless you consider thinking of dinner 2 hours early is spontaneous.)
I think 3 1/2 stars is fair. -
Review from Max L.
Berkeley, CA
1/19/2012
best pizza i've had in berkeley in the 4 months i've been out here.
full disclosure: i'm a ny'er and heavily biased towards ny-style slices.
i often drag my girlfriend along to try out different slices wherever we go. here in berkeley, fat slice is good. arinell's is even better. most others aren't even worth mentioning, save the cheese board collective which we haven't yet tried.
the pizza here is damn good. the shop itself is non descript and the proprietor was super friendly. just details though. about the PIZZA. the crust is perfect: flaky and crispy on the outside with just a good amount of chewiness on the inside. i like my bagels like this as well. for a first-time order, go with the website's recommendation of sopressata and peppers. we did and it was fantastic. they use fresh mozzarella here i should mention which really makes a difference. the sauce was good but i do like a bit more kick in my sauce (oregano, garlic, red pepper, etc.). -
Review from Charlie Bolognese Z.
San Francisco, CA
1/12/2012
Emilia's approaches perfection. Keith, the owner, does the shopping, prep, cooking, and cleaning. You'll know which one he is because he's the only guy in there. The place is utterly unpretentious: just solid, complexly flavored, heartfelt food. Everything is fresh and tasteful, and there's only seating for about eight people, so make yourself a reservation.
Tips:
- Only eat dine-in. The subtlety of flavors fades quickly as your pizza cools. I really shouldn't be telling you this and reducing my own chances of getting a seat.
- Call as early as possible (4:30) to reserve your pizza. Know what you want, of course.
- Sausage and pepper is a great combo. Soppresatta and mushrooms can become a bit too salty.
- One pizza feeds two hungry people
- The price starts at $18 for a cheese pizza (a.k.a. margherita), and goes up from there as you add toppings.
- Check the Twitter account (it's embedded on the website) for random closed days. It's only one guy, and he has to have a life outside of pizza sometimes. -
Review from Sara A.
Berkeley, CA
10/15/2011
To say this is NY style pizza is not accurate. NY style pizza sits around all day, the ingredients are old and varied to mixed results, salty, and tastes like cardboard. Ew. Elilia's is just great pizza with a homemade flair. I love the sauce, very fresh tomato. That goes for all the ingredients, super fresh. The basil was wonderful. The dough is just right, thin, charred, just as pizza should be. It's not blow-my head off awesome dough like Giuseppina's in Brooklyn NY, but it's still great.
The ordering is a pain, but I admire the guy's business. -
Review from janene m.
Oakland, CA
10/4/2011
I have been wanting to try Emilia's for quite a while now. I live a few blocks away and every time I pass by I am engulfed by the delicious pizza smell. Still, I never got the hype until last weekend. Apparently you have to call way ahead of time, multiple times to get through and order. It seems a bit long to wait BUT it is definitely worth it. We had three pizzas: one was sopressata, one was sausage and mushrooms and my favorite: pepperoni with spicy calabrian chilis. The crust was perfect and the slices were HUGE.
I will definitely make a note to order ahead of time again, I need more Calabrian chilis. -
Review from Valerie F.
Emeryville, CA
7/7/2011
"NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!!!"...
In my estimation, eating real NY pizza is like taking a blissful bite of heaven. I was super bummed when I came to CA (yesh, I'm an east coaster) because none of the pizza I encountered that claimed to be NY-style actually was. One place serving "NY style pizza" was actually serving crap on a cracker that tasted like bottom-rung freezer pizza. I was simultaneously pissed that I had paid an exorbitant fee for such gross stuff, but also insulted that this is what some Californians thought NY pizza was like.
At any rate, I was not sure about Emilia's at first. You have to do some planning to get a pizza from them at a reasonable time and there are pretty particular guidelines for ordering and eating-in on their website. I was worried that it was going to be some sort of shih-shih hipster haven, and almost didn't go. If you don't put in your order pretty early, you may have to wait an hour and a half or more (which is what I did); fortunately, I had some errands to run before dinner, so I made the order.
...
Emilia's is hands down *THE BEST* pizza I have ever had. The planning is worth it.
