Jerk Oceano

OH my and wow. He only serves what he has planned for the night but it is awesome. 4 or 5 items to choose from
Fresh and spectacular.

Can you give zero stars?! Please. I can not even begin to say how awful this place is. Just hopefully they will close soon — you would think — since I drive past it on my way home everyday and if it’s even open there are maybe 2 or 3 people. I’ve heard from other chefs the owner just doesn’t care. Confusing why you go from a busy, cult followed pizzeria to horrible confusing concept food. Is it too much to ask for a cool, laid back restaurant close to my home with good food?! Hopefully it will close so something decent can go in the little space.

The menu changes as often as there are good fresh ingredients. This restaurant is amazing. We have eaten at this establishment many times and the menu is always an culinary adventure. The owner is a inventive culinary genius. We look forward to the next adventure.

Don’t waste your time. Terrible service, overrated food.

I have never had a meal this amazing! The spicy beef on coco bread, the fresh wahoo and finished off with a tres leche are delicious!!! Everyday they have a new menu and I honestly can’t wait for the next time I visit :) oh and the staff are super sweet and welcoming!

My husband and I had our first date here years ago and fell instantly in love. The chef owner use to have a lot of fun with his creative and delicious pizza menu! We watched the menu stray farther and farther from pizza and into other dishes over the years and now they don’t serve pizza at all. Their answer to this, a new location called Swell in Delray, pales in comparison to what use to be Pizzeria Oceano. And with basically 3 items on the menu to boot… you can get additional pizza toppings on the side. How pretentious and inhospitable. To us, it’s a sad turn they’ve taken. We use to recommend this place to everyone…

What the fudge? How you take the best pizza concept in town and blow it up is beyond me. Shame. Shame. Shame.

Our family went back the other day to our favorite Pizza Joint and was informed that they are no longer a Pizzeria. Then change your name! The website is still:
.
Kids were disappointed!

So sad ! No more pizza!
FYI, they no longer serve pizza. Possibly the best I ever had but went to Al Fresco at Palm Beach Par 3 on A1A
Great pizza too but will still miss you Oceano

The food is amazing you have to get there right when it opens or you will be waiting a long time. So fresh and original

I’ve been coming here for over four years. I have never had a bad or just Okay meal here ever. The chef/​owner Dak is truly an artist and I always enjoy watching him do what he does best which is make killer food.
As others have mentioned the menu changes daily and all of the ingredients are fresh. Dak makes his own mozzarella and pizza dough. He even grows his own basil.
I came here last night and had his wing beans appetizer which consisted of fennel seed, crispy salame, tomato, goat feta and a fried shallot. all I can say is that it was awesome. The texture and flavors that the ingredients brought together were phenomenal.
I went with his basic pie and added garlic to it. The pie was excellent as it always is. It has just the right amount of crunch to it and it is slightly charred on the bottom. I love watching him work his magic at the oven. He is constantly spinning and moving the pie around in the oven. He is so detail oriented so each pie is cooked to perfection. You really can see the love that he puts into his food which seems to be so rare these days. He also only cooks one pie at a time which I think is great.
In conclusion if you appreciate phenomenal food that is creative and fresh Pizzeria Oceano is for you. Three important points are, cash only, don’t wear perfume or cologne if you want to sit inside and lastly wait patiently for your food it will be well worth it.

This is an unexpected find in Lantana! Fantastic pizza and pasta, but this isn’t a red sauce joint. Menu changes daily and always includes creative dishes using local ingredients. Impressive beer and wine selection too. Just know, when you dine here you’re in good hands.
Also, some of the freshest seafood being served here. The guy with the catch brings it straight off the boat.

Best of the best of the best

Be ready to eat the best pizza you’ve probably ever had and made with the finest ingredients. Be ready to wait. Be ready to be told what to do. Be ready to pay cash only. This place is not about you it’s about the food they put out. Reminds me of that Seinfeld episode about the soup.

