The Pizzeria At Terry’s Finer Foods

The atmosphere is charming and the menu has a great variety. Food and drinks taste great! Space is limited that would be the only negative.

Great pizza and great cocktails! The restaurant is small so you may have to wait, but worth it. Fun atmosphere.

Cocktails were excellent — bartender was knowledgable and recommended some great drinks (Cucumber Spritzer and Almost Maine). The cheese dip app wasn’t cheese dip as we Arkansans know it. It’s a block of Camembert cheese melted in the oven and served with bread… thing is, Camembert is kinda gross. It left a weird, chemically aftertaste? Since this is my first experience with Camembert, I’ll blame it on my unrefined palate. ANYWAY, pizza was awesome — we had the Ford and the Shrimp (Diablo?) special. Both were great. Service was great. No complaints there.
The only reason I deducted a star is because the strawberry shortcake, which looked beautiful, was kinda gross. The biscuit was hard on the outside and crumbly/​stale. It doesn’t help that the biscuits were sitting out, stacked, uncovered, on the bar, right where we were sitting AND the chef (?) assembled it right in front of us using his bare (ungloved) hands. I’m sure many kitchen employees don’t wear gloves when preparing food, but I don’t wanna see that sht!!! He even touched the STRAWBERRY GOOP with his hands to make it look pretty. Gross.
I’m sure I’ll be back, cause the pizza rocked, but I’ll definitely request a seat away from the bar, thankyouverymuch. xoxo

Told the pizza would be ready in 20 minutes. Took them well over an hour. I understand that it is not traditional American pizza but we got three large pizzas that were very small, the order was not correct, and cost was over $ 50. Pizza did not taste awful but ZaZas is better by far

Our rather rambunctious group of eight had a great experience last night! The pizza selection is unique (but not overly done for the sake of snoot) and the food was delicious. The atmosphere is cozy, but very well designed. Hip without trying. It’s also remarkably approachable for being affiliated with such a high end market in the Heights.

What it isn’t: In order to manage your expectations (isn’t that why you’re reading this review?), let me be very, very clear… This is NOT American style pizza, nor is it attempting to compete with that crap. This is a specialty, handcrafted, Neapolitan-​style pizza establishment. You will not find Miller Lite or other common comfort menu items here whatsoever. Also, this establishment is focused on European portion sizing. Again, this establishment is not for people with the expectation of value meal, super-​sized, overloaded portions. This is an authentic gourmet dining experience akin to Napoli. If you don’t have any idea what that means, this may not be for you. To be certain, this restaurant is not for everyone. It isn’t meant to be. To repeat, it isn’t a concept tailored to suit everyone’s taste. If you want a slice and a Miller Lite, please do not come here. You will be disappointed. You can get a crappy slice and a random beer absolutely anywhere.
What it is: Local, culinary crafted, classy, trendy, and upcycled historic goodness! This is a very distinct local Heights establishment with authentic Neapolitan-​style pizza baked in a Mario Cunto wood fired oven from Italy. Every time I eat here, I enjoy the food, the comfortable booths, soft benches at the full service craft beer bar, cool and modern house cocktails, home made desserts (that caramelized ala mode apple pie was amazing), exceptional and nuanced service staff, and the attention to details. Seasonal pop-​up specials occur on pizzas and baked calzones, but I have yet to try those. Yes, another wood fired pizza joint is down the street, but to be clear: That place has the charm of a McDonalds and it’s so bright inside you need sunglasses. Sure, it is somewhat less expensive and they have a few craft beers there, but don’t forget your ear plugs because it gets crowded and loud in there. No thanks, Blah Blah’s. I’d rather spend a little more and relax into a crust that is perfect every time because the oven is the right high temperature, not just the right shape.
The professional, polite, and articulate staff can answer any question about the sourcing of ingredients, the craft beers and their tasting notes, and even the history and origin of their hotter than anyone else’s oven. My bartender had a tasteful outline tattoo of a martini glass on his arm. I am willing to wager he knows plenty about how a real cocktail is mixed. That and I heard him talking to an associate in detail about bitters.
My only complaint is that as the weather continues to get colder, please consider installing a positive pressure seal over the front door. The cold air drafts directly in (due to that incredibly hot oven) and pulls a ton of cold air straight at the bar. My friend and I almost had to leave it was so cold. I bet the ambient temperature at patron’s seats drops at least 10 degrees instantly each time the door opens due to the oven draw drafts and airflow. Maybe we should just dress warmer, eh?

