Music City Mike loves living in Nashville where he’s got great historic live music venues like the Ryman and the Bluebird and hip record stores like Grimeys. But the Snob is also happy as the town on the banks of the Cumberland in the Buckle of the Bible Belt also has great NY-style pie. For starters, before coming up with a list of the best that we have to offer, here’s what the readers of great alt-weekly, the Nashville Scene, selected as their top three non-chain pizza joints in 2011: (1) Pizza Perfect; (2) Bella Napoli and (3) Mafiaoza’s.
Well the Snob loves Pizza Perfect and it makes my list. Bella Napoli is an “Authentic Neapolitan Style Pizzeria” which is a style that just does not suit my fancy. We’ll talk more about it in the future, but for now, just consider it to be a dull, uncut slab of crust with a little cheese and sauce that people like to throw on top stupid stuff like artichokes and pine nuts. Doesn’t this just make you want to gag?
And finally the Snob visited Mafiaoza’s several years ago and thought the plain cheese pizza he tried was awful – barely edible! It’s no surprise that this place made the list as it probably did so based on its reputation as a hipster bar. I first thought it was just me, but it is an opinion my good friend and fellow pizza aficionado, Hitchhiker Paul, also once shared with me (www.hitchhikingwithlarrydavid.com).
So without further or do, here is my list of the best NY-pie joints in Nashville. They are presented in alphabetical-order and in the coming weeks, the Snob will be revisiting and reviewing each, leaving the presentation of the winner (that he thinks he’s already selected) for last. Here is the list and I can tell you right now that you won’t go wrong grabbing some pie at any of these places:
Five Points Pizza – 1012 Woodland Street
Joey’s House Pizza – 897 Elm Hill Pike
Manny’s House of Pizza – 15 Arcade Building
NY Pie – Nashville West Shopping Center on Charlotte Pike
Pizza Perfect – 1602 21st Ave. S.
I have already reached out to each of the nominees and in doing so I took the opportunity to ask if the secret of their success had to do with bringing in their water from New Jersey. Well folks, it seems like there simply is no truth to this rumor that had somehow made it around town as none of the above joints claims to do it. (Somebody tell Snopes!) Joey said “I could make dough in the Sahara desert; it doesn’t matter what kinda water I’m using.” And the folks at NY Pie said “I did try bringing some down a couple of times to see if it made a difference – but it really didn’t.” Myth busted!
Finally, if you think there’s somebody we left out, please let us know. We will either tell you why or I will make sure I check it out before I make my final, final decision. (But only if I have enough calories left!)
The Pizza Snob 
Was not impressed with NY pizza. Ive tried them all. The 1 on elm hill pike is a half a mile from my office. Very good. The best by far is sal’s. It’s an italian family and they have several stores. Including 1 on murfreesboro rd called italian picnic. They are all related. To me that’s the best pizza in nashville.
Thanks Frank, I will have to try all of the Sal’s which I know are different from the “Sal’s Family Pizza” that I listed. I did try the Sal’s in Brentwood that took Joey’s old spot before he moved to Elm Hill Pike. It was from their lunch buffet and wasn’t very good. That may not have been their best shot however and I will go ahead and give them another chance.
OK – the Snob has made an addition to this list. Based on a recomendation from my friend (and fellow pop-music lover) Randy, Five Points Pizza is now on the list of Nashville places where you can’t go wrong. A full review is forthcoming.
Hmm…I haven’t had Pizza Perfect in years but I don’t remember liking it. May have to check it out again based on your list. And maybe I’ll follow you around town to see what I like.
What are your thoughts on Cool Springs Brewery, formerly Guido’s?
Thanks fellow blogger Flick Chick! I went to PP just last week and it was still great. In fact, the new President of our Company asked me where to go for good NY pie this week and I sent him there as it was the closest to our office. Now, I wouldn’t have taken that chance if I didn’t trust them, now would I? And he came back loving it.
As for Cool Springs Pizza, formerly Guido’s, I had actually forgotten about the place. I had gone there once before several years ago and tried a slice as part of their lunch buffet and wasn’t much impressed. As that’s certainly not the best indicator of their wares, I will try to give them another chance at some point when I find the “room.”
Mineo’s ? Are you kidding? Everything else besides the Pizza is alright. I’ve had better dollar slices up in the bronx. The sell slices that aren’t half as good, for $3 for a cheese. gtfo
Thanks Joey. The timing of your post is uncanny as I brought home a pie from there today and was quite disappointed. It’s coming off the list and I’ll be writing about it soon.
For those of you that may be returning to this list, in an effort of full disclosure, I did go back and make another change by removing Sal’s Family Pizza in Franklin. Nothing against Sal’s which I will be reviwing soon. I just wanted to make this a Nashville-only list. Sorry for my initial blunder.
Definitely a huge fan of NY Pie! (thanks to ScoutMob)
I have eaten at NY Pie four times and none of my visits yielded what I call “outstanding” veggie pizza. Veggies were a little too raw, cheese was sparse and the dough was a bit too dry. I wouldn’t say, ‘Don’t eat there’, but it doesn’t pack the punch like a good robust pizza should.
Thanks for your post. As you may have noticed, I generally just have my slices plain. However, at a meeting a few weeks ago, we had a veggie pie (from somewhere else) and I had the same problem. I think that the tendency is that in trying not to overcook the veggies they may wind up undercooking the dough. No good excuse though for raw veggies though. I guess sparse cheese makes room for more veggie? Thanks again for your post.
[…] the OT lives on the east side of Nashville near Antioch. He is a pizza lover who after reading my Nashville blog entry told me about Angelo’s Picnic Pizza. This was his go-to place along with Sal’s Pizza, and he […]