Pizza Nea

So dang cozy. Love this place on a cold winter night with a glass of wine and a steaming pizza in front of my cold face.
Ok, that got weird. Anyway… stopped in to try the place out and was overwhelmed by the list of pizzas, each one sounding delicious! Settled on a classic one with prosciutto, arugula, and parmesan. The environment is very cozy and it was easy to get a table on a Thursday night.
We were an uncomplicated table, but some other tables were a bit more complicated (vegan, gluten free, etc.) and the staff were SO accommodating. This would be a great place to bring someone with diet restrictions, I would say.
I’ll be baaaaaack.

Definitely a fan. Belly up at their upscale type bar or sit at a table, your choice. We started with the Polpette Napoletana antipasto which would be a spicy meatball mess on its own, but perfect with fresh focaccia.
They have the nice beers and wines, but two words. Limonata (and) Aranciata — as in lightly carbonated southern Italian lemon and orange soft drinks. They taste extra syrup-​ee.
The pizza itself was healthy in the Rucola w/​prosciutto and mozzarella. In our mind, the arugula topped after baking is what makes it healthy. We´re sticking with that.
Oh, by the way, engage with these folks on Twitter. They´ve got some sweet wit to them.

Great pizza and a relaxed atmosphere. We were seated right away and our pizza was ready very quickly. A great experience!

Absolutely wonderful find, was going to an Indian restaurant when this little gem showed up, was I in the mood for pizza? why not I gave it a try and I really enjoyed it from the freshly made salad to the wonderful toppings and great service I highly recommend this place.

Went to Nea for dinner on Saturday night… YUM! My sister, the vegan, scoped the place out before hand because she heard they team up with the Herbivorous Butcher for vegan «meats» and «cheese».
I ordered the vegan pizza too because I was curious — and I can’t do dairy. Wow, it was so good. Truly, I couldn’t tell that I was eating a fake meat. It was a spicy «sausage» and had so much flavor. Loved it. The crust at Nea was really good too. I can’t wait to bring my husband here — he will love it. Maybe the teen too… if he’s good.
Located on East Hennepin and University Avenues, straight across from Surdyks. Great location. Parking is everywhere — lots, ramp, meters… but you have to pay for all of it. Cheap though, so no biggie. The dining room is small, but I didn’t see anyone being turned away. We were glad to get there early to get a big table for our group of 6. They have a modest but tasty beer menu, only just 2 on tap… the rest bottled.
Prices were moderate. I paid $ 23 for a pizza and a beer. Not cheap — but not bank-​breaking either. I’m actually starting to get hungry writing about it!

Having just returned from Italy I can tell you Pizza Nea is authentic Italian style pizza.
Their margarita pizza and margarita with buffalo mozzarella are as close as you can get to the real deal in MN. They take it a step further with the arugula topped pizza and the other varieties, but it is good stuff. I enjoy the local brews on tap too.

I can easily see Pizza Nea becoming our go-​to pizza place. Why, you ask? A few things – 1) it might have been luck, but we went on a Friday night and got a spot without waiting, 2) they have an expansive menu with lots of yummy, creative veggie options, 3) you can get vegan meats like sausage, pepperoni and ham and vegan cheese from the Herbivorous Butcher on your pizza for a nominal extra charge, 4) it tastes flippin delicious. That neapolitan style is a winner with me – you can eat pizza without feeling like you ate a loaf of bread. And did I mention meat-​free meats from the Herbivorous Butcher?! Move over mock duck!
Admittedly the service was a little spotty when we were there, but when I asked a neighboring waitress for another glass of wine, she got right on it. Probably just a fluke, so I’m not knocking a star for this isolated incident.

Wow is all I can say.
Stumbled upon Pizza Nea because we were too indecisive to go anywhere we’d already been. The interior is quaint, charming and romantic. I would seriously suggest this place for date night or a quiet dinner. While it is similar to Punch, it’s a definite upgrade. You can tell everything is homemade and fresh and the service was also a plus.
Our favorites:
Bruschetta
Caprese Salad
Caprino e Treccione
Pollo al Pesto
We will for sure be going back soon — highly recommend this place!