We placed an order for pick up and were told 20−25min. When we arrived in 15 min the pizza was already ready which would have been great, but it was left on the counter not under a warmer so it was cold. Flavors were good but would have been better warm.

Great service! Great cocktails and good pizza. I think the crust needs a little more ‘work’ but good nonetheless. Cute spot for me just passing through little rock. I’d come back if I’m in town again.

Judge me all you want, but I don’t really like pizza. I just really don’t. I fail to comprehend our national fascination with it on all levels.
However…
This is the best pizza I’ve ever had. And I’ve had pizza on several continents. The Spinorizo is OK — with the chorizo actually being the weak point on it. But that tuna alfredo pizza, tho.
Oh.
My.
God.
My friend and I came in last week to eat pizza and dessert. We finished the tuna alfredo pizza in like five minutes and moved on to dessert.
Except we passed on dessert and finished off another tuna alfredo pizza. It was that good. It took a lot to get us to save a piece to take home so her husband could try it.
When I am on death row for killing someone who tries to feed me delivery pizza, that tuna alfredo pizza will be my last meal. Hand-​to-​god swear it.

The Pizzeria DOES NOT accept phone orders even though they do provide «to go» orders. i have eaten here and enjoyed the pizza but the salads are not very good. as someone who lives nearby, ZaZa is a better option — faster, more accommodating, better hours and friendlier staff. not accepting phone orders to go for a pizzeria is completely silly.

Here’s the situation. You are in Little Rock and need some designer pizza, and you have to choose between Piro and this place (Pizzeria Santa Lucia). Please, for the love of all things fine, choose to come here. Piro, despite its hype, makes a tough greasy pizza and does not understand how to balance flavor. ZaZa also does not quite nail good crust. Here, I had the best pizza since my visit to Napoli years ago. The crust stands on its own and has that ethereal flavor and texture that defines pizza in Italy. The toppings on the Prosciutto Arugula are balanced, fresh, and flavorful. Yes, you will pay for the quality, but if you are looking for quality over quantity, please do yourself a favor and eat at this pizzeria.

We finally had the chance to eat here and what a delight. They are making a great effort to serve Arkansas brews and local ingredients on the pizza. We had a goat cheese with fresh mozzarella and… Wait for it… Smoked salmon, arugula and two sunny side up eggs topped with the best shaved Parmesan I’ve ever had. $ 15 for 10 inch wood fired pizza!!! Next we had the pops supreme with local Italian sausage pepperoni mushrooms and onions. $ 16 Honestly it was delicious but After the smoked salmon seemed like a plain Jane !! They have a prosciutto and arugula as a standard and say that next time get that and Ask for the eggs. Next up décor small clean swanky just loved it and finally the real highlight was our server Matt who almost had me believe he owned the place. He was very knowledgeable on all the local beer, very proud of the flavors of pizza and almost the best waiter we have ever had. I hope he stays and I hope they know how great he is. We will be back even though its a 60 mile drive.

So glad I discovered this place! I’ve tried most of the pizza LR has to offer and I found this to be the clear front runner. Much better than Zaza’s or Iriana’s in my opinion.
The diatribe above mine indicates his experience abroad, my experience is Chicago and NYC. I would be remiss if I did not point out pizza is American faire, not innately Italian as most would have you believe.
Pizza was well cooked, very thin crust and wonderful.

