Sovrana Grocery Bakery & Deli

First of all I must say that I was shocked on how amazing this place was. From the outside you may not even think it would be good but then you walk in and smell and see the pizza on the counter. I always know when I go in there I will have options! Today I got a tomato and cheese and a veggie slice. They will heat the slice up if you want it to be. The dough is so soft and fresh and the toppings are amazing. I also got some chocolate chip cookies. They tasted like my grandmother made them! Everything is just truly delicious and always filling. While sitting there (it is tiny inside) I saw so many people come in and they greeted everyone with welcoming tones. By far the best pizza in the Albany area!

The place is a hole in the wall. It’s dirty. It’s dingy. It’s yellowed from years of grit and grime. Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with hole in the wall, divey, gritty places. In fact, Sovrana has a certain «we’ve been here forever» charm to it. You feel like you’re a part of Albany history when you’re there.
But people actually like the pizza? Are you kidding me?
It’s thick, and doughy. Too thick. Too doughy. It’s soft and pillowy, and not in a good way. The dough has absolutely no flavor. I’m hesitant to call it a crust, because good pizza crust is well, crusty, and crunchy, but Sovrana’s is like eating raw dough.
I liked the toppings on the sausage and hot peppers slice I ordered (it’s a white pizza with no red sauce). It had a nice spicy in your face kick, and the sausage was good enough. But that thick, doughy, flavorless ‘crust’ brought the whole slice down. I also tried a regular cheese slice. It was worse. The red sauce and cheese were bland. I had to douse the crap out of the thing with shaky parm to make it palatable.
Perhaps there was a day, many years ago, when Sovrana’s pizza was good and one of the better pizzas in the area. But today, they’re sadly out of step. Methinks the world has moved on, but Sovrana has not. The only redeeming quality of the pizza is that it’s dirt cheap.
One star for the sausage and peppers slice. One star because it won’t break the bank.

Love this place. The pizza is so much better than madison, Soho, pizzaroni, café lark, just about everywhere in the pizza wasteland that is Albany. It’s a family owned place making their own pizza. Seemed like nice people too. A cheese slice is only $ 1.50 and it fills you up. Actual flavorful crust/​sauce/​cheese. What more could you ask for?

When I lived in the immediate area of Sovrana, it was my ultimate destination for pizza. However, in recent years, following a move to a different section of the city, I’ve largely forgotten about the Albany staple. In those years I’ve struggled mightily in finding a pizza shop that delivers consistently tasty pies and wings at a reasonable price. With my loyalty up for grabs, I decided to return to Sovrana for the first time in over five years.
I ordered a large half pepperoni/​half cheese pizza and an order of ten mild chicken wings at about 6:15pm on a Friday night in late November. My call was answered promptly and was told the order would take 45 minutes to complete. I found this to be reasonable considering the time of night I ordered. When I arrived 50 minutes later, I found the shop to be empty, but my food was ready to go. I added an éclair on to my order and the total came to just over $ 20. The price is unbeatable in our local world of pizza. Note that Sorvana does not take credit cards, but there is an ATM in the shop.
Upon my first bite, I remembered exactly why Sovrana was one of my very favorite pizza shops in the Capital Region. If you are expecting a thin crust pie with delicately placed toppings, then I suggest you move on from here. The pie at Sovrana is thick, the cheese is plentiful, and the toppings are used quite liberally. While this might sound a bit overwhelming, as it is at other places in the area, Sovrana seems to have found a way to make it work. Sure, you’re not walking away after eating this food ready to run a marathon, but should you ever feel light on your toes after eating pizza? I suggest not. I would have preferred a crispier crust, but that was remedied after ten extra minutes in the oven once I got home. The wings were also quite good, and while I have no problem with a little bit of heat, I found the mild wings to have an unexpected kick. You may want to keep that in mind if you have picky eaters in your group. As one final piece of advice, I strongly urge you to try one of the homemade eclairs. They are so decadent, but so worth the caloric assault on your body. Again, what’s the point of having a pizza night if you are counting calories?
If it’s been a few years, it’s time to give Sorvana another try. I’m already looking forward to my next visit.