Came in for lunch on a weekday. I was greeted by the server who was very friendly and attentive. The place is clean and inviting. I ended up ordering their small salad and small pizza special. For the salad I got to Rucola, which was fresh and tasty. I ordered the caprese pizza which was absolutely delicious. The crust had the perfect crunch to it without being overly charred, you still get the charred flavor without the burns unlike other pizza places. The server recommended I try their red chili flakes infused olive oil which added the kick I wanted!
Would definitely come back here, and next time I’ll be sure to order a large pizza!

I know, I know– everyone seems to compare Pizza Nea with Punch. Maybe I’m a little bias since I’ve eaten so many pizzas, from Chicago deep dish to NYC style, and I somehow still love Punch the most. Sorry Nea, you were no exception…
Got take-​out and ordered the Salsicce (spicy Italian sausage, roasted red peppers, cracked red pepper, mozzarella and basil) for my dad, and since I love white pizza, got the Boscaiola (mushrooms, smoked mozzarella, parmigiano-​regiano, red onion, parsley and black pepper) for myself. The owners were incredibly friendly when I arrived, and I only had to wait a couple minutes for the pizzas to be ready.
Got home, plunged down, and stuffed the pie in my pie hole (I was ravenously hungry, as you can tell) but I was unfortunately underwhelmed. My pizza was quite bland to me and I much preferred Punch’s chewy dough and rich and melty cheese. Pizza Nea’s crust was thick and crispy, and somewhat dry. My dad on the other hand loved his, and he is anything but a pizza guy (think old, bald guy who functions solely on Chinese food).
Pizza Nea is not bad by any means, just not my kinda pizza. For those of you who love crispy and «firm» (sorry, not mattress firm) dough then Nea’s is your guy (or girl?). But if you’re like me who loves the chewy, pillowy (what is up with all my bed adjectives??) dough with full leaves of basil and ooey-​gooey cheesyness, then stick with Punch.

The pizza was delicious. The staff handled being busy very well. Great service, funny, nice staff. This place is worth a try

I love Pizza Nea. It’s casual, comfortable and stress-​free, and sometimes you just crave that kind of a dining experience. I’ve probably eaten here a dozen times but never thought to write a review. It’s due.
My friend and I came here on Sunday night. She’d never been so I recommended it for a relaxing meal and a nice way to catch up with each other. Service was not quite as prompt as it usually is because they were understaffed on the holiday weekend (Memorial Day), but still it was courteous and friendly and the wait was easily tolerable.
We started with a glass of wine and shared a large Caesar salad. The salad was delicious, crisp and fresh and far superior to so many of the restaurant Caesars that simply pour a glop of bottled «Caesar style» dressing atop a pile of romaine lettuce. In this salad there’s fresh grated parmigiano-​reggiano and a delightful house made dressing. The salad is served with warm focaccia bread. Yum!
Then we shared a pizza. There’s a splendid list of ready made selections, but if you’re not in the mood for a designer pizza you can ask for your own toppings. We ordered Caprino e Treccione: Goat cheese, smoked mozzarella, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, cracked red pepper, oregano and garlic. I’ve copied this from the menu since I couldn’t remember all the ingredients. It was oh, so fresh and baked to perfection. I would not order this one again because it was too hot for my taste, but for me a little cracked red pepper goes a long way. My friend loved it, so I would still rave about it for anyone who likes her pizza spicy hot. I’ve had 7 or 8 other pizzas there that I’ve loved.
The bill was $ 44, very reasonable for all the food and 2 glasses of wine. I highly recommend Pizza Nea!

Tried this place on a groupon. It was a great experience and we will be back without the coupon. We met the owner outside and he told us how he got his start. Great food and great conversation.

Punch Pizza is better if you can’t eat somewhere out of the state. The waitress was super fake-​hyper. Everything was «Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!! You’re going to love it here!!! Wow, amazing! Good choice! Okay!!! Yep, sure! You got it!!» We still tipped 20% because the service itself was okay, but she was annoying.
The meatball app was a joke and not very good. It was 1.5 meatballs in tomato sauce with two wedges of baked pizza dough. The meat was too soft and had a strange texture.
We used a Groupon and still felt like we spent too much. It was $ 40 (incl $ 9 tip) after the discount. The beers you get with the Groupon were tiny. 8 ounces and you can choose from only one of two tap beers. The pizza was okay. The crust was tough to chew through and nothing stood out.