SHORT VERSION: just go to ZaZa’s down the street for a better & bigger pizza at a lower price.
LONG VERSION:
I really hate to only give this place 3 stars… I love the food truck mania that has swept through little rock over the past couple of years, and i want to do everything i can to support it. Pizzeria Santa Lucia is one of a few food trucks gone brick & mortar. Hot Dog Mike’s failed miserably, and I’m not sure that Santa Lucia can stand up to the competition.
I’ll break this down by category, but first I’ll qualify my brick oven pizza chops. I lived for a year in northern Italy. My apartment was directly above a pizzeria. I ate about a zillion legit brick oven pizzas during that time. I have also spent a lot of other time going back and forth to Italy and traveling around all the different regions (and of course eating pizza all over the place). I even had the opportunity to cook pizzas after hours at the pizzeria below me since I became friends with the owner. In short, I know what I’m talking about when it comes to thin crust Italian style wood-​fired brick oven pizza. Each wood-​brick oven is unique and takes a true artist to master it. The pizzeria I lived above had the same guy making pizzas for the last 25 years.
LOCATION: not bad. one of the few places in the heights with adequate parking. between the liquor store and terry’s finer foods. Dining area is pretty small and tables are very close together. Couple of tvs around the bar.
SERVICE: service was fine. They just recently opened so the wait time for our food was over an hour after we ordered, but drinks were kept full, etc. No complaints here.
ALCOHOL: looks like they have a full bar, but I didn’t check. Good wine & beer list.
FOOD: there were 4 of us and we all tried each other’s pizzas. We had a margherita, Quattro staggione, prosciutto & arugula w/​egg, and a chorizo. Here’s the breakdown:
Margherita: way too salty, crust was burned more than it should have been. We actually sent this pizza back it was so bad. Inedible. The crust should be crisp, not burned. It is ok to have a slight amount of «caramelization» around the edges. On this pizza, the edges were black and the underside was black. It gave the entire pizza a terrible burned/​salty taste. The tomatoes were huge and tasted funky.
Quattro Staggione: this one was barely edible, but at least a little less burned than the margherita. Again, way too salty. We didn’t eat most of it. We asked for a side of marinara to try and make it better. They brought us an ice cold side of marinara. We asked them to make it warm but they said they did not have a microwave to heat it up. Seems like an easy fix.
Prosciutto & Arugula w/​egg: this one was cooked ok, but was still way too salty. At least with this pizza, the richness of the egg and the bitterness of the arugula kind of canceled out the extreme salt flavor built into the crust.
Chorizo: I love this idea for a pizza, and they pulled it off ok. Still very salty, but interesting flavor combinations.
OVERALL: We were so unhappy with our meal at Santa Lucia, we actually went to ZaZa’s directly from Santa Lucia and got other pizzas and salads. While the guys at Santa Lucia surely are well-​intentioned, they have not mastered their oven yet. The cooks were busy watching football on TV while attempting to monitor their pizzas. It did not go well. They also need to cut WAY down on the salt. All of us left with the taste of salt on our lips. The pizzas are much smaller than at ZaZa’s, which is like 2 blocks away. Also, Santa Lucia is more expensive than ZaZa’s. In addition, at ZaZa’s, you can get some fantastic salads. Santa Lucia offers a couple of tiny salads at unreasonable prices for what you get. Our party only ordered one salad, but we were reminded how crappy and overpriced it was as soon as we got to ZaZa’s and ordered a legit salad.
SUMMARY: There really isn’t any reason to go to Santa Lucia when ZaZa’s is 2 blocks away, has better tasting pizza, bigger quantity pizza, better ingredients, fantastic salads, gelato, and is less expensive than Santa Lucia. I love the idea of competing wood-​brick oven pizza places in LR, but sadly Santa Lucia loses in every category.

One of the most amazing Neapolitan pizza that I have eaten. I’ve tried this place twice, tasting the Margherita pizza and the Prosciutto pizza. Both pizzas were delicious and had one of the best flavor combination in a bite of pizza. Though the cheese on one of my pizza was unevenly spread on my last visit, this could be easily fixed in my opinion. I wouldn’t rate this a five star yet due to the inconsistency on my second visit but it definitely is up there for my non-​traditional pizza choices. Place is a little pricey (around $ 10-​$ 12 a pizza, which is relatively small compared to the size of ZaZa’s pizza); but as long their pizza remains delicious, I’ll treat myself to one of their pizza’s every once in a while.