A solid pizza shop, whose longstanding presence as one of the last merchants left on a hardscrabble stretch of North Lake in Albany is a testament to the quality of pies they put out. The place has been known to SUNY Albany and St. Rose students for years now, and for good reason; it’s far superior to the other take-​out options near the student neighborhoods.
The dough is a touch thicker than other New York style options, but the dough is good quality and cooked to produce the right amount of softness while still providing enough body for the toppings. Sauce is modestly applied and balances nicely with the rest of the toppings.
The décor is no frills, but has a couple tables if you’d like to stick around and eat. They also offer slices, but the correct play is just to order full pizzas at their stellar prices. Large cheese pizza starts at $ 8.50 per pie, with a variety of options (white, gluten free). Save room for one of their eclairs.

If you are a fan of thick crust, doughy pizza, this is your spot! Small, local, and family owned are some characteristics that makes this place worth trying.

My wife, daughter, and I stopped by for famous slices of Sovrana pizza. Yep, the crust was everything they said it would be. Very delicious — even after my daughter spilled vitamin water on hers. My wife enjoyed this brief moment of nostalgia from her days a UAlbany. She would have given it a 5 but she wasn’t hammered and it wasn’t 4:30 in the morning.

Sovrana’s is a tiny, dusty, sun-​faded hole in the wall. You would think the taste of the food made there would reflect that, but it absolutely does not. They make the very best sandwich in the entire world, the Mama Sovrana special. On freshly made bread is layered succulent, thinly sliced prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers, and olive oil/​balsamic dressing infused with basil. Lettuce, tomatoes, and onions are optional. If Heaven has a price it is $ 7, and comes in the form of this hoagie.

What I like about this place, not so much about pizza but about the lady in front. She is like my grandma, very nice, and easy to talk to. Though their pizza crust is not as thin as I expected in a New York pizza, their homemade dough is really good. I found the pizza a bit bland that i had to sprinkle some salt on top. Oh and they even had ground garlic powder for you to sprinkle on top of the pizza which is very Italian/​Greek? Anyhow, its a very friendly mom and pop pizza with cheap price ($ 2-​$ 3.5/slice; $ 10-​$ 16/​whole pizza) Dont forget to try their home-​made Greek vanilla ice-​cream and the eclairs ($ 2 each)!! I definitely have to come back for the Eclairs. Now cheers :)

Best pizza in the Albany area. Extra points because the pizza has a unique thicker style and does not try to be New York City style pizza. The pizza is better than anything New York City has ever produced.

I really wanted to support Sovrana with rave reviews because it’s 1) local and; 2) a family-​owned business. It’s down the street from work, and as a teacher who throws lots of pizza parties for her students, I needed a reliable local pizzeria with great food and great prices.
For the most part, Sovrana has awesome pizza. I’ve had the opportunity to order from them multiple times, and think that their XL pizzas at ~$ 10 each weren’t too badly priced when I’m feeding hangry middle-​schoolers. However, that’s where my positive review ends because everything else sucks — their customer service sucks, and their delivery sucks.
Each time I’ve called to phone in an order, the woman who picks up the phone is abrupt and rude. I asked every time if it was possible to send the pizza at a certain time as lunch periods are very short; each time she’s assured me that the pizza will get there on time as requested and consistently each time the delivery man has been late. How is it possible to be late every single time when Sovrana is literally down the street AND I phone in the order 2 – 3 hours earlier? The first two times I’ve phoned in, my orders have been on average 20 minutes late. When you’re working at a school, lunch is limited to a half hour so when the delivery comes in late, you’ve got less than 10 minutes to feed kids before they can get back to class. The last time I ordered I asked for the pizza to be delivered at 12:15 PM and the pizza didn’t come in until ONE HOUR LATER! Seriously? The whole lunch period has come and gone, and I had disappointed kids that day.
I called twice that day to check up on my order, and when I reminded the woman on the phone that the food she assured me would be on time was now an hour late, she was very rude and told me to refuse the pizza if I wanted to when the delivery man finally came around. She then proceeded to hang up on me without apologizing for the late delivery. Very disappointing and frustrating experience. I will no longer support Sovrana and will bring my business elsewhere.

We (30 +) used Sovrana for our office holiday party. Such great food. All raved. So much food that leftover items made lunch the next day! We had trays of lasagna, ziti, salad and sausage w/​carmelized onions and green peppers. Wow – awsome.

Sovrana’s has the best gluten free pizza. They make their own dough which is delicious. They may look a little run down but do not be mistaken, their pizza is amazing! Does anyone know if they are still open? I tried calling today and no one answered!

now i can update my review. as a 37 yr old, old man this place thankfully has held up. ate a plain slice (same order as a college senior), and damn! i think i ate the fountain of youth! so f’n good! i feel like im back in college and loving it. 1 of the best plain slices i’ve ever eaten. will be bringing a pie home for sure. oh yea, 1.75 a slice? best 1.75 i’ve spent in a while!

