Rounding up and recapping the prime pizzas in your neighborhood, take 3 | Review
"I'm from New York. There's no good pizza here!"
It was the opener of the original “Pizzas in your Neighborhood” story that appeared in the Orlando Sentinel in June 2023. I did a second one a few months later. It’s been a while, but after trying a few real standouts around town in recent weeks, I thought it was time for another round. That said, I can’t think of a better way to preface the premise, so read on for a recap of that lede, followed by some new gems to hit up if you live nearby or are going to be in the neighborhood, plus a roster of those that came before and still stand as testaments to their art.
Getting back to it: Yeah. “No good pizza in Orlando.”
I'm from New York, too. So I feel entirely qualified to call B.S. on that.
If I had a dollar for every time I've read this ridiculousness online, I could split time between Orlando and my renovated two-bedroom in Cobble Hill, within walking distance of Lucali - and all the great, basic neighborhood pizza joints in between that celebrities and trendy food shows never visit.
There is solidly done pizza, New York-style and otherwise, all over the country, and possibly more in Florida than anywhere else, as it has a preponderance of small, independent pizzerias. I found one on my first try after moving to Miami, and it was five minutes from a Carvel.
I played the lottery that day, too, just in case.
You can find good pizza from Memphis to Salt Lake City. But you have to look a lot harder than you do in Orlando. So, stop with this nonsense already.
Similarly, let's abandon the absolutes. This place is THE BEST. That place is THE WORST. These things are entirely subjective and ranted about on the internet by a small but exhaustingly vocal contingent of zealots, many of whom I suspect enjoy pontificating far more than they enjoy pizza. They are the exception, not the rule.
Most of the world just wants a reasonably and reliably good pizza option that's close to home. Something that can be delivered with ease or picked up within a 10-15 minute drive. Something they can grab on a night when they realize they don't actually want to go to happy hour or take the family out or cook.
They want something in their neighborhood. And like in the song from "Sesame Street," the pizzaiolo is the person I'm always hoping to meet each day.
Nice people send me local pizzeria recommendations all the time. Little strip mall joints that most people haven't heard of. They aren't bandied about by influencers or posted to TikTok. They don't have cool murals for the ‘gram. They probably haven't even been redecorated since 1996, but these places are their go-tos for pool parties and poker nights, for when the power goes out, for when they do the Netflix and chill thing.
Since that time, I’ve visited several and happened onto others. Amazing pizzerias that churn it out every day, not to be THE CITY’S BEST necessarily, but the top choice for locals in a reasonable radius when that “what are we having tonight?” moment comes.
Hey, Orlando, these are the pizzas in your neighborhood | Review
Read on for the third installment, in which I share notes and highlights - if you’re among those looking for a place that back in the day might have been on your wall phone’s speed dial.
Try ‘em. See if you like ‘em. Just don't write telling me they weren't worth the 45-minute drive. Because that means you didn't understand the assignment.
Sal’s Pizza Bar
“It’s funny you say that,” Sal Conigliaro tells me, “because we actually get people who come from as far away as Haines City and Tampa.”
I don’t doubt this. Because Conigliaro, a Palermo-born Sicilian native who moved to New York at age 10, has pizza in his blood.
“My dad taught me all the tricks in the book. He’s my mentor. He’s the one who helped me learn how to do it right and not to cut any corners. He’s very special to me.”
It’s a rite of passage you can taste in all 26 varieties they offer at Sal’s Pizza Bar, an absolute gift to the residents of O-Town West, and a pizzeria you should check out if you’re in the neighborhood.
They don’t offer all 26 at once, but you will find an astonishing array in the case, from a meat lover’s loaded with bacon, sausage and pepperoni to a crisp Grandma, piled with juicy tomato, fresh garlic and basil to a vodka burrata that gives me allllllll the feels of my beloved, now-shuttered Pomodoro, a forever-favorite of mine on the corner of Spring and Mulberry streets back home.
Sal’s does whole pies, of course, New York-style and brick oven, each distinct, each delicious. And garlic knots. Actual knots. Not rolls bathed in garlic, which is what I find is all too often the case. Beautifully browned on the outside, ever so slightly underdone on the inside for perfect chew.
“They’re a pain in the butt to make,” Conigliaro laughs. “You have to let them rise, bake them exactly, the right amount of garlic, parsley, Pecorino Romano … but when you eat them fresh out of the oven, it’s just amazing.”
The same goes out of the foil at the table. And if you bring them home, a visit to the oven reanimates the magic.
