Ever ask yourself, what would I do for pizza? What lengths would I go? Would it be worth it? These are the questions I asked myself on a blizzarding Friday night in Western New York. With a lot of local pride around Bocce Club Pizza, I needed to know if it was worth going the extra mile for, literally.

Occasion

I took a poll on my Instagram story about which Buffalo pizza place I should visit on my Friday evening. While the results were close, Bocce Club Pizza took the lead. It seems like it has had a great reputation within the Buffalo community for quite some time now.

By the time the work week was over I wanted pizza SO bad, but it was horrible out. A straight whiteout, no visibility, can’t see the road lines, 10 mph trips—that kind of horrible. The things we do for pizza, man.

Selection

In browsing the menu online before placing my order, I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with one thing in particular about Bocce Club Pizza. Apparently they deliver nationwide! You can place an order and they ship out an uncooked pizza the following week. All you have to do is heat it up yourself. I can imagine this is a great perk for Buffalo natives who relocated and perhaps grew up with Bocce Club Pizza.

I’m waiting for the right specialty pizza to really appeal to me before I try it, so I went with my classic pie of preference: cheese and pepperoni.

What’s different is they list their sizes as whole, half, or quarter. I’d prefer small, medium, or large so I know how many slices I’m getting. I ordered a whole, but I do wonder would you literally receive one half or one quarter of a pizza? Or would it be a full pie, just a smaller circle? Asking for a friend here…

Atmosphere

After the, normally 8-minute, drive took 25 minutes (each way), I pulled up to Bocce Club Pizza’s Bailey Ave. location. If you’ve ever seen this building you know that it’s cute, but looks out of place. The large yellow building looks like it belongs in Italy!

It was rather busy inside, with other customers waiting to pick up and employees moving quickly behind the counter. That’s always a good sign for a new customer like myself trying a place for the first time.

Something else that caught my eye was a picture that said “In Loving Memory Of…” It was an employee who had passed away—that said a lot about the place and those running it. They seem to value their employees and loyal customers.

Good, But Not My Favorite

Once we ventured back home and made it in one piece, a warm pizza was the perfect cure for the winter blues. I have to say that this pizza did look amazing; very crispy, lots of pepperoni (the cupped kind, my fav!), and abundant in slices!

Despite its looks, the taste of the pizza was not my favorite unfortunately. I wanted to like it, but the biggest things that stood out to me was there is no real crust. The cheese, which tasted too milky for me, went all the way to the end of the pie. This leaves out the best part! Although it looked crispy, it was rather soft dough and I prefer a crunchy pizza for sure.

This is all my own opinion, so I understand other people may love this pizza! However, there are a few primary elements I prefer and seek out in a pizza, which are:

• Crispiness throughout the whole crust
• Thin, smooth cheese, not rubbery
• Flavor that comes from the sauce and dough, not additional spices loaded on

Nonetheless, Bocce Club Pizza has a great fan base in Buffalo and that is something special. While I am still on my mission to determine the best pizza in Buffalo, I’m glad I was able to experience this local legacy (and survived the blizzard!), liking it or not.

Pizza & love,

Mandy