The east coast probably won't take me back now. Well, maybe just NY; sorry NY. Emilia's had FRESH, simple, tasty ingredients, and the crust was to die for. Chewy crisp, tasty and thin. Plus, it was less greasy than my beloved NY pies, and somehow ended up tasting better. Amazing. I almost phoned up dude that worked there to gush about how much I loved his pizza. Then I thought that that might be weird. Also, a Yelp review is probably more helpful to him than having some weird woman yelling in his ear about how delicious his pizza was; I'm sure he has better things to do. Also, he was really chill. Not an icky hipster haven at all. Just a dude. Making some really awesome pizza.
Go there. Eat pizza. Feel all warm and fuzzy and happy afterwards. This is some really friggin' good stuff. Serious.
*Note* If you prefer Chicago-style, deep-dish, or a long list of shih-shih pizza ingredients (like Arugula, feta, balsamic, etc.), please don't go to Emilia's and then review it and say it's not what you wanted. That's like asking for peanut butter when you know your friend only has jelly sammiches: rude. Go somewhere else that has those things! They are delicious and hit the spot for some on certain days, but that's not what Emilia's does, and it's totally not necessary because their pies are AMAZING.
Happy nom-noms! -
Review from Kenny L.
Manhattan, NY
6/22/2011
Wait a minute...I just saw Domino's with 7 reviews and a 4 star rating...I'm confused.
Anyway, I don't care what kind of pizza you like, even if you don't like pizza you will be amazed with this spot. I was skeptical at first with all these hoops you have to potentially jump through + I hate taking food to go, I want it fresh out of the oven...but now after having their pizza, they could make me wait in line for hours and I'd do it. Like I said before, pizza is my thing...pizza and korean food...i'll try any kind any where.
Listen, saying this pizza is amazing is like someone saying In n out is amazing...in the end it's just a burger and this is just a pizza...we get it. With that said, if you're looking for the best, this is it. It is ON PAR with Grimaldi's in NY...that's right...I said it. So fresh, crust so good, cheese and sauce so tasty, portion is good too...take it home, put a slice in the oven (like they do in NY or most pizza by the slice joints that rock) and make love to the god damn thing. It doesn't get any better than this. Unless I combined it with the Cheeseboard crust and was eating it outside of a club in NY at 3am, then I guess it'd really be perfect, but either way...5 stars, especially if Dominoes is a 4 star. -
Review from Katarina M.
Berkeley, CA
9/1/2011
This is the reason I have never felt the need to enter Blondie's or Fat Slice or Xtreme Pizza (or whatever). Had the soprasetta with onions with my mom. We're both very small, and we ... finished all of it. The joyousness in our mouths outweighed the pain of stretching in our stomachs.
Such thin, chewy crust... its freshness must contribute significantly to why it's so damn good. -
Review from Rani R.
Berkeley, CA
1/27/2012
Listen up, and listen closely, because I may never say this s*** AGAIN:
Your sauce needs to have onions, always. And it needs to have GARLIC. Without these two, you are NOT making a pizza sauce; it doesn't smell like pizza. When you walk by a pizza parlor and you immediately stop in your tracks and sniff and drool spontaneously, it's because the pizza has both onions and garlic in its sauce; otherwise, this reaction from the public will never occur.
(I'm from an Italian family and lived in Argentina for a long time, I know this s***!)
So, having said this:
The sauce in this place is standard for U.S. pizzas.
The mozzarella isn't very fresh; fresh mozzarella is an oily, gummy substance that when you pull away a slice, you have three or four or five strings of cheese still sticking to the whole pizza and not breaking, even if you stretch the pizza for five feet.
The mozzarella in this spot obviously didn't do that, and there was another type of cheese stuck in the pizza as well, like a patch of bright white, that just disturbed me eating it. (Pizzas should be simple when you order them simple; only mozzarella.)
The crust was okay. Floury, which is good. A bit large and charred on the edge, but I don't mind that much.
If you want a better cheese pizza, I'd recommend a tiny spot called "Lanesplitter" in Oakland. It's right next to Caña Cuban restaurant. The cheese is a bit more gummy than Emilia's, and thus a little closer to what it should be. -
Review from Joe O.
San Francisco, CA
8/18/2011
Hands down the best pizza I've ever had...I can't imagine what other pizzas will be like.
We had the margherita and sopressata and onion. We also ordered a Calabrian pepper and onion and a friend bought a tin of anchovies and he topped our last pizza before baking it.