Conigliaro’s first foray into small business, Pizza Mia, served the Hunter’s Creek area for five years but succumbed to the pandemic’s unpredictability.
“It was like a roller coaster,” he tells me. When an agent talked up the O-Town West area as the post-COVID-19 economy began its rebound, he was cautiously optimistic.
“When I signed the lease, there was nothing but trees. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. There wasn’t even any construction going on, and it took almost three years to finish the buildout and for the landlord to hand over the keys.”
Now, the place is surrounded by apartments housing residents that I imagine are thrilled to have him within walking distance of a couple of to-go boxes. Michelin-recommended Kappo Tsan - along with iconic brands like White Castle and Portillo’s - is a four-minute drive.
He gets a mix of tourists and locals and has barely done any promotion, save a $50 Instagram boost on opening day.
“By the second, we were running out of food.”
It keeps him, his wife, Gina, and his two Sicilian-born pizzaiolos, Joe and Gaspar (“two of the best old-school pizza guys you could have,” says the boss) plenty busy. Watching them stretch that rested dough while you wait is a special pleasure. It gives you an idea of what’s coming if it’s your first time. And if it’s not, then like the folks who drive from Tampa, you know.
“I feel very blessed,” he tells me.
Experiencing the crunch and give of that first vodka-burrata bite? The char of the brick-oven style hot honey and pepperoni? I felt exactly the same.
Sal’s Pizza Bar: 11020 Daryl Carter Parkway, #120, in Orlando; 407-778-1129; salspizzabar.net
The Jersey Spot Pizza & Pasta
Early in 2025, I discovered The Jersey Spot Pizza & Pasta in Kissimmee and was immediately obsessed with their Sicilian, a pie style I entirely respect but don’t often order, for most are far too bready.
This couple, however, who hail from the South Jersey town of Deptford, about 20 minutes’ drive from Philadelphia, had the fluffiness at perfection-level puff.
I feel like I have to take it back, though, because when I tried the pie from their newest location on Dean Road in Orlando, I was almost certain it was even better than the last time.
Sicilian fans in this neighborhood have a new go-to (especially since the supreme Sicilian of Antonella’s isn’t an option anymore), but there’s loads more beyond. The regular pies are done beautifully, too, right down to the thin-sliced onion on my meatball-onion, a pie that’s a standard-setter when I’m taste-testing a place.
The Seaside Heights, however, took my palate to new ones. If you’re a fan of clam pie, a Connecticut favorite, this sauceless garlic-laden pizza, with its white wine sauce, might be just your style: clams a’plenty, with shrimp thrown into the mix, as well. Seriously good stuff.
You can’t expect South Jersey folks to skip on the cheesesteak, so you’ll find that and other regional nods on the menu, as well (this includes a Cheesesteak Hoagie pizza, which I did not sample) but my spidey senses tell me that if you follow your heart, or at least your stomach, you’ll find something on this menu that appeals, satsifies, and perhaps winds up in your regular movie-night rotation.
The Jersey Spot Pizza & Pasta: 1137 W. Columbia Ave. in Kissimmee, 407-847-0333 and 3920 N. Dean Road in Orlando, 407-677-9000; thejerseyspotpizzaandpasta.com
Find me on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com, For more foodie fun, join the Let's Eat, Orlando Facebook group.
Neighborhood pizzeria recap
Like me, Sicily-turned-New York native Sal Conigliaro, owner of the aforementioned Sal’s Pizza Bar in O-Town West, finds the whole “no good pizza in Orlando” thing to be preposterous.
“Florida’s got this really bad reputation,” he says, confounded, noting the occasional Empire State expats who tell him, “it tastes almost just like New York. Or they talk about the water.”
I cannot suppress an eye roll, and as I do so, I offer the reasonable folks among you this wonderful roster, which includes other places around the metro I wholeheartedly endorse as neighborhood go-to candidates.
Anthony’s Pizza: 3385 S. U.S. Highway 17/92 in Casselberry, 407-767-5220; papaanthonyspizza.com
John & John’s: 435 E. Michigan St. in Orlando, 407-422-2583; johnandjohnspizza.com
Lil’ Vinny’s Pizza & Pasta:2200 Winter Springs Blvd. in Oviedo, 407-904-7590;.lilvinnyspizzapasta.com
Pasquale’s Pizzeria: 1963 S. Alafaya Trail in Orlando, 407-281-1633; pasqualesitalian.com
Pienezza Pizza: 3236 John Young Parkway in Kissimmee, 407-750-5540; pienezzapizza.com
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This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 5:06 AM.