Pete's Pizzeria Napoletana Closed Until January for Renovations
Friday, December 9, 2024 at 1:25PM
It's a shame that Pete's Pizzeria, which opened on Fifth Avenue between First and Second Streets back in March, doesn't seem to be getting much love. The Neapolitan-style pizza is some of the neighborhood's best, and its roaring wood-burning brick oven is a great centerpiece. The pizza alone hasn't been able to bring in enough money to pay the bills, though, and the restaurant shut down yesterday with plans to renovate and re-open with a revamped menu next month.
I caught up with owner Peter Thristino, a fourth-generation pizzaman who also owns Pete's Downtown down by the Brooklyn Bridge, and he assured me that unlike another restaurant that closed recently "for renovations," this one is definitely not gone for good.
"We thought that we'd be able to succeed by just selling pizza and other things that we could cook in our wood-burning oven, but that didn't work out," he said. "So we're installing a full kitchen, with an oven, ranges, and a fry-o-lator so we can serve some other dishes like fried calamari and lots of appetizers." Apparently the wood-burning oven was just too hard to control, so efforts to prepare food other than pizza in it failed.
They're also going to be remodeling the slightly awkward space. When they re-open, do them (and yourself) a favor and try the pizza. It's good.
Renovations in Food, Storefronts
Reader Comments (17)
It's an extremely awkward, and not properly used, space. The one time we ate there, they sat us in the back of the restaurant, with several other parties, but the front remained completely empty. From the outside, it looked like a completely empty restaurant.
The pizza was good, but nothing that screamed "you have to come back to this place," so we just haven't.
Live right near there and walk by it all the time and have never had the pull to go in. they never got much buzz when they opened and I just never think about it, shame I guess
It's not the space (although it was pretty bad) it's the fact that Park Slope already has some of the best pizza in the entire city. Why in the world would i go here when we have Giuseppina's on one end, Franny's on the other and South Brooklyn pizza in the middle? All 3 of those are incredible in their own way.
All this pizza is just not needed. Even Campo di fiori works because it's Roman style pizza (very good, I might add) and then there's Fornino and La Villa and a million others.
NO.
MORE.
PIZZA
OR
BURGERS
These people just don't learn. We have no BBQ, we have almost no Vietnamese, we have very little Korean, NO good Indian. How about come up with a plan that does not involve the same thing others in the neighborhood have already mastered.
You can renovate all you like, but i can tell you that it's not going to work. Need something special to get people in the door these days and just another decent pizza place ain't gunna pay the bills. Do something special. Do something different. And do it the best you can.
I agree, saturated market. I met Pete the first time we tried the place, a very nice guy. There wasn't anything special to draw me back, though. Here's to hoping he'll figure out a better strategy for success. They certainly don't seem to be short on cash. They completely outfitted this place with the new oven after the last failed concept (wine and pizza? I forget the name). Now, it's time to shut down again so that they can add an entire kitchen.
SweetWolf's on 6th and 12th should teach these guys how to cook in a wood oven. They are putting out some of the best food I have eaten in the slope all done in cast iron skillets in a wood burning oven.
I think Park Slope business owners should be required to take a class where they must go explore the small businesses in Wiliamsburg. I'm not saying I want PS to be like Williamsburg (not at all) but they do have some great and very successful restaurants and bars up there. You know why? The owners realize that the money to be made is with the young 20's and 30's single people who have lots more disposable income. Families with kids eat in more than they eat out, yet all these Park Slope businesses make their establishments so stuffy and unwelcoming for younger folks. Do something fun, something HIP (i know, terrible word) but you know what I mean. Go to Crif Dog in Manhattan and check out the video games they have in there. This could be a place to stop by for a couple slices and some video games while out drinking on 5th Avenue. No one wants to walk into a pizza place and see such a stuffy atmosphere. Gotta make it classy yet interesting. See: Bark, Thistle Hill Tavern, Der Kommisser and other such businesses that are packed every night of the week.
I have kids and eat out all the time as do all of my friends. We eat out at least twice a week as do most of my friends with kids. Maybe it's because I have slightly older kids.
Please do not encourage restaurants to gear themselves to only the 20 and 30 somethings around here, us 40 something already feel left out and I have made Park Slope my home for many, many years.
And, yes, how about a BBQ place? A real deli? Korean, or, God yes!! GOOD Indian????
Keep the video games and the "adult toddlers" who need them in Williamsburg. I hope Pete's returns - classy place, real food, reasonable price and nice to kids.
People in their 20's and 30's live in Park Slope, have kids, and still want to go out. We did not sign over our souls once we decided to procreate. I want to have as much "fun" as someone without kids. I just need to have it a little earlier in the evening, or get a sitter for the night.
Smart restaurant owners make sure they've got Park Slope parents well covered.
Really, garfieldplace?
"These people just don't learn. We have no BBQ, we have almost no Vietnamese, we have very little Korean, NO good Indian."
I'm sorry Pete didn't learn to be a fourth-generation Indian chef instead of a fourth-generation pizzaiolo. If he'd indeed opened up a crappy BBQ place, you'd say "He should stick to what he knows." It just happens that his skills are shared by too many local competitors. Good luck to him.
I'm not saying he should switch what he does, but he should open on a street/neighborhood that doesn't already have 15 pizza places. How about Crown Heights? How about Boreum Hill? I know plenty of other hoods around which are not saturated with pizza like PS is. If he wants to open on 5th Avenue, 2 blocks away from other better pizza places, then slow business is what he can expect. I'm just trying to give some advice to somehow who clearly isn't making a go of it in that spot. Do I have to sugar coat it or something?
the problem with this place is that it has televisions visible from almost every spot in the restaurant. There are many people who do not wish to watch sports even when they are eating pizza.
I was really excited for this place to open up and was so disappointed by the pizza. The sauce was too sweet and the crust didnt have any flavor. With Franny's, La Villa, and Fornino so close (and now South Brooklyn has opened as well), it just wasn't good enough or differentiated enough to have any desire to go back.
Before they reopen in January, I suggest Pete goes to Roberta's and Franny's a few times and learns about how to make more interesting pies, and spends some time on his sauce recipe.
I actually think the pizza is quite good and better than the 2 pies I had at Campo di Fiore. I like La Villa, but it's usually more than my wife and I need. It's also completely different from Pete's (and Fornino by the way). Haven't tried South Brooklyn Pizza yet. It's a little steep, by the way. I hope Pete's can make it work as I live across the street and order from them about once a week. If you all haven't tried Pete's yet, and assuming it returns, try the Margherita. Agree about the other comments, however, that we need a BBQ place. Other fare would be welcome as well, but as for a real deli, we already have M&S, which is plenty real, plenty friendly and pretty tasty in my opinion.
Pete's has terrific Pizza and should do great once they get a regular menu and adjust the bar-centric seating.
Fornino is disgusting and La Villa is good but it is a different kind of Pizza- Pete's is much more like a Franny's (although not quit as good).
I for one am rooting for Pete's to re-open and thrive. It is great.
I think Pete's is great, i think the place is decorated so nicely, very warm and inviting. the pizza is very good, and the appetizers especially the mushroom one is spectacular!! The outdoor space is so wonderful in the nice weather as well.
Good luck Pete!! I hope you make it, and people give you a chance!