Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana

OMG. Best pizza, EVER! Only thing I find somewhat annoying is the waiting time to be seated. It’s a popular spot so It’s either a hit or miss depending on the day of week but the pizza is great so I get it.

Best. Pizza. Ever. This location is just as good as all the rest. Pepe fan for life!

Usually Pepe’s would get6 stars. Their original tomato pie can’t be beat (it has no mozzarella but beats it all).
But tonight the large pizza was smaller than usual and it just didn’t have the same taste. Something was off. I asked the waitress but she said it was normal size. The service was a bit under par with a less than attentive waitress which may have been the issue.
Fortunately this is the only disappointing experience I have had here.

THIS is Pizza! I know there are many variations elsewhere, and I’m sure that a pizza with goat cheese and kale is fine for some, but this is the original. Pizza has been my favorite food for over 50 yrs, and in my opinion, there is none better.

Are you kidding me? If I could give this place 1000 stars it might be less. Its voted Best Pizza in America, and they know what they are talking about. Go here and order the meat lovers, you will love it.

I was disappointed that my travels were not going to take me through New Haven, but a little further south on 95. Then — like an oasis in the desert — a billboard popped up that said there was a glorious Frank Pepe in Fairfield. What sorcery is this???
Although not as good as the original, they try pretty hard to make it look and feel authentic and the wait was not as bad either.
Being able to enjoy a white clam pizza when you thought your trip to New England when you thought you were going to need to deny your taste buds should be worth 20 stars. Conveniently located just minutes of 95.

Went in for 11:30, no wait and were acknowledged quickly. The waitress was friendly and promptly took our order. We ordered the spinach, mushroom and gorgonzola pizza with sausage. Was delicious. The crust was thin and the sausage was savour! Also tried the signature soda in root beer flavour. Overall an enjoyable experience!

The perfect pie!!!
A few years ago, I read an article about the ten best pizzerias in America according to respectable food critics. I expected a better representation from New York City, but I surmised the pundits were trying to spread the wealth. After all, many parts of the country have amazing pizza joints.
Come to find out the mecca of the Italian pie is not Manhattan! It’s about 60 miles northeast in southwest Connecticut, featuring two of the top ten pizzerias and countless other contenders! And after eating my way across that region, I have seen the light!
And the crowning star of this area is Frank Pepe’s. I made it to all ten restaurants on the list, carefully assessing each and every pizza. The only establishment I had to try again (just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming) was Frank Pepe’s!!! This is truly the best pizza in America!!!
The sauce is the best I’ve tasted, perfectly flavorful, slightly sweet, obviously made in house every single day. I didn’t think pizza sauce could taste like that. I swear the salami was cured on sight and the mozzarella was handmade right there in the kitchen. The ONLY way to make a better pizza than anyone else in the country is to make every aspect of it fresh and on location. It truly is perfection!!!
Both times I visited, there was an hour wait. Usually impatient, I didn’t mind the wait in the slightest once I savored this culinary masterpiece.

Wow– maybe because they are expanding so fast– they are losing their touch with making a solid pie! Seriously — hit or miss. Stay away from shrimp pizza unless you like about 5 med shrimp cut into three pieces each to make it look like there is some shrimp. Not at all a good experience. Disappointing

Love, love, LOVE their pizza. Thin crust all the way. Although it does seem that the large pizzas are getting smaller. And the price for a large is almost 18.00. It’s getting to be a little much.

All I have to say is I am so grateful to live in one of the best areas for pizza in the country. I work in NYC, so I know a good pie and pepes is a classic. At least once a week my friends and I order a large to go and eat it in the car. Their white clam pie is a must try classic. But for me, it’s all about the simple cheese pizza. Crispy airy crust with that Brooklyn taste in the dough, fresh simple tomato sauce done right, they used sliced mozzarella to get the perfect ratio of grease and gooey cheese and a touch of Parmesan. If it is summer time, get the fresh tomatoe pie no excuses. The way the cut the slices adds charm! My favorite pizza to grab with a large group of friends or just a dinner out with family.

