Black Sheep Coal Fired Pizza

They just expanded this restaurant so that there is more seating and a dedicated bar area — the bar area is a little awkward, so the add doesn’t really do much besides being able to maybe offer more alcoholic beverages. But the extra space was probably much needed!
As a first-​timer, I was pleasantly surprised with this place. We initially tried to go to Freehouse but the wait was 1.5+ hours, so decided to try this place out. I’ve always heard great things. Once seated, we requested a booth rather than the high tops, and were immediately accommodated. It’s a cute, simple, modern space, and the service is fantastic. Everyone who we came in contact with were super helpful and friendly.
We shared a small pizza (persian beef, feta, harissa) and tried new grilled meats (spicy lamb sausage). They were both FANTASTIC. The spicy lamb sausage was tender, flavorful, perfectly balanced, and perfectly cooked — snappy skin but soft insides, paired with perfectly crunchy pickled veggies and a little bit of bread. The pizza was SO interesting — the beef was deliciously spiced and tender. The harissa adds a little bite but isn’t overwhelming and surprisingly, neither is the feta, which was really balanced with the normal cheese that comes with the pizza. They also have a great list of beers and ciders available and your waiter/​waitress I’m sure can recommend great drinks if you’re confused with the list or debating.
Will definitely be back — the price is right, the ambience is great, the staff is fantastic, the food is amazing.

Rude service and slopplily-​made pizza: Lunch with a friend, an older man who, that day, was not particularly well-​dressed. He ordered minimally and had only water to drink. Hyper-​hipster waiter rolled his eyes and sarcastically asked «that’s all you’re ordering??»
Really?
On top of that, this, the second time I’ve been, the pizza was burnt. Previously, crust was soggy. Avoid at all costs.

This place was voted the best pizza in Minnesota by the Food Network, and while it was good, I’m not so sure I’d be quick to agree. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but probably not my favorite pizza in MN.
Service was fast and friendly and accommodated our walk-​in group of around 11 people (they don’t take reservations even though their website says to call for reservations).
Menu is simple and small, which is a nice and welcomed change of pace. Lengthy menus can be overwhelming, although, I wouldn’t have been opposed to a little more variety.
They specialize in coal-​fired pizza, as opposed to trendy wood-​fired pizzas.
I’d say this place is worth checking out, but so are other pizza places in the Twin Cities area.

I ate here yesterday and had a terrible experience. So thought I’d give a day to blow it off. However thoughts remain the same. As a new customer waitress did horrible job with menu. There is something called the Sicilian. They make 3 a day. Intriguing… Yet when I asked why it was special she said «Nothing, we just make 3 and that’s it.» Weird. Ordered one it was delicious!!! However pair this with the snottiest waitress on the planet, the multiple order screw ups and mediocre pizza… I’d avoid it. I’ll never be back. If trying to find quality, fun joint. Skip this one.

What a great spot. Took the kids for an early dinner and they loved it.
We shared the spinach salad with tomatoes and blue cheese. Only nit might be too much dressing, but kids are never going to complain about that. Also got the bread to start with. No cheese was a kid disappointment at first, turned out they loved it with the oil and oregano.
We had a pizza with fennel sausage, pepperoni, and roasted red peppers. Hit with me and with the kids. The weight was too much for the crust in the center of the pie, but not sure that can be avoided.
Great place, great service. The kids insist we are coming back.

Maybe it’s because I love Punch Pizza so much, this just didn’t compare. I know it’s coal fired and not brick oven, but I just couldn’t get past that. The crust was crunchy and sort of overdone. The pizza tasted fine but again, I love Punch!

Overhyped. We’ve eaten here a few times. The first time, we thought this place was amazing! We tried a salad and shared a pizza.
Second and third time we came, we were less in love with the food. We tried the meatballs. We LOVE meatballs and could not even finish them here.
We’ve tried several of their pizzas. Crust is great, ingredients are very fresh. For some reason though, they seem to lack flavor. They’re decent, just not great.