We had to see what all the hype was about and I have to say we were all disappointed.
The food was good but the over all experience was not enjoyable at all.
We had four people and had to wait an hour to get sat since they have very little seating. The outdoor seating they have is barely covered so we had to hold umbrellas for half the meal since it was raining. Staff was friendly but very flustered since everyone comes at once and the guy seating us sat another group that came after us before we were sat.
They have very limited options (no pepperoni) to add to the pizza.
The two pizzas we ordered took around 35 – 40 minutes to get to the table

I will NEVER go back again.
Maybe the worst service I’ve ever had. We were there on a Friday night. My party of four ordered 2 fish soup appetizers and 3 pizzas. A pretty substantial order. 45 minutes later we still have yet to receive our soups even though a party who arrived/​ordered after us received their soup.
The waitress and the manager never bothered to check on us or apologize for the wait. Even when we told the manager we were canceling our order and leaving there was no hesitation or attempt to make things right. He just said casually, «Okay.»
The waitress then came over with the check for the beer we ordered, took our money, and brought back the change all without a single word.
I will NEVER go back again.

After hearing about this place for far longer than I can recall and talking about going for an equally long time the girlfriend and I finally went to the «infamous» Pizzeria Oceano in Lantana.
My initial reaction to the place itself is something from the Jersey boardwalk. It’s a nice wooden patio/​deck with white lights hanging overhead. Inside is a small bar that sits 4 – 6 people and a small table for 2 over to the side. There a few tables outside on the patio but it was raining quite hard this night. We actually think the rain worked in our favor as we got a seat at the bar without any issues.
The place makes no bones about things being their way or the highway. It’s cash only but there is an ATM on site. They open around 6ish. If they aren’t ready, they don’t open until they are ready. No substitutions. They post their daily menu on their website ahead of time so you can plan if you want to go in or not. They do have their basic pie that you can add things onto but you can’t do anything with the specialty ones. There is no take out and they have no phone. Groups of 5 or more may not be accommodated. Did I mention it’s small? People that complain about long waits at this place either have severe mental issues that prevent them from comprehending that small, busy places will take awhile for you to be seated or you are a self entitled asshat that believes every business in the world should cater to you and only you. Anyway back to our experience.
We had our drink order taken by Jay, who was extremely polite and asked if we had any questions about the menu. They have a nice craft beer selection in bottles and cans, which they rotate, and a little bit of wine for the vine lovers. We opted for their standard pie that has tomato sauce, mozzarella, pecorino and baby spinach. We added capicola to ours. We watched as the pizza chef behind the bar made our pizza right in front of us. In no time flat we had it in front of us (yes again, it was not busy on a rainy night).
The pizza was nothing less than superb. I loved the crunch of the crust mixed with the gooey cheese, rich sauce and salty capicola. The baby spinach adds a nice extra dimension as well. The girlfriend, who notoriously is a light eater, finished her entire half of the pizza. Believe me, this is a big feat for her and a huge compliment to how much she enjoyed this pie.
We opted for dessert, which was a blueberry and lime yogurt loaf. I admit that I hadn’t the faintest idea what these words in that order meant but what the hell. I was pleasantly surprised with a slice of a loaf that appeared to have yogurt and blueberries baked into it. Powder sugar topped it off. It was quite delicious. The tartness of the blueberries intermingled with the acidic natural of the lime and the mouthfeel of the yogurt quite well.
Yes as many people have pointed out they are a bit pricey but you are paying for what you are getting. And what you are getting is some of the freshest ingredients available that are purchased, most of the time, that same day from local businesses. I would rather pay a little more for great quality and to support locals over saving money on processed garbage.
There was no smug or rude behavior from the staff that I saw. They did turn away a group of 5 because they simply had no space due to the rain but Jay was more than polite and the group completely understood. Again, most people that complain were probably assholes to the staff after they were initially told something politely and think they can just walk all over a business’ employees.
To conclude, I buy the hype on Pizzeria Oceano. I drink the Kool Aid. I swear my soul. These folks make awesome pizza with local, quality ingredients in a small, fun location. If you can’t appreciate this place, good, leave it to those of us that do. And there are a lot of us.