I really like the pizza here, but enough is enough. You have to be able to give the customer what they want and this place doesn’t do it. We have ordered a large meat lover’s and a medium white pizza with Chicken, Gorgonzola and Spinach 4 times. The second pizza is very similar to one of their signature pizzas except we don’t want their mushrooms (which are from a can not fresh). And all 4 times we have ordered this we have been very clear «we do not want to see any mushrooms anywhere near either pizza. And all 4 times they have put mushrooms on the chicken pizza (not on the meatlover’s though). They have given us a complimentary pizza a couple times which is fine by me, but we want what we ordered not add ons that we specifically ask them not to put on. I am not sure if it’s due to the guy taking the order screws it up or if its the cook who just goes into auto pilot, but something needs to change and we have told them that on multiple times. When they screw up 1 pizza its one thing, but the last time they roasted the meatlovers to a crisp so screwing up both pizzas is just not cool and at some point I just can’t justify going back there.

Excellent Pizza!!! LARGE SAUSAGE AND GARLIC PLEASE WITH EXTRA OLIVE OIL.
Expect a decent wait and average service. Mostly younger wait staff but its a pizza joint What do you expect. Bundle up in the cold months cause you’ll most likely start your wait outside as their isnt any room to wait indoors.
My only complaint is the beer selection. You need to get some more draft beers guys. Cmon. pizza and beer… isnt rocket science.

GOD BLESS THIS PIZZERIA !!! I’ve had many many high end pizzas all over the world but this one was the best I’ve ever had !!! Billion $ crust !!! Such a perfection!!! Flavors, cheese, sauce, toppings was absolutely perfectly balanced!!! Real perfection!!! 1 hr 20 min from me and I will drive up as much as possible and I absolutely must bring my family here !!! Everyone should and must !!!

A low four, high 3 star review. Since I feel about a 3.7, I rounded up to 4.
It’s unfortunate when something is so good it gets caught in a hype storm.
Little humble New Haven’s own Pepe’s pizza is now a multi-​location place that is world famous. «New Haven Style» pizza include Modern (which is also great) but is the theme song for every review/​newspaper/​etc talking about Frank Pepe’s pizza.
Is it worth all the hype? It depends on what day you get it, unfortunately. I find Pepe’s inconsistent.
Inconsistent in every possible way. From how much the sauce to cheese (and/​or other items) ratio is, to cook time, to service quality, to how the pizza is sliced. About the slicing, Pepe’s has trained my mind that a very unique cutting pattern means you’re at Pepe’s — but when they cut it like everywhere else, it hurts my brain.
When everything is as I remember the first couple times I had Pepe’s in New Haven so many years ago — all is right with the world, it’s great. BUT, unfortunately, with a benchmark set this high, the only place to go is down.
With so many locations, different employees and levels of how busy they are ALL taking their toll on consistency, sometimes it’s just not very good and you chalk it up to a bad day.
Another thing I dislike (but this is on me) is places, like Pepe’s with all hard surfaces that bounce sound around (Colony Grill is brutal for this too) with a bunch of tables with young, sugar filled children screaming and crying it can get dizzyingly loud in there. And I get it, pizza rules, people should totally be able to take their kids of out for pizza — this is a design issue for me, not a pizza loving family moment thing.
Location is an interesting choice for their main parking area is so small and tight. You serve Pepe’s pizza, you’re going to be REALLY busy, give people a reasonable place to park and stand in line.
Part of the Pepe’s experience for me is the Foxon Park sodas. They are unique tasting and enjoyable compared to the super highly corporate brands our taste buds were trained on.
So if you catch a good day at Pepe’s, you’ll have a great «New Haven style» pizza that you’ll remember. Otherwise, maybe next time.

