Pizzeria Pezzo

Truly a great pizzeria with a good choice of menu items. BEST Deep Dish anywhere. Had Giordano’s one Saturday and then Pizzeria Pezzo the next — hands down this was the best. Great bar with solid wine choices. Salads are also great — need to eat something while waiting for that deep dish to finish cooking! I’ve been here several times (10+) and have always left very satisfied. Wait to be seated can be long during peak times but that’s what happens when you get quality food and service.

The service was great and the food was fantastic as well. We ordered a deep dish pizza which took almost an hour. It was NOT worth the wait. I would stick with the hand tossed pizzas. My kids love pizza and neither would even eat the deep dish! The salads are enormous and would easily feed two people!

Service was amazing, food was amazing.
Pizza was great and very rich. Id go again. But could not go more than once a year.
I highly recommend the small plate peppers and sausage.

My family and friends have been raving about this place and I finally got to eat here! The rumors are true. The pizza and salad are out of this world! We had the fig thin crust pizza and the pepperoni deep dish and both were excellent! We were there on a Wednesday so the wine was half off too… sweet! Yum yum yum!

Well after a 15 – 20 minutes on the phone trying to place an order of pizza we finally got through to this place. Then after waiting another 50 minutes to finally pay for are Wrigley we kinda felt the pizza was a little lame. I’ve had deep dish in Chicago a few times and I’m not an expert, but if you going to charge almost thirty dollars you better be able to back it up with the real stuff.

This was a lucky find while we were up in the NE section of the twin cities up yonder in White Bear Lake. the place is cozy and inviting with a friendly staff.
We went with 4 people, and the place obviously is a local hit since we had to wait about an hour for a table which is totally ok because it was worth the wait.
Here is the scoop on the good stuff
1. Ceasars salad is pretty good. the greens are fresh and crisp. the dressing is nicely balanced. the cool thing were the croutons! You got these four 2×2 cubes of dried bread which made for a neat presentation. One thing to note is that you will want to cut them down some because you can’t fit those damn things in your mouth (I tried). The portion for the salad is large enough to easily feed four folks.
2. Artichoke dip: creamy, spicy with large chuncks of artichokes. If my wife was not present I would have licked the bowl… scalded tongue be damned.
3. the deep dish pizza is what you will want to order. I have no idea where they get their sausage, but is is wonderful, and I will come back to this place just for that.
The only dig I have on Pizzieria Pezzo is their beer. They do have a nice selection of local and nationally known craft beers, as well as you standard fare which we don’t need to mention. The problem with their beer is they serve it too cold. Seriously, you should not serve any beer around 34 degrees (my guess, but pretty close I bet). It stunts the flavour. Fix it Pizzeria Pezzo and you get 5 stars.
Seriously, get up there, it is worth the drive.

OK folks, if you’re a pizza lover, Pizzeria Pezzo is worth a 2 hour drive for dinner, I’m not kidding. The tomato sauce in the deep dish «Wrigley» literally explodes in your mouth, with a freshness that tastes like the tomatoes were just picked off the vine.
The pizza design is upside down (a wonderful thing), with the signature tomato sauce on top, followed by the meat and then cheese on the bottom, laying on top of the crust. The crust is amazing, with a crumbly corn flavored taste and texture that is well matched with the other ingredients. Don’t be upset about the wait, these pies take 45 min. to cook in the open wood ovens.
Another noteworthy mention is the Caesar salad. Fresh romaine lettuce is adorned with large shaved slices of fresh Parmesan cheese, coupled with home made croutons and traditional Caesar dressing.
You will leave this place thinking about when you can get another visit on your calendar.

The best pizza to find on the north east side of St Paul. They fill up very quickly and the waits can get a little on the long side. But it is worth every minute! The #14 (arugula and prosciutto) is one of the best I’ve ever had!
Yes, they have large salads… Very large. But know that ahead of time and be prepared. Also, the Chicago style takes some time to make.
I have a toddler, and Pezzo has been very good and making sure he’s well taken care of.

Fantastic meal. Mouth watering stuffed mushrooms, perfectly dressed Sicilian salad, excellent coal-​fired pizza. I am not a fan of deep dish, but rest of table was enthralled. Great beer selection and fantastic service.