Finally, a restaurant experience rousing enough to get me to write a Unilocal review.
I’ve heard about this place through a few foodie friends of mine and I must say it did sound really cool: small menu that was made daily, wood-​burning oven pizza, cash only, etc. The only problem was that it is way up in Lantana (well, the only problem that was apparent through checking out their website…). But hey, fine, it’s close to Due South Brewery, let’s make it a night. Wife and I got the babysitter set up and we embarked on one of our far-​too-​scarce date nights.
We got there at 8:15, a time I don’t think anyone would consider ‘too late’ to go out for dinner, especially when the restaurant doesn’t open until 6pm (from their website). Cute little place, not much seating inside, but what was not so cute was the woman who greeted us, or should I say addressed, as we entered the door:
Me: «Hi, could we have a table for two, please?»
Her: «Uh, we are sold out.»
Me, clearly confused: «Oh, sold out? Like you’re booked for the night?»
Her: «We are sold out of food,» as she steps away to run some of this elusive food.
Dumbfounded, we stood there with what had to have been some of the most extreme representations of ‘WTF?’ that faces can make.
The one positive experience out of this whole ordeal was that soon after this happened, a gentleman came up to me and my wife and attempted to coach us through what had just went down. He explained that what she meant was that they make a limited amount of dough everyday, pointing to their daily menu. He told us that they were actually ‘sold out’ by around 7, showing us his list of names, and how the last table was just about to be sat. He went on to inform us that most of their guests that night had arrived before 6pm and that it is common practice to do so, as they frequently sell all their food by around 7−8pm. Encouraging us to come back again soon, he also advised us to check out their website for more information.
We both used the bathroom as we had just been in the car for an hour. Before awkwardly exiting the scene, I counted the number of names on their guest list. 24 names, with 2 yet to be crossed out. I was curious to see how many people it must take to sell a restaurant out of food in a single hour of being opened. Not that many, I guess.
Too confused to be angry (that came later), we went back to our car and desperately began Unilocaling to find an alternative.
Needless to say, won’t be back.

Finally made it to Oceano on a day it was open, and in a state of starvation, but I had to wait and drool while the doors stayed closed until about 5:40. I’d read the menu online hours earlier and was ready to order immediately. The menu changes daily, which is a good thing reflecting the use of only the freshest ingredients. I ordered an appetizer of «lardo with grapes» on lightly toasted bread (a little steeply priced at $ 9), one regular Margherita Pizza and one of the rotating special pizzas of the night (there are usually 3 pizza options), which was the White Pizza.
Waitress was friendly and competent, and everything satisfied my ravenous hunger. I think I could have eaten almost an entire pie myself, so if you go with a group of 4 as I did, you will need to order 2 pies if not 3, which would give you an opportunity to try all of the pies on the menu that day.
I still have concerns recommending Oceano based on the irregular hours, cash-​only pricing, communication challenges (no phone number or answering machine if you manage to find the number), and the wait time (which I’m told can be lengthy though I arrived at opening to avoid this problem). Also this is a mostly outdoor venue (some seating inside, but if you go more likely you will be at an outdoor covered table), so this would be a difficult place to dine in our summer, in our tropical rain, or in times of heavy mosquito infestation, which is pretty frequently.
Bottom line: the pizza was very good, maybe even ⁴⁄₅ (my ³⁄₅ rating reflects the whole experience), but not the best I’ve had in South Florida (that crown goes to Lucali in Miami Beach) and not something I would drive from Miami/​FLL for. I was so hungry that this could have easily been the best pizza I’d ever had, but wasn’t. But if I lived nearby, and the weather was right for outside dining, I’d be a regular.
PS: The dessert (which probably also changes daily) was a banana coconut rum cream pie which was really incredible — if I lived nearby I’d also be finding out where that came from and visiting frequently.
If you want to know if Oceano is open, find the website, and look at the menu. If it shows the current day of the week, assume it opens «around» 5:30 on that day, but don’t come too late because the closing time is also unpredictable.

This was easily one of the top 5 pizzas of my life, if not the best ever.
For what it’s worth, I grew up on Long Island, went to school in Brooklyn, and worked in NYC. So I’ve gone through some pretty good pizza.
I’ve had much of the best of NYC including Rays, Johns, Keste, Don Antonio etc. And more recently, in Florida, I’ve enjoyed Harry’s, of course Anthony’s, Tucci’s, Nick’s, Scuola Vecchia, and more.
But Pizzeria Oceano has got to be at or very close to the top.
The service is friendly and excellent. I saw zero «Food Nazi» encounters. I think one server (excellent) was «Jay» and then there was another, Erik, who was just terrific.
As I was sitting at the counter, a farmer walked in with boxes of fresh local greens (arugula, basil, etc) and delivered them to the kitchen. Minutes later, I was enjoying some of the basil on my slices.
Open Tuesday-​Saturday from appx 5:30 until not sure.
Cash only, expect a wait, just chill. Good craft beers and wine.