My favorite go-to place for lunch is Chipotle and the one I go to is in a small strip mall. The strip mall has a couple other places to eat but nothing great (a random Chinese place, Cousin subs and a coffee shop). There used to be a creepy seafood store/restaurant but it recently closed down and a pizza place opened up in it’s place. I’ve been waiting for another option in this strip mall and have been really excited to try Novanta, which dubs itself a Neapolitan pizza and mozzarella bar. The menu looked super promising and I read they bake the pizzas in big wood-burning oven!
I finally got to go this week for lunch with a friend! I’ve heard the salads are really good but after looking at the menu I didn’t think they were worth it or could be better than any of the pizzas on the menu. I got the Caserta pizza with tomato sauce (they offer pizzas with an olive oil sauce as well), roasted peppers, roasted onions and salame. The pizzas come in one size, which is a little bigger than a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut but the crust is thinner and a ton better. I loved the combo of toppings and the salame had a great flavor. I wish the roasted peppers and onions would have been chopped up into smaller pieces to make it easier to eat. I may be messier than the average diner but the huge pieces of peppers and onions kept falling off my pizza. The crust on the side of my pizza was perfectly charred and crunchy. The bottom crust was a little soggy. If it had been crunchier the large pieces of pepper and onions might not have fallen off the whole time!
They do have a mozzarella bar with a house-made mozzarella and two options imported from Italy. They also offer add-ons like prosciutto, vinegar, olive oil, tomatoes, salame and ham. We didn’t try the mozzarella bar but definitely wanted to!
We decided to split the one thing on the dessert menu I’ve never seen before; a Nutella pizza. The menu says it is a pizza stuffed with Nutella, which is a completely accurate description. It is two thin pieces of pizza dough with gobs of Nutella in the middle. I had zero complaints about the pizza and will definitely be going back specifically for that. The pizza dough was great and balanced out the extremely sweet Nutella perfectly! We did have two small suggestions: offer whipped cream and raspberries or strawberries as toppings!
The atmosphere feels like a college pizzeria with soda in cans, self-serve water in Coca-Cola cups and an industrial feel. It is super laid back and the staff was really nice! It did take a little while to get our pizzas but they are so fresh it was totally worth it. Just take note of that if you’re on a time limit at lunch.
FOODNOTES: The pizza was fantastic but the crust could have been a little crunchier. I really want to go back for the mozzarella bar and include as many add-on options as possible! I will definitely be going back for the Nutella pizza and can see that becoming my go-to place for a great dessert! The prices were pretty decent for what we got but diners should take note the fresh pizzas take a little bit to be made (but it is totally worth it!).
Small Town Tourist 