We’ve only gone once and won’t be back. We make grilled pizza weekly, so we were surprised to eat it at a restaurant and have it be so burnt. Yuck.
They serve HUGE salads. Oddly huge. It fell all over the table and after it was taken away and our pizza was served, we had to ask to have the table cleaned up – the waitress just ignored the mess. She seemed annoyed with our questions about beer. I really don’t get the buzz about this place. There is better pizza in WBL.

Food is great! Service and Manager need work. Last night was our 8^th visit since they opened. Love the pizza — definitely a treat in WBL.
What’s new…
We learned that you can no longer call on the way and get your deep dish pizza started. That’s unfortunate as they take quite a bit of time. My discussion with the manager on the phone didn’t make total sense but that’s what the rules are. Bottom line they are concerned about having a table for you when your pizza is ready. Does that mean they don’t have a good handle on the kitchen yet — who knows?
We rushed down to the restaurant and were seated immediately after phone staff told us they were almost full in the dining room. Arriving 10 minutes after the call we found half the dining room was open for seating and that didn’t count the back room that was empty and closed to seating for good reason. We placed an order for two deep dish pizzas and our drinks came shortly after. The rest of our party arrived 10 minutes later, ordered drinks and a salad for the table. We expressed to our waiter that we wanted the salad before the pizza. We were assured it would come properly timed out.
As you might guess — the pizza showed up first and the salad came right after. This is after being told twice that the our salad would be right up. Frustrating. I think the manager has lost his grip on the restaurant. It’s clear that Pizzeria Pezzo isn’t nearly as busy as it used to be and it’s sad. With Kowalski’s involvement, this place should be on the ball and one of our best experiences within White Bear Lake — but it has become like many others. Good food with spotty service and an average experience.
Bottom line — definitely go for the food but be tolerant of the average to mediocre overall experience.

So let’s be clear, my wife is from the east coast, and she is a pizza snob… Finding pizza to meet her standards is nearly impossible! Today, however, the thin crust pizza here did the trick.
The pizza was fantastic… Just the right amount of cheese, sauce and toppings, all served up in a great atmosphere.
I recommend starting with a salad, they too, do not disappoint!

I love pizza. I love all types of pizza. When I can find a deep dish pizza outside of Chicago I’m really excited. Almost giddy. Sure, there are a lot of deep dish pizzas here in Minnesota, but 95% of them can be dismissed as forgeries, bad forgeries (I’m looking at you Tommy Chicago’s).
This deep dish is the best I’ve found in the Twin Cities. Obviously it doesn’t stand up to its true Chicago brethren, but I’ve yet to convince Lou Malnati to deliver to Minnesota.
The crust is spot on. Rather thin and hugging the pan as it takes a 90 degree turn up to catch that golden brown goodness. Not bready or doughy. Snappy, chunky sauce on top. Heavy cheese. All flavors really meld nicely.
The roasted red pepper and artichoke app is fantastic. Comes out bubbly and slightly blackened from the wood burning oven.
Wait times for a table can be long but the bar is a great place to have a drink and wait it out. Nice tap beer selection. Service has always been very good overall.
This is a definite spot to check out for all you deep dish lovers. Others at the table raved about the thin crust and it sure looked fantastic to me. Give Pezzo a try.

My wife, almost 2 year old son and I ate here for the first time tonight and were thoroughly happy with our choice. I don’t write many Unilocal reviews but after eating here I’m happy to have a place like this close to home and really want it to stick around!
I thought the décor was very nice for a pizza joint. We got a table immediately (5:30 on a Wednesday night) and found the service to be very attentive and friendly. The waitress brought our son a small ball of pizza dough with flour in a little plastic dish so he’d have something to pass the time. I thought that was a nice touch, and I saw they did the same for other small kids.
The beer list looked great, including several local favorites. Despite that, my wife and I ordered water this time, and the waitress immediately brought two glasses and an additional carafe of water — another nice touch.
As for the food, we ordered a salad, a thin crust pizza (pepperoni and artichoke) and a deep dish pizza (pepperoni and fennel sausage). Needless to say we had a lot left over but we wanted to try more than 1 thing. I was very impressed with all of the food. I actually liked the thin crust best, which isn’t to say the deep dish wasn’t great too. We’ve eaten at Black Sheep several times and love it but and I would rate Pezzo’s thin crust above them for sure.
In short, great food, great service, nice atmosphere, and some nice little extra touches. Can’t wait to go back — and next time I’m having a beer!

