The Best Pizza in Atlanta

So it was a tad annoying that it was a Sunday night (not Friday or Saturday), I had a reservation for 7:30 pm and didn’t get seated until after 8:00 pm. However, I had to keep in mind that I was at one of Atlanta’s “destination” restaurants. I’d been to Fritti once before and remember it being only moderately occupied, but that must have been a weeknight because on Sunday night the atmosphere was on and poppin’.

Luckily we were able to find some seats at the tiny little bar area while we waited, because it was a bit too chilly for me to wait outside. Which is why when we were finally led to a table, I was quite disappointed to find that it was practically on the street with nothing shielding it from the elements. “Focus on the deliciousness you are about to consume,” I said to myself, as the gracious hostess went off to find us another table.

Finally seated inside, I was overwhelmed by my inability to focus on anything but the two conversations happening on either side of us (the tables are about a foot apart), but I soon settled into the “destination dining” atmosphere and the surrounding conversations dulled into fairly unnoticeable background noise.

There with my boyfriend, we decided to get a healthy sampling of menu items. We decided to split the Crocchette di Melanzane (fancy for eggplant, mozzarella and roasted pepper croquettes), Caesar salad and the spicy salami and black olive pizza. This is the second time I’ve been underwhelmed by one of the fried appetizers here. As I expressed in a previous blog posting, the Sicilian risotto and sausage croquettes were virtually tasteless, and these croquettes were slightly more flavorful but still lacked pizzazz.

The Caesar salad, on the other hand, was on point, and the pizza was TO DIE FOR. I have not yet tried Varasano’s, the pizza joint that has Atlanta buzzing and even obtained accolades in Rachael Ray magazine, but at this point I am officially declaring Fritti the best pizza in Atlanta. It simply has the most flavor. The best pizza I can recall having ever was at Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn, and I dare say this is close. It is definitely better than the pizza I spoke of in my last blog posting from Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, which Rachael selected as the best pizza in the country. Considering I waited two hours outside at both Grimaldi’s and Bianco, I shouldn’t really complain about a half hour wait at the bar for Fritti.

As a side note, Fritti also has the best wine I’ve ever had – called Lambrusco. It tastes like someone mixed sparkling cider with wine, which is an amazing combination. I was also impressed with the prices at Fritti this time around. For some reason I ended up spending a lot more my last go-round, but this time, two drinks, a salad, pizza and appetizer was only $45.00, and it was plenty of food for two. I was actually uncomfortably full when I left, but what else is new for me...

Despite my distaste for dealing with crowds, loud noises and an overall “scene,” I’m going to go ahead and say that I still love Fritti. After all, all of the Riccardo Ullio’s restaurants are like this, and you have to wonder if they’d have the same draw if they weren’t – sadly, probably not. Overall, the space is what it is, the crowds are what they are and the staff is pretty good about recognizing that fact and accommodating guests as best as possible. I might suggest, though, at least asking people if they mind sitting outside, because even though it is covered, much of the seating is essentially out-of-doors.