Dante’s Pizza

Finally made the long journey over the bridge to the North Shore’s hippest foodie hub, Fortieth and Hurstmere for dinner last night, where we dined at Dante’s Pizzeria. Given that Dante’s has won the coveted best Napoletana Pizza award by the VPN (Verace Pizza Napoletana authorities — yes there is a pizza council which assesses authenticity!) in 2015, our expectations were sky high. In this instance, I’m happy to report, they were absolutely met. We had the Margherita and the Carne (think meat lovers) and both were absolutely excellent. The Margherita in particular deserves a shout out, the mozzarella on top was the stuff that dreams are made of. Featured above, was the dessert we had, the Torta Della Nonna –a shortcrust pie with a thick lemon infused Italian custard/​cake filling, with a side of lemon sorbet. We absolutely loved the Torta, however the sorbet was a bit thick for our taste. All in all Dante’s was fabulous, highly recommend

Being the only Auckland pizzeria to have the official nod from the VPN (pretty much the authority on pizza from the home of pizza, Naples), I was chuffed when I heard Dantes was opening on the right side of the bridge in Takapuna’s snazzy new lane, Fortieth & Hurstmere.
Since then, I’ve been a couple of times and it’s every bit as good as their Ponsonby location. Super fresh, simple toppings on elastic, preservative-​free thin crusts cooked in a suuuuuuuper hot wood-​fired oven. As far as pizzas go, they are relatively expensive but you pay for the quality and the skill with which they are made.
I normally just stick to the pizza w prosciutto but the other day I branched out and tried their pizzette lunch special ($ 13), which I think is best described as a pizza burrito — a mini woodfired pizza, topped with lettuce & tomato and wrapped. It was pretty delicious although I’m not sold on the addition of lettuce. It wilted with the heat of the pizza/​burrito and didn’t really add anything to the flavour.
I still haven’t eaten in at the Takapuna store although they do have more seating then their Ponsonby store and also, table service.

Starter was great, nice and fresh and delivered quickly. Pizza arrives soon after and was of average quality for the price. My wife questioned the price of the wine and the manger agreed to discount by $ 3 per glass as he imports himself. Went to pay and no discount as we hadn’t drunk the whole bottle. When questioned was told the discount was if we had 5 glasses or the whole bottle, not just 3 glasses, and became very rude!!! Not sure how that works with his liquor license, the more you drink the cheaper it gets!
Would get more stars (1 ½) if the attitude was better.
There are better places in Takapuna to get fresh pizza at similar or better pricing where the staff are friendly and attentive and do what they say they will do.

So pleased we have our own Dante’s Pizza on the Shore. I immediately headed there for an easy late night dinner option. Might be raining and cold, but outdoor heaters and cosy blankets fix that. Delicious wood fired pizza, good quality toppings and no dishes!