The crust is perfectly chewy and soft. The sauce, cheeses and topping were great tasting and I was already kinda full when we had the pizzas there at the restaurant.
I will definitely go back and bring some friends to show them how pizza should taste! -
Review from Melissa B.
Oakland, CA
2/13/2011 1 Check-in Here
This is good pizza. With the announcement that Round Table is filing for bankruptcy, I got to thinking about good pizza in East Bay.
My friend sent me here to get a pie he had arranged to be picked up well in advance. I don't know how often I eat pizza to go these days, it's not really my choice food, but I will make arrangements such as my friend did to get Emilia's occasionally.
My whole car smelled like a delicious, cured meat crusty goodness rolling delivery of tomato sauce on top car. So good.
The premise of the event I brought the Pizza to was a 'taste-off' of many East Bay pizzerias, from Little Star to Zachary's to Cheeseboard. While less plentiful in number of pies due to the kooky nature of the hand-crafted-one-at-a-time operation, we only had one. But, based on a blind taste taste- i.e, which pizza was the *first* to disappear- Emilia's came out the winner. -
Review from kimberly v.
Berkeley, CA
2/16/2011
A damn good pizza, and one of the closet to the pizza I've had in Italy that I've tasted. It's hard to wean Americans off tons of cheese and/or sauce, but very little of either is definitely more authentically Italian. It's nice that the trend has been away from flabby California pizza like you find on Telegraph for some time, toward more Italian/East Coast choices like Gioia and this one. Light, tending toward crisp, with excellent tomatoes and a subtle but memorable flavor.
The call-in thing is definitely limiting, but heck, folks, it's just one guy, makin pies. This is Berkeley, the do-it-my-way capital of the world, so suck it up, follow the program, and get a terrific simple meal. -
Review from E C.
Berkeley, CA
3/18/2012
In a perfect world, there would be good delivery pizza in Berkeley. And in a perfect world, that pizza would be from Emilia's and I wouldn't have to call hours ahead of time to get it. But it's not a perfect world. In this world we live in, Emilia's is as close to perfect as you can get.
Berkeley is full of amazing pizza options (and terrible ones). There are two really good pizza restaurants with excellent business models here in Berkeley. There's the Cheese Board with their coop model. A groups of people owning the place they all work. And on the other side of the same spectrum, there's one guy, one phone, a small counter and a pizza oven on the other side of town at Emilia's. Both are awesome business models and both make extraordinary pizza.
Since I live on the south side of town, I go to Emilia's often.
Read his simple instructions on his website before you you call for the first time.
No individual slices here. This is plan ahead take-away. -
Review from David C.
Emeryville, CA
Now I absolutely love pizza, but I have a harsh grading system for pizza because it has to absolutely love it to give it 5 stars.
The pizza was pretty good, but it was so hyped up for me I just wasn't blown away. That being said because it is pizza it automatically gets at least three stars for me. I'm a big fan of quantity and pan pizzas so Emilia's was a little off my taste. The restaurant, itself, even knows it will get busy and suggests phoning in ahead of time otherwise you probably won't get a pizza for a couple hours so this place is definitely popular.
If you haven't tried Emilia's I definitely think you should go and try it out for yourself. It is quite impressive to see one man working the entire store. The vibe that the man and his restaurant and simply what he does is quite impressive so go and support the man.
Pretty good pizza. If stars were pizza slices, I'd give it 7 out of 8 slices.
the Great,
GumZ -
Review from Master C.
Oakland, CA
7/25/2011
Quite good. Excellent in fact. Might be the best pizza I've had in the east bay.
If it wasn't for the quirky ordering system, I would be a regular, but pizza tends to be and "on a whim" fancy for me, so I need a place that can accommodate my random pizza cravings. -
Review from Christine B.
Berkeley, CA
1/28/2011 1 photo
My friend told me about this place and I saw that it was #1 on a Yelp list so I finally decided to make the drive over and get a pie. I didn't realize how big a deal this place is until I went on the site to check out the address. They recommend calling at 4 p.m. but I was looking at the menu, trying to decide what toppings I wanted so I called at 4:17. I asked for a table but the next available table was 7:30...(whaaatttt?) To get my food faster I ordered the original (margherita) for pick-up (earliest available was 5:15 - next available time was 6:30).
