Kenmore’s village is quite lovely. You can adventure there for several activities: the farmer’s market, the nicest Spot Coffee I’ve ever seen, antique shops, mass at their beautiful church, or to get pizza, of course, at Jay’s Artisan Pizzeria.

I follow Jay’s on social media and I notice they run out of dough almost every weekend. I wasn’t sure if this was for good reasons or bad, so I figured I’d stop in for dinner to see for myself!

Occasion

My boyfriend and I were planning on seeing friends for drinks later in the evening, but we decided to grab dinner the two of us before meeting them.

While still cold in Buffalo this April (sigh), it was a rather pretty night out. It was peak golden hour with not a single cloud in the sky for a change.

It was a good night to visit the village and sit along Jay’s front windowsill with the sun shining, feeling spring’s presence for a brief moment.

Selection

I had taken a peek at some of the reviews for Jay’s, as I know a lot of my fellow pizza lovers have visited. You can tell Jay’s uses expensive ingredients because the prices are relatively higher than most places, for less pizza.

It was a lent Friday, so I went with the Margherita pizza which included tomato sauce, basil, fresh mozzarella, and sea salt. Sometimes the classic pizzas are a restaurant’s best.

My boyfriend wasn’t sure what he wanted that was meatless as well, so I recommended The Amanda to him. Not only is that my name, so perhaps I’m a little bias, but it seems to be one of the more popular orders. The Amanda is a four-cheese pie consisting of fontina, fresh mozzarella, gorgonzola, and pecorino, topped with crushed red pepper and calabrian chili honey.

Atmosphere

Jay’s is relatively new to Kenmore, as it was once a popular food truck known as OG Wood Fire. They have since upgraded to their own permanent shop right within the village, which I love.

It really is such a nice location and can allow you to walk around the area to do other things as well!

Even though it’s sit-down here, it’s very casual, borderline fast-casual. You walk in, order at their front counter and then seat yourself before they bring you your pizza. Simple and easy! This is a great option for groups, solo, take-out, kids, any attire, etc.

There are a dozen or so tables for multiple groups of folks and a nice high-top bar along the window to look out onto the street. Since it was a lovely golden hour, we chose the window seats!

I think the best part about Jay’s though is that any seat in the house still allows you to have a clear view of Jay’s team preparing pizzas and baking them in their cool brick oven. It was really neat to see it all!

Fact: Pizza Making is Definitely a Form of Art

Jay’s doesn’t lie when they say they make “artisan” Neapolitan pizzas. Their artisan pizzas are truly like artwork to them.

My margherita pizza looked picture-perfect, and they made it look effortless.

From the abundant cooked basil to the fluffiness of the outer crust, it was baked quite well. You can just tell the difference in the ingredients they use. All of it seemed so fresh and flavorful.

I wasn’t particularly crazy about the mozzarella though; it had an overly milky taste. This was perhaps because it is presented in larger clumps, Neapolitan-style.

A big thing for me is how well a pizza can be handled—this makes or breaks my experience.

I wished this pizza had a little more strength underneath it to hold its own. Because the cheese was consolidated in these thicker clumps, it made it heavier and ultimately floppier.

But don’t worry, I still had no problem eating the whole thing. 🙂

The Amanda pizza looked delightful as well and was baked to perfection. We loved the crusts for both pizzas since they had these charred air bubbles that tasted like a burnt marshmallows! Yum!

We shared pizzas with each other. While The Amanda seems to be a popular choice (many other people dining that night had ordered this pizza), our consensus was a no unfortunately.

My boyfriend typically loves all things cheesy and gooey, but I think we couldn’t get over the honey drizzle mixed in. This just was not a pizza that our palettes preferred. I think we both lean more towards flavors with spices and herbs in our pizzas versus sweet and milky.

I do still encourage you to try a white and red pizza from Jay’s to see what you think, as I am only one opinion!

All-in-all, Jay’s was still a great visit and will be nice stop in the future if we’re doing other things within the village. Sadly, I can’t say it was my favorite pizza in Buffalo. I’m still on the quest for that!

Pizza & love,

Mandy