Pizza, Pizza!

Oh my goodness! I had A LOT of fun taking pictures for this post ... and not even going to lie: I went absolutely photo crazy so you're going to probably going to get sick of the pictures by the end but PLEASE hang in there with me!!!

SO this is my first official restaurant review! It's for a local restaurant called 'Pomo Pizzeria Napoletana. I think it would be most effective if I split this post into three parts!

Part one: Location! .... The restaurant that we went to was 'Pomo Pizzeria Napoletana, as I said before, which is located at The Borgata in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Borgata is an outdoor shopping center that consists of many little boutiques and only a few restaurants. I have walked around it many times and it's fairly small but the all the little shops that are there bring in A LOT of attention! Because it's in Arizona, in the summer it is way too hot to be outside, but in the spring/fall/winter, it is absolutely AMAZING. In what I call "the center" of this shopping mall, they have a large fountain which is surrounded by many tables. There are a few restaurants that are right near it, so I commonly see people grabbing lunch from one of those places and enjoying their meal in the beautiful sunshine! :) The following are a few pictures of what you would see if you were taking a stroll and here's the website if you would like more information about the Borgata: http://www.borgata.com/

Part two: All about 'Pomo!!! --- Pomo Pizzeria Napoletana is an official certified VPM: Vera Pizza Napoletana (True Neapolitan Pizza) which actually holds high distinction. The way in which they get their VMP distinction is by following guidelines that are set by the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association and also the Italian Government and European Union. They get all their products from Italy and their pizzas are made with San Marzano Tomatoes D.O.P, which come from the base of Mount Vesuvius in Naples, Buffalo Mozzarella that is brought in fresh daily, and they make their dough with 100% organic stone ground flour. The pizzas baked rather quickly, with a cook time of only about 60 to 90 SECONDS in a 950 degree wood burning oven. Particularly, the oven that is found inside 'Pomo was made in Naples by a 3rd generation pizza builder. They ordered this one especially in order to obtain the "true charred and blistered crust" of a real Neapolitan pizza, which isn't obtained when pizza is baked in a fabricated oven! ... The waiter was telling us that there are only a total of around 500 Napoletana's in the WORLD, only 20 in the United States, and this is the only one in Arizona.

If you're thinking, "wow" then welcome to what I'm thinking too! This is truly much more of a special place to go to eat than I had originally thought! Here is how it looks on the outside, and we enjoyed our meal on the patio so I just included a picture of that:

And now, part three: the food. Can you say TRULY AMAZING?! Well, I guess that's pretty expected when a restaurant is using the freshest of ingredients that are shipped from Italy, which is of course known for their pizzas! Well, this was truly a treat. First, here's a little breakdown of the menu itself: it is split into a total of 5 different sections: Antipasti (Appetizers), Insalate and Piatti Del Giorno (Salads and Soups), Pizza Napoletana (Neopolitan Pizza with tomato sauce), Pizza Bianca Napoletana (Neopolitan Pizza with no tomato sauce), and Desserts. They also serve Panini's during lunch time Monday-Friday from 11:00am-4:00pm and also have a Bambini (Kids menu for 10 and under)! --- A few people enjoyed the salads from there and they were large-sized and came with a side of bread! Most of us, however, tried the pizza. They are each what the waiter claimed as "personal pan-sized" ... about 12 inches. They had very thin crusts and were pilled with toppings and had an exquisite taste. Hands down, I can say this was the best pizza I've had in Arizona. The kind of pizza I tried was the Regina Margherita, and some other favorites at our table included the Capricciosa, Principe, 'Pomo, and Bianca. Out of those, the Bianca was the only one that was a sauce-less pizza. Here are pictures from the pizzas we had:

The only complaint that I have is that the price is fairly steep, ranging from $10-$17 for one of the pizzas pictured above. And then if you want any additional toppings, it $3-$5. For one person, I would say that's quite a bit. I think most people only ate about half of theirs and took the rest home so I guess I could justify spending around that much for 2 meals, especially when you're getting something so unique, every once in a while! ... Additionally, please note that there are very few choices in the pizza selection if you're vegetarian! Those options included: The Marinara, which has just sauce and olive oil, the Regina Margherita, which has sauce, cheese, and olive oil, and the Ortolana, which has sauce, cheese, vegetables, and olive oil. I did spot some bruchetta in their appetizers that was vegetarian as well, but I think that's about it. I was actually fairly surprised that chicken was not included in their list of toppings! Not even as an add-on option either.

My over-all rating of this restaurant is 4.5 stars (minus point five for the price). There was a group of 10 of us that went and we definitely all enjoyed our dishes! No returned plates, no complaints! ... It was definitely a fun place to go.

Here's a link to their webpage where you can find a more detailed look at their menu (when we first sat down, some people were SUPER confused as to what everything was, but apparently we did well in choosing!) -- http://pomopizzeria.com/

Do you have a local pizza place that you enjoy going to? What are some of your favorite pizza's?