Occasion

Fact: Sundays are for football. If you’re watching at home like we were today, then you definitely can’t have football without food. The Bills had the 1:00 PM game, so pizza was the obvious choice for lunch during the game (because what else would be any better?). My boyfriend and I didn’t want to miss any of the game, knowing it would be a good one against Superbowl runner-up Falcons, so I quickly consulted Yelp.

So the pizza options weren’t limited to just one town or a 2 mile-radius, my search this time was “Pizza” located in “Buffalo, NY.” I think Yelp has pretty accurate reviews overall, so we went with the #1 rated pizza place listed: Gino’s NY Pizza located in Elmwood Village. I just had to see if it would live up to a #1 standard! We actually had NY style pizza last week from Olisi’s, so this perhaps would also help us compare for the next time we are in the mood for NY style again.

Selection

Our choice of pizza today was a freshly-made cheese and pepperoni pizza. The menu was pretty extensive, with a lot of good deals (we’ll be trying the wings next time) and specialty options. As for size, our options were personal 9″, large 16″, x-large 18″ and house 20″. We were originally going to order two personal pizzas for ourselves, but ended up ordering a large pizza in hopes of having some leftovers. The large we ended up ordering wasn’t all that large, so I’m glad we skipped out on the personal pizzas.

Atmosphere

I have to say, I think Elmwood Village is SO cute. There’s tons of character, restaurants, unique homes, trees and people just enjoying their community. It reminds me a lot of the charm that Park Ave. in Rochester, NY has.

On my way to driving down Elmwood Ave. to pick up the pizza, I actually passed it at first. The building is quite small, as most great pizza shops are, but has some space for outdoor seating as most places to eat in Elmwood Village do.

Although small on the inside, this made the entire room smell like AMAZINGLY fresh pizza. Based off of just the smell, I had a feeling it was going to be delicious. There were a dozen or so different types of pies displayed along the counter. I honestly wish I could order a pizza with every one being a different kind of slice—is there a place for this?!

Gino’s seems like the perfect place to grab a slice (or two) to go. The people were very friendly and our pizza was ready and waiting for us within 20 minutes of my phone order!

Gone In Minutes

I cracked open some Wegmans apple cider, switched into a cozy hoodie and sweatpants, and put the Bills game on (was honestly in full-blown fall mode today) before diving into Gino’s pizza. Like I mentioned, the smell of the pizza was SO good that I couldn’t wait too long at all though. At first glance, the pizza looked great! Cheesy, a fair amount of pepperoni, thin crust, and crispy end crust. We were both so hungry for lunch though, that I didn’t expect this pizza to be savored much at all.

As expected, the pizza was gone shortly after the first quarter had even begun! I think this was because this was such an easy pizza to eat. What I mean by this is that the toppings don’t slide right off with every bite, like some pizza does. There’s nothing worse than when you take a bite and the entire portion of cheese and all the pepperonis connected to it come sliding off. Then you’re left with either putting the already separated cheese back on the pizza and repeating this issue with the next bite, or just eating sauce and dough because all of your toppings fell off and you ate them separately. (Note: This may be the biggest first world problem to ever exist, but so, so relevant when eating pizza.)

As for taste, I think Gino’s pizza does stand true to classic NY style pizza. What I liked about it best was that there was strong flavor all throughout. The sauce was a little sweet for my liking (I like sauces that lean more on the herby or zesty side), but nonetheless it wasn’t enough to ruin this good pizza. Pepperoni is also fairly opinion-based as well. I prefer the cup-and-char pepperoni versus the flat, slightly under-cooked pepperoni. This preference is likely because the pepperoni pizza that I grew up eating always had the cupped, crispy kind.

The delightful combination of the crunchy, crispy, yummy crust and the flavorful cheese was hands down the best part about this pizza. I would even consider getting just a cheese pizza or a white garlic pizza from here next time!

Gino’s NY Pizza: You are well-deserved for that #1 rated spot on Yelp. And maybe I’ll have to get your pizza every Bills Sunday now since they had a killer win today! #GoBills

Pizza & love,

Mandy