The food was great… amazing even! Loved it! Worst waitress ever though. Our table went unattended for more than 20 minutes and we couldn’t seem to flag her down. We finally got a busboy to help us and she stopped by a few minutes later to bring the items she had promised 30 minutes earlier. No apology. The place was fairly empty and she knew it was our first time but didn’t care about the impression she gave. Too bad! Would have loved to have rated them higher.
The waitress that was helping the table across the way ended up bringing our food to us. She was great. I watched her attend to her tables; filling their drinks, checking in, bringing boxes, etc. Our server never got better. Empty beverage glasses, waiting for a box, waiting forever for a bill. My husband finally just went to the car while I sat there… waiting.
She never asked how things were. The closest we got was that we were lucky because they hadn’t run out of crust today.
If you eat here, you will enjoy the food. It is fabulous. The deep dish pizza is not Lou Malnotti’s but it is great. (The crust is a little different). They are closed Monday’s and since we have now heard that running out of crust is an option, I guess I would call before arriving. The folks at the hostess station are warm and inviting. The place is squeaky clean. Although I doubt I will go back, I hope you do go and have a 5 star experience. We need a few more great deep dish places in MN so I would like to see them be successful.

I’m sad I’m updating this because I need to take away a star. I would have easily went down to a two rating, over an hour wait on one pizza is completely ridiculous. However, our server, Kelsey, was so awesome.
It’s Thursday and it’s been a long day. I was super hungry and I just wanted some good pizza and a cold beer. I’ve been wanting to get back to this place to try their coal fired pizza so off we went. My boyfriend and I arrived at about 645pm. We were told it would be a 10 minute wait for the dining room. No problem, I gave the hostess my phone number and headed to the bar.
$ 3 Summit winter ale special, things were starting off pretty good. I got my beer fix quickly. Not after our table was ready. When we were seated our server came by to introduce herself and she remembered us from our first visit a few months ago!
I was reviewing the menu, thinking secretly to myself that I wanted the Baked Cipollini and Whipped Cheese. My boyfriend was thinking about a Bianca pizza so I wasn’t sure he’d go for this cheesy dip too.
When Kelsey returned with waters I asked for her opinion on the small plates and she immediately raved about the Cipollini, she said it was like Christmas morning. The last time we were here we went with her suggestions and loved it, so the Cipollini was now an easy sell.
For pizza we went with the Margherita (#4) on one half, and the roasted red pepper, eggplant, and goat cheese (#6) on the other. Add sausage on the whole pie because I love meat.
The pizza order went in at about 7:13pm. Yes, I’m a clock watcher, but only when I’m really, really hungry. I’m like that snickers commercial, «you’re not yourself when you’re hungry.» Call me Medusa.
The Cipollini came, OH MY GOD. It was hot, creamy, onion dippy, I think with a balsamic reduction, and with warm toasted bread. Soooo good.
Here’s when the problem starts. The entire dinning area was full with a large party in a room in the back. No one around us were getting their pizzas. I overheard the table next to us complain to their server. Kelsey came by several times to apologize herself before we got to the point of complaining.
Our pizza came at 8:22pm. I actually let out a wooohooo. But over an hour on one pizza? Come on! More than half of the diners cleared out by the time we got our pizza. In the time we had been there I could have ordered a pizza at home, had it delivered, and finished eating. And maybe do that whole thing twice. I get that they’re busy and the kitchen was backed up, but this is just unacceptable.
Even more disappointing was that in my over an hour wait, I didn’t even get a well put together pizza pie! I had one tiny piece of sausage on my first slice, then my second, so I looked closer and there was barely any on the pizza. They just sort of tossed a couple small nuggets on there. Not worth the charge for the addition. The basil was distributed unevenly, there was a clump on one corner then no where else. The other half, #6, was bland. The only thing I could taste was the goat cheese, nothing was seasoned. The crust was great, loved the coal flavor, but I would be fine not ordering these coal fired pizzas again.
The deep dish pizzas are where it’s at here. However, they warn you these take a little longer. After this experience, I’m afraid if I came back and it’s busy again, it’ll be two hours for a deep dish.
After all this, I had visa gift cards to use, their machines don’t except them. Geez. Even though everyone here is so friendly, I don’t know how I feel about coming back, which is sad since I thought I found the perfect pizza spot in White Bear Lake. It’s definitely not our servers fault, but I can’t be waiting this long, and getting a sad ass pizza.