Stopped by on my way home to NY. I wanted to sit down at table but the waiting system for seating was very odd so I ordered to go. There’s no host just a line, and as tables free up someone comes to get you. Sounds easy but you’re crammed in a small room not knowing what order the people are in at the same time traffic of people who ordered take out are plowing through due to there only being one entrance. Now to the pizza…
I ordered ½ pep ½ fresh tomato. There wasn’t much pepperoni and most of it was charred but tasted good. The other half however was AMAZING!!! The tomatoes were juicy and the garlic made it burst with flavor. The crust was thin and not soiled from tomatoes so it retained its crispness.
Being a New Yorker I’ve got to say I was impressed with the flavor but would’ve preferred to see more and thinner pepperoni
on my pie. Will definitely go back for the fresh tomato pie though.

I love pizza and since I was in CT, I decided to look up some pizza places only to find out that New Haven is well known for their pizza! Who would have ever thought? I narrowed down my choices to Frank Pepe and decided to check out the Fairfield location versus the original since that was a closer drive for me.
We were there on a Sunday afternoon around 4pm so it wasn’t too packed. There was no wait and no long lines. They said we could choose any table so we decided on a booth. We ordered the Foxon Park White Birch Beer to try. This was very interesting — it tastes a bit like Winterfresh gum so if you like that, then definitely get the White Birch Beer to accompany your pizza.
We got a pie and did half clam and half tomato. I kept reading that the white clam pizza is to die for so I knew that was a must for me. The pizza didn’t take too long to come and it came on a big silver tray. Having grown up in NYC, I am used to NYC style pizza with the thick dough. Frank Pepe’s slices are nothing like that. The slices here are super thin crust and there isn’t much dough. You can easily knock down a few slices. I sure did!
The white clam was just okay for me. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I felt it didn’t have too much flavor. Maybe I was looking for a white sauce or something. They didn’t scrimp out on the clams so that was a plus! I did have a slice where the clams had some sand in it. I am not sure if I would get the white clam again since it was just okay for me.
For our other half, we got the seasonal summer special Fresh Tomatoes. I never really understand the point of getting a tomato pie to be honest since there is already tomato sauce, but I am glad I did! The fresh locally grown tomatoes were so juicy. I loved the idea of the tomatoes after my first bite. All of the flavors complimented each other really well and it was very flavorful. I highly recommend trying this if you are a tomato fan.
Overall, this place was good, but I don’t think I am a fan of thin crust pizza. I like something with a little more substance and something with a little more flavor. If I am ever in the area again, I’d definitely come back!

Good pizza but didn’t blow me away (like I expected based on the reviews). I’ve had better. Tried the white clam & also the white spinach, mushroom and Gorgonzola. The crust was actually a bit thicker than I expected/​preferred. It was good but really nothing extraordinary.
Overall a good experience though.
I did appreciate the amount of pizza for the money. You can get a small, medium or a large. I ordered a medium since I was pretty hungry — it was huge, definitely looked like a large. Ended up eating pizza for dinner that night. My friend’s small looked like what I expected the medium to be.
Service was good — our waitress was very nice.
When we got here (early afternoon on a Sunday) it was pretty dead but then people (mainly families with young kids) started piling in and it got loud. Still, it was rather calm as I heard the New Haven location tends to have a line.

Frank Pepe is the best pizza place in Fairfield County so far. I still don’t understand how in the world I lived here for over 7 years and never ever went here before… I missed out for sure!
The only thing I personally think is overrated is the white clam pizza… I rather go for the shrimp instead.
If you are in this area you have to try it for yourself before you move on, and drink with it some Foxon Park White Birch.
For locals don’t forget to go online and register so you will get a free small pizza for your birthday.

It really is the best pizza on the planet, though the layout of the Fairfield branch leaves something to be desired. The secret here is the scamotz, which is pretty much smoked mozzarella these days, but still gives the apizza an unmatched taste.
There’s debate over the clams here (both in my family and on Unilocal), as some people say Fairfield’s Pepe’s uses canned clams and not fresh shucked ones.