When I went to pick it up I realized why the place is so exclusive. The shop is TINY - there are only 2 tables inside and one guy working the entire thing. I paid for my pizza (the owner's very nice), got into my friend's car, popped open the box and took my first bite of an AWESOME pizza. The bread is soooooo good (perfectly crispy and thin) and the cheese/sauce/bread ratio is perfect. PERFECT. -
Review from Nina Y.
1/16/2011 1 photo
Day 1 of MWLAWMBF:
After reading my friend Ali A.'s review of Emilia's I had to try the place. He really made it sound so much more...of a fairytale than it really was.
The pizza itself (we got a whole pizza with pepperoni and peppers) was delicious. It was actually really nice to sit in the restaurant and eat our pizza while watching the guy make the pizzas. There were not too many people that day that the guy had to turn away a girl who walked in and wanted a pizza.
We called in around 4:15 and told to come by at around 5:30 to get our pizzas. We were the only ones sitting there until we left at around 6:00. Then again, we decided to drop by some of the busiest restaurants during UC Berkeley's winter break - not as many college students.
Pretty good pizza, for a unique and nice restaurant. I would want to go back, but not necessarily sit in, and just take some to go. Definitely something to experience in Berkeley!Listed in: MWLAWMBF - My Week Long…
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Review from Mike A.
Berkeley, CA
7/3/2011 3 Check-ins Here
Freshest Pizza I've ever indulged!
Yes all the Awesome reviews are true.
On friday i Yelped Pizza around my house and needless to say Emilias is a 3min walk from my pad. I called in a pie and a kind voice answered and gave me an estimated wait time of 1hr and 45mins. I said sure why not..Good things are always worth waiting for, and it was.
We ordered a Pie with Red Onions, Pepperoni, Sausage and Mushrooms.
The Dough: Best Dough ever! Not salty, not too thin, perfectly baked and almost felt as if it had slight traces of melt cheese inside. Perfect!
The Sauce: The Sauce is delish and is sautéed with Basil.(i presumed from its awesomeness)
The Cheese and Topping are of real good quality.
What really sold me was the freshness of the Food. Seriously, i have never tasted a more fresher, healthier tasting pizza w/o the loss of Yumminess.
I'll definitely be going back to Emilias for a second round..
( 5 fives stars rating only after my second visit ) -
Review from Juan R.
Oakland, CA
6/20/2011
Emilia's is one of those rare places where you eat and it is so good that you almost want to keep it a secret and not review it on Yelp. They serve some of the most thoughtfully prepared, delicious food that I have ever had in the Bay Area. Notice that I didn't say pizza, but rather, food. That is because I would choose their pizza over almost anything that I have ever eaten, including top restaurants in the City.
We always order at least a half of the Neopolitan, and then we mix up the toppings on the other side. We've had a combination of the sausage, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and sopprasetta in one form or another.
The crust is fantastic. It is thin, but they never burn the edges, but instead create a perfect crunch after munching through the delicious interior.
All of the toppings are delicious, and liberally applied, although they do not cause the dreaded soggy pie.
Honestly, anyone who rates Emilia's with less than 4 stars must own another pizza shop who's business is hurting, because their food is fantastic. -
Review from Jack C.
Quality New York style pizza. Best pizza in the east bay? No, but every pizza has it's own style especially when talking about the heavy hitters of Cheeseboard, Zachary's, and Little Star. It's nice to find another joint that serves New York style to reasonably compare to another stand out local pizza joint, Rotten City Pizza.
All of Emilia's pizzas come standard with tomato sauce, cheeses, and basil. My friends and I added sausage, mushroom, pepperoni, red onions, and roasted peppers. The tomato sauce base was good and overall taste with the toppings harmonious. The crust was excellently done with a crunchy/chewy texture. My friend was annoyed that the pizza was kind of thin, but that is why you FOLD IT just like the New Yorkers. World of difference.
The website recommends calling ahead to order starting at 4 pm. I called in on a saturday at around 4:25 and the next takeout time was 7:55! With that said I would advise to call as early as possible.
Rotten City pizza has much more variety, but the crust at Emilia's is superior. Can't go wrong with either. Who cares what is the best pizza in the east bay. The fact you can list some top contenders means that life is great.
Last note: the place is tiny, I wouldn't want to dine in.
