Pizzeria Bianco

Last Saturday, Hazel and I decided to check out Pizzeria Bianco in Central Phoenix’s Heritage Square. We had heard rumblings about long lines, long waits, and the best pizza in the U.S. In fact major media outlets such as the New York Times and Bon Appétit magazine had bestowed this exact honor upon the establishment.

The pizzeria is housed in the circa 1929 building that was originally the F.S. Baird Machine Shop. This brick industrial building--added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985--is surrounded by several residential dwellings of the same era. These quaint buildings are juxtaposed against the modern facade of the Arizona Science Center and several office towers.

Attempting to beat the lines, we called ahead for reservations.   Unfortunately, the pizzeria only accepts them for parties of 6 to 10.   When we arrived at around 5:30pm we were told that the wait would be about an hour.

I am of the opinion, that any restaurant that has regular wait times of more than 30 minutes should expand or open another location to serve their obvious customer volume.   Regardless, we decided to face the wait.   As it was Halloween weekend, there was some Zombie craziness taking place in the Square.   This lead to plenty of good “people” watching.   I put that in quotes because are the undead truly considered people?  Anyway, I digress.

As night fell we were told we could now be seated at the bar.   We made our way inside and were seated just inside the door.    The restaurant seats 42 but it may be about 12 too many because at times it felt a bit claustrophobic.

The bartender quickly attended to us.   Hazel chose the Margherita pizza and added the Agostino Recca Sicilian Anchovies with a Coca-Cola Light—the Mexican version of Diet Coke—to wash it down with.   I chose the “Wiseguy” pizza which was a white pizza with roasted onion, smoked mozzarella, and some locally-sourced fennel sausage.

The pizzas were delivered rather quickly.     This restaurant is definitely not for Chicago deep dish lovers.   The pizzas are thin crusted, much like I faintly recall having when I visited Ventimiglia, Italy about 15 years ago.     The wood fire adds an earthy smokiness to the crust.   This is less bitter than the coal fired pizza’s you will find at the Grimaldi’s restaurants here in Arizona.   The fennel sausage on my pizza was rather flavorful.

During our time at the restaurant, customer traffic never slowed.   The wait staff was kept on their feet, sometimes to the point of being forgetful.   I had ordered a post-dinner espresso, but the bartender was distracted and forgot it in the 15 feet between us and the coffee machine.   Not wanting to cause further confusion, I let it pass, paid the bill and left.  There were still several parties waiting to be seated when we exited.

So what’s the final verdict?   The prices are reasonable for the size of the pizzas.  The pizzas were flavorful and ingredients were fresh.  Are the pizzas the best in the U.S.?  That one is a bit harder to call.   The wait worth it?  Not really.   I still stand my maximum 30 minute wait time limit.   Also, if you are claustrophobic or demophobic you should stay away from this establishment.