Umberto's of Long Island in Boca Raton, FL

I had lunch one afternoon at Umberto's of Long Island in Boca Raton. I am assuming that this restaurant is connected with the nearby Umberto's in Deerfield Beach, although I wonder how much connection there is to the actual Umberto's restaurants in Long Island. We had asked our waitress which Umberto's in Long Island the restaurant was connected to and she seemed very confused and didn't know. Uniformed waitress or a restaurant in Florida trying to get New York snowbirds to come to their restaurant because of the name? Not sure, but I would hope they really are connected if they have awards from Long Island Press hanging in their windows.

I had the lunch special of two slices and a drink. To keep it interesting, I had a slice of grandma pizza and a slice of plain cheese. Both were okay, definitely much better than the messy slices from the Deerfield Umberto's. The grandma slice was my favorite of the two. Although the slices were okay, they did have a somewhat burnt taste. I think Umberto's needed to desperately clean their ovens.

Overall, the pizza here wasn't bad. It would have been better without the sooty, dirty oven taste, but otherwise this Umberto's served some pretty decent pizza. Besides, anywhere that serves grandma pizza can't be bad!

 

Umberto's in New Hyde Park, NY

After visiting King Umberto's, we decided to give another Umberto's a try. This time we went to the Umberto's in New Hyde Park. I thought I ate here a few years ago, but the restaurant was set up differently than I remembered. Unless they redid this place, it was new to me! This is the location that the Deerfield Beach Umberto's claims to be connected to, although I kind of have some doubts about any actual connections.

The meal started with a salad topped with grilled chicken, blue cheese, and walnuts.

Next came a Grandma Pizza. Supposedly, this style of pizza originated here in a competition between a few other Umberto's to develop a new style of pizza, so we had to get it.

It was really good, sort of like a thin crust Sicilian pizza and I'd gladly get it again.

The pizza was also good as leftovers the next day!

Carmela's Grandma Pizza

I ate at Carmela's in Longwood, FL for lunch today. Carmela's is Sbarro's version of a sit-down restaurant, and it seems like sometimes they are good, yet horrible other times. This was a good day.

I started off with some garlic knots. They hardly had any garlic on them, and weren't anything special.

I ordered a Grandma Pizza for the main course. I've had other experiences with trying Grandma Pizzas up on Long Island, where they originated, so this was somewhat of a comparison.

This pizza was thicker than the other Grandma's that I have tried, and it had large clumps of sauce and basil on the top of the pizza. Unlike other Grandma Pizzas, the crust wasn't perfectly square so I don't think the pizza was cooked in a Sicilian pizza tray. It actually a very good pizza, despite it being a bit too thick. Apparently Carmela's had a pizza cook today that knew what he was doing because this pizza was a big improvement over the last time I tried pizza here.

King Umbertos & Italian Pastries

I ate dinner from King Umbertos in Elmont, NY for a second time. Their pizza is still the best ever, and had improved from the last visit where the selection of pizza choices was somewhat slim. Tonight there were plenty of different pies to choose from.

I took home the slices of pizza from King Umbertos rather than eating in the restaurant. I can't name all of the slices, but the square slice is called Grandma's Pizza. Next to Grandmas, there is a stuffed vegetable slice. The slice next to that consists of a spinach crust topped with cheese, basil, plum tomatoes, and more. There is a cheese slice next to that, followed by a slice topped with fresh mozzarella, and then another slice on the spinach crust.



Out of all of those slices, I had the stuffed vegetable slice and one of the spinach crust slices.


They were both really good. It's hard to decide which was better...



I ate some dessert from Ramona Lee Italian Pastries in Franklin Square, NY. Cream puffs, pignolis, chocolate mousse, and more. It was good a good dessert!

King Umbertos Pizza

King Umbertos in Elmont, New York has the best pizza I have ever eaten. All other pizzas have to be compared to the pizza from King Umbertos.

When I ate here for dinner, I had a slice of stuffed vegetable pizza and a slice of plain cheese. Although the pizza selection was a bit thin when I ordered and the ovens needed cleaning (which happened as I was eating), King Umbertos still holds the #1 Pizza spot in my book. I will be back...