I love the casually chic interior of the place and the pizza is awesome. They seriously know what there doing. Don’t forget to get a salad too, sometimes, I think about my amazing salad I had there more than my pizza.

Cute spot with delicious pizza and appetizers!
A gf and I stopped in here for some wine and apps and ended up getting a giant pizza (after drinking the entire bottle of wine). Haha. But it was very good pizza!
The menu is simple and short and the staff is friendly and attentive but left us alone in our loud, wine-​influenced chatting so we could catch up. The food came out quickly too so no hangry girls to deal with. Haha.
Warning: the warm olives (in an herbed olive oil) with flatbread is very, very addicting.
I have since ordered delivery from this place multiple times and the pizza is always delicious. I love coal-​fired pizza and this place does it very well.

Went on a Sunday night to the North Loop location with a friend and split a large pizza so we could take some home for leftovers. The meatball, ricotta, and garlic pizza was pretty good! I love crispy crust, but it was burnt on the edges so my friend picked it off. We were thinking about getting our own toppings, but that can get a little pricey. After reading the other reviews though, I was expecting to be swept off my feet. That didn’t really happen, but it’s not to say I won’t be back for some quality pizza.

Ahhh, Black Sheep
Love all three locations, but LOVE Nicollet Ave the best. Nicolas and Emily made us feel so at home here. We dined for lunch, had the seasonal salad of Honeycrisp Apple, pine nuts, greens, and several other perfect ingredients! Could have made that the meal, but then there is the BEST pizza on the planet! The oyster mushroom pizza, to die for. I am a big fan of their Mominari salami too! And, didn’t try and skewers items in their awesome griddle… but will!
Black Sheep, you keep out doing yourselves!
Many kudos!

A group of us came in for dinner on a Thursday evening. We had to wait about 25 minutes for a table. We managed to wedge 7 of us into a booth!
We ordered three pizzas:
— Pepperoni
— Fennel Sausage, Pepperoni, fresh garlic, Jalapeños, Onions, and Goat Cheese
— Pepperoni, Bell Peppers, Olives, and tomatoes
I had slices of the Pepperoni and the second pizza — the crust on both was divine. And all of the toppings were delicious! The flavors on the second pizza — really were amazing together — especially the Fennel sausage, garlic, and goat cheese!
Service was good! The place was packed and hopping on a Thursday night! Would definitely come back here again!

Another great option for pizza in the North Loop. We arrived at 6 on a Wednesday and were seated right away, but there was a wait by the time we left so plan accordingly. The pizzas have a nice crust, generous toppings, and a good sauce. They do a great job with their coal fired oven, and the pizza does come out fast as others have noted.
They have a nice atmosphere with private booths if you can snag one. There is a small outdoor area.
It does get a little pricier if you want 3 – 4 toppings and don’t want to go with their preset combos, but this is a common thing in many pizza joints. Custom is gonna cost ya!
They have a small selection of beers on tap, and a few nice choices of wine. No liquor.
Parking, unfortunately, is metered… but we paid a whopping 25 cents for 2 hours. Hey city — why bother!

The only coal fired pizza in Minnesota. and it’s damn good!
Try the #4, #5 or #7. And the chop salad!
But really, you can’t go wrong with any of it.

I order frequently from black sheep for work and personal purposes — five star service and food. They go above and beyond to correct any mistakes. I asked for a salad with no blue cheese, but got the cheese anyhow. Not only did they send out a new salad, they sent a gift token for our next order. So great! Stop by Black Sheep — you won’t be disappointed.