I was missing the food that Chicago has to offer (aka deep dish pizza), and my friend suggested this place. I was bit hesitant because most places outside of the windy city never get it right. But, I was wrong.
First, come early because there will be a wait. Second, if you have to wait for a table, you can order your pizza first considering it takes about 30 –45 minutes to get it done. Third, do get the deep dish pizza.
Pros:
— Service was awesome. Ours was a bit eager and overly enthusiastic but we found him quite witty when he nervously cut and served our slices.
— Focaccia bread with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette is amazing. Brownie points from this carb addict.
— Deep dish pizza is a must! I find this fairly different from Giordano’s, but comparable in overall tastiness/​nom-​ness. I like the actual pizza crust is more seasoned and sturdy so that it held the oozy cheese and toppings, whereas, Giordano’s was a bit soggy for me the last time I went. However, I also find the sauce and cheese at Giordano’s a bit more seasoned than Pizzeria Pezzo’s. Overall, they cancel out and both won over my tastebuds.
Cons:
— The wait was confusing as they told us different wait times each time we went and asked them.
— Their handle for their deep dish was a bit flimsy and I was in constant anxiety that the rest of the pizza (aka my next slice) will drop on the floor when others were trying to pass the dish around.
I will definitely come back when I need my next cheese fix.

As a frequent Chicago pizza visiting citizen, Pizzeria Pezzo has been on my radar since opening. Honestly I had never heard of Pezzo but was well acquainted with the others so I was anxious to give this transplant a shot.
We arrived on a Friday evening. It was a brief wait for the two of us which was happily answered by a beer at the bar. Nice selection of taps and wines. They send a text when your table is ready which I like. Didn’t even get halfway through my beer.
We were seated at a table. Booths line the rectangular perimeter with tables in the middle. Good lighting levels. Good noise levels. Good space between tables. I notice that kind of stuff more and more.
Ordered the Sicilian salad that they recommend for two. It could have fed six. It was very good and very big. Great dressing.
Decided to build our own deep dish rather than the offerings they had. Went with sausage, oyster mushrooms and pepperoncinis. First impressions of the pizza: Would have liked the crust to be a little more cooked and carmelized — however it was pretty tasty. Lots of sauce and I’m a sauce guy so no complaints, sauce tastes great. Great sausage, highly recommended. Good cheese ratio going on as well. Bottom line, damn good.
We ate most of the salad — and one piece of pizza each — and we were stuffed. They have great to-​go containers and I’m looking forward to leftovers.

How to find authentic Chicago deep dish pie? Go to White Bread Lake?
Yes, the pizza in the northern burbs (which I know, some city folk think it may as well be in Canada) has come to a peak. The deep dish has been the only thing I ever have had here. Because if it’s not broken? Why fix it.
Gino’s east? You might be IN chi-​town but I will take this pie at pezzo over yours.
Start with the wings. Only one flavor but to die for. The kind of wings that make you realize that a good wing can be flavorful, they don’t have to burn your pubes off.

Man what a great place! They do one thing and they do it well: pizza.
They have two types of pizza: deep-​dish and a regular coal fired crust. Their thing is that they make everything in house and from scratch. They make their own sausages! The pizzas were super fresh because of this and a were definitely in a league of their own. Even the pepperoni was different and flavorful.
The lemon chicken wings were fantastic. Definitely start with those! Instead of coloring books they gave the kids a plate of pizza dough to play with. They were distracted the whole time!
The only thing that sucks was that they open at 4pm everyday so plan accordingly. In my opinion both pizzas were top notch but my favorite was the deep dish. It was better that UNOS in Chicago for sure.
We pared it with a nice Cab-​The Blended Red Temptation, wine was excellent!