Not quite New York-​style thin crust, not quite deep dish. The bread is doughy and chewy and isn’t bad if you like that kind of a slice. The cheese and sauce aren’t bad either. But their pizzas are certainly one of those heavy-​on-​the-​greasy varieties. Personally, I just prefer New York-​style thin crust like Dino’s. Sovrana’s isn’t bad if you like a breadier kind of pizza.
Another gripe of mine, though, is that their hours are hard to define. I can never tell when they’re open. I only made it in today, because although the front door was locked and the place looked closed, the owner was around to actually unlock the door and kindly let us in for the first fresh pie of the day. He’s Italian, so that lends a bit of a charm to the place. But all I’m saying is that the pizza’s really not worth going out of your way for.

not what i remember At one time this was a staple for pie in Albany. I wanted to take a walk down memory lane so I ordered a pie and went to pick it up. WOW, the place had went down hill, The slice pie on the counter looked old days old and I was very skeptical. My was not ready so I waited around for another 15 and finally it arrived. When I got home I was really let down. The crust was tough and the sauce was sweet almost nonexistent cheese not good. All around not good, With so many options in Albany no reason to go here.
Sometimes a memory is better keep a memory.
Stay away.

I think this is the best pizza in Albany. The homemade cannolis are the bomb too. #thatisall

It’s been over a decade since I wolfed down a slice of Sovrana’s pizza, but I can still taste it. And I still want it. Bad.
When anyone mentions «Albany,» or the state capitol is on the news, like Pavlov’s dog I think: Sovrana’s pizza.
Perhaps a road trip is in order.

So Daniel, you have to be a little fearless to sample the full Albany. When the neighborhood wasn’t so run down, I think lots of people used to come here. But that was another era, obviously.
I think it’s because the place is so dingy that it looks like the pies are 8 years old. They are actually fresh, though Lou Bea’s is still my fave. I’ve been at Sovrana when they’ve pulled various fresh pies out of the oven and other people come in and order stuff. Depending on who’s working, you may have to persuade them to put your slice in for longer to make it hot, but they will always comply.
Once I had an eggplant calzone that was divine.
Also, the home made eclairs are really, really good!

I have a feeling something happened to this place. Or something bad happened here. Or something bad is happening here in the back, or behind the curtain.
It was unclear from Shawn S’s review if this was solely a takeout joint, or if you could dine-​in. So, I decided to call ahead.
Me: I am new to town, and I was wondering if you are take out only, or can i eat there?
Them: Well, uh, we have… chairs.
So, I was still unclear, but it did not sound very promising. We decided to drive by, and if there was no place to eat, we’d just take our pizza to go. For the record, Sovrana has 2 four-​tops and 2 two-​tops.
Inside, the place does not look like much. In some ways it looks abandoned. They had some very old looking pizza sitting out for slices. They had a mostly empty ice cream case with frozen over pints of ben & jerry’s and a few other novelties. They had a mostly empty bakery case with a mostly empty tray that held 8 chocolate chip cookies. There was more, but you get the picture.
What I did not see was any kind of pizza oven. Presumably it was in the back.
While we were there, between 6:24 and 7:10 on a Tuesday we did not see any other pizza’s come out of the kitchen, but ours. Nobody came in to get a pie. Nobody even called and ordered over the phone.
Nonetheless… somehow… our pizza managed to come out not piping hot. It would be difficult to call it hot at all. More of a strong warm. And while I can see how the crust could be called focaccia like, to me it just seemed chewy and doughy. To be fair, I am biased towards crisp-​tender thin-​crust.
The wings were exactly like Shawn S. described. So I was not disappointed. I kept an open mind. They were fine. But it’s certainly not The Ale House. At least they were hot.
But it was a weird night at Sovrana’s:
We translated the My Linh menu to a Burmese refugee so that she could transliterate it back into Karen for her daughter who was looking for a job.
We saw a man come in and buy six of those sad looking chocolate chip cookies.
Two different kids came in and bought some of the frozen novelties out of the ice cream freezer with copious amounts of small change.
And with our pizza and wings, they gave us a mysterious tub of mayonnaise like substance.
All to the soundtrack of late 70s early 80s hits, that came from the boombox. It could have been a mix tape. Maybe it was the radio. But it has been a long time since I have heard «Come Sail Away» played without a touch of irony.