Solid place. It took me many years to try Black Sheep since I’m a Punch Pizza mega lover, but I finally came here last weekend!
We walked in at 7:30pm and it was packed, but they were handing out free samples of pizza with cheese and sauce. Great perk! I was already a fan. We got seated pretty quickly despite how busy they were. Luckily enough, we got a booth and there were 3 of us.
Mr. C. and I ordered root beer, and I was looking forward to 1919 from what the menu advertised. When it came, our server said they had just switched over to Lift Bridge (Stillwater, MN) and it was delicious. Sis ordered their House White which was an unoaked chardonnay. Yummy. We started with their Chop Salad which has lettuce, olives, pepperoni, chickpeas, tomatoes and a red wine vinaigrette. It was great, and large enough to share. We asked for a side of their buttermilk blue cheese dressing, and we were pretty glad we did. Turns out, it makes a divine dipping sauce for pizza crusts too!
We ordered 2 pizzas, both 12 inches. Number 5 and Number 11. The Persian Beef was killer! Tasted so good with the feta cheese and tomatoes. Crust was nice and charred, and thicker than I had imagined. Only issue we had was that it arrived absolutely covered in an alarming amount of chopped cilantro, which was not in the menu description at all. I am a huge cilantro fan, I could eat it on everything, but even this was a heck of a lot, when a sprinkling or two would have sufficed. We ate it anyway, and it just kinda fell off the pizza in spades. Moving on. Number 5 — Fennel Sausage, hot salami and green olives. This was Mr. C’s favourite. I’m not really into the sausage, but I absolutely adore green olives, so I made sure to get the pieces that had the most olives on them. The ones that fell off the pizza onto the tray, those were mine too!
The Black Sheep is located in an ideal part of the North Loop, close to everything you could possibly want to try, post-​pizza. It is within walking distance to many other restaurants and bars, and if you can find a good parking spot, it’s worth sticking around for an hour or two, maybe going out for a cocktail. Which is exactly what we did. We’ll be back to the Sheep for more pizza when we are in the area!

1.30pm on a cold spring Sunday morning, my local, ‘the freehouse’, was crowded to the point of a 30min wait for a lone place at the bar. 4mins walk away, the black sheep was nearly half empty, warm and sweet smelling.
The staff smiled, were welcoming, offered me free tasters of their beer. Gave me space to read the menu of set offers and work out how to make my own pizza from the toppings. The beers, all brewed locally were all well maintained. Yummy. The mushroom 12 inch was gorgeous. The atmosphere was peaceful. I’ll definitely be back for another…

I may have just had pizza perfection. This place has the best pizza I could ever imagine. I had a half 7 and 5. Go here, discover this. The crust was perfect cross of soft and crispy. Excellent flavor.
I’m pretty sure I had found the place to which I will compare all pizza.

I was surprised at how small the establishment is, but also how fast they were able to serve a long line of parties waiting to be seated.
We came at around 7 and was told we had to wait about 30 minutes for a party of 6. They only seat you when your whole party arrives. Our 3 friends were doing valet parking but the hostess was nice enough to seat us.
We ordered 1.) Meatball and ricotta cheese 2.) Build your own artichoke, pickled peppers and capers for our vegetarian friend, and 3.) Fennel sausage, hot salami, olives and onions and 4.) house salad.
+/​-​The salad was delicious and hit the spot considering I was raging hungry. The only con I had was that I bit into one quarter of a tomato that was actually ice cold… as in the tomato was like an ice cube.
+ My favorite was the sausage and salami pizza but I was craving hot salami since I was born. We ordered half the pizza with olives and other half for those who did not want olives. However, my other friends favored the meatball pizza. I also liked that pizza but it was a bit creamier because of the ricotta. The vegetarian pizza was actually not bad although we thought the combination was interesting. The only peeve I have with their pizzas, which is not unique to this place, is that coal fired pizza always have a tinge of char/​smoky flavor on the crust due to the way it’s cooked. Other than that, the food here was on point.
Overall, tiny hiccups but generally our waiter was super nice, friendly, and attentive. The food was great and hit the spot. I will be back when i want my next salami fix.

This is really good pizza and friendly service. We were there early for lunch so I am sure we missed the crowds and wait. The pizza is delicious and full of fresh and tasty toppings. Crust is thin and not soggy — a typical error as some high-​heat/​coal-​fired pizza locations. Crisp and delicious and light is a perfect description. Don’t miss the Oyster Mushroom, Smoked Mozzarella, Rosemary & Garlic [no sauce] Pizza. A small is definitely more than enough for two.