My wife and I arrived a few minutes after opening and were the first guests for dinner. We shared a bruschetta, which was good but needed a little more seasoning. She had a red sauced Insaccato pizza with salami, black olives, sun dried tomatoes and mozzarella. I had a white pizza that was on special which had guanciale, brussel sprouts, ricotta and chili oil. Both pizzas were very good with a thin crisp crust. If I had to make a critique, it would be that the white pizza does not include any type of sauce. Flavors were very good. Service was excellent.

Yesssssssssssssss, bitches.
I’ve never actually been here, I just order delivery through BiteSquad.
All that being said…
Order the stuffed mushrooms. This isn’t a joke. Order them. Do it, bitch. The artichoke dip is off the chain/​titties in the face too. As far as the pizza goes, I’m a simple girl. I always order the Margherita and the Pollo al Pesto — this shit is for real. Amazing crust, the cheese is always oozing and deliciously hot, and I love the quality of their toppings. The chicken is lean and all white meat, although sometimes it is rubbery.
I’m a pizza snob, if I tell you to try a place — try it. This ain’t Dominos or Papa John’s and it’s definitely worth the price tag.

I’m a big fan of Punch Pizza, but this blows them out of the water. The ingredients are so fresh and you can really taste the difference. Service was great — very friendly staff. We sat at the pizza bar and watched the pizza master do his work.
We decided on going for one red and one white, thus the Bianca and the Diavola. The Bianca is very basic, but I thought it was a good indicator on the freshness of the ingredients. I would recommend both, but the Diavola really took the cake since I tend to like more toppings. Both were cooked to perfection and I look forward to going back and trying more.
Kudos!

We dined at Pizza Nea today after trying to eat at The Butcher Block at 3:30pm. They were closed so we decided to try Pizza Nea.
We were the only customers and were warmly greeted by Al. She is fantastic! Al explained the menu and offered some suggestions. Service was prompt, funny and made the visit wonderful. The food is 4 — 4 ½ stars but the service was a 5+.
Salsicce: Spicy Italian sausage, roasted red peppers, cracked red pepper, mozzarella and basil … 12.50 we added mushrooms
Gamberi: Shrimp, roasted red and yellow peppers, pesto, pine nuts and Parmigiano-​Reggiano … 15.50
4 Meat (Quattro something) — spicy Italian sausage, prosciutto, pepperoni and bacon.. $ 14.50
The Salsicce is their most popular and was fantastic with the spicy sausage. The sausage comes chopped up and is great. The tomato salsa is fresh, light and tasty. Mmmm
The Gamberi was great. A little more shrimp and some goat cheese or mozzarella would have made it perfect.
My husband really enjoyed the 4 Meat.
We brought my Down’s Syndrome brother here and Al warmly greeted him. She also looked at him, spoke to him and joked around with him as well. Trust me — 90% or more of servers ignore him completely. When the owner (Mike?) arrived, after we started eating, he asked ALL of us how the food was. That was a nice touch.
We will be back … but I will call and make sure Al is working that day.

We had dinner here the other night with our twin three year olds. It’s a little fancy as far as pizza places go, but our server was great with our kids which helped make it fun for them.
We had a groupon for two pizzas and two drinks, which was a great deal. The crust on the pizzas was delicious, light with a slight charred taste but not burnt at all. The sauce was great too, but there was too little cheese for my taste. Large portions of the pizza had no cheese whatsoever as it appears they use sliced mozzarella, but not nearly enough to cover the whole thing. My wife liked this, but I would have appreciated more. Overall though, it was really good and a great location.

This is a quaint little restaurant and if you blink, you’ll miss it. We started off the night with the Vedure salad, which was pretty standard. To add to that, we tried the bruschetta. There was a layer with of cheese melted to the bread, topped with a tomato oil, and balsamic mixture. The pizza is Neapolitan style, made thin crust and light on the toppings. We decided to try the Funghi Proscuitto Rossa Pizza and a Rucula Bianca Pizza. It was served hot, crispy and the cheese was perfectly melted. The flavor is there with the use of herbs, sauce and rocket (arugula). The pizza was paired with a delicious red wine, which went down very smooth. I wish I could remember the name, but ask the server for some suggestions.
This place was pretty busy on a Thursday night, and people seemed to sit drinking and lingering. We were able to get a seat because we didn’t mind sitting outside in the Fall. I was very impressed by the pizza and it reminded me of some of my favs from my time in Italy! There was plenty of leftovers to take home for another meal for both of us.