La Pizzeria Metro is the most authentic Neapolitan pizza operation in Delaware — and, on the argument of several Philadelphia-based critics, among the most authentic in the Mid-Atlantic. The pizzaioli are Italian-born, trained in Naples, and operate the wood-fired oven with the kind of casual expertise that only comes from having baked several hundred thousand pizzas. The oven runs hot — roughly 900°F — and the dough, a long-fermented 00-flour-and-starter affair, is handled for under a minute before it goes in. The bake lasts about 90 seconds. The result is the soft, charred, slightly wet-centred Neapolitan pie that a pizzeria in the wrong neighbourhood of Brooklyn would charge you $28 for.
The ingredient list is the real thing. San Marzano DOP tomatoes. Caputo flour from Naples. Fior di latte, or mozzarella di bufala when you pay for it. Sea salt, basil, and a drizzle of proper olive oil. The Margherita — the benchmark pie for any VPN-trained operation — is fifteen dollars and a minor miracle of simplicity. The Marinara, tomato and garlic and oregano and nothing else, is even simpler and arguably more revealing. Beyond the classics there is a long and interesting list of more elaborate pizzas — the Diavola with spicy salami, the Pistacchio with mortadella and ricotta, the seasonal specials that rotate with whatever the market produces.
The non-pizza offer is more than an afterthought. The fritti — arancini, fried zucchini blossoms in season, suppli — are handled with the same Neapolitan seriousness. The antipasti board is generous. There is a short handmade-pasta section that most regulars overlook at their peril. The wine list leans Italian with sensible pricing and a strong by-the-glass programme, and the house tiramisu is the correct closer for the evening.
The room itself is lively, loud, slightly cramped, and completely unpretentious. The open kitchen with the wood-fired oven as its centrepiece is the visual focus; the tables are wooden, the music is Italian, the staff are efficient rather than solicitous. La Pizzeria Metro is a neighbourhood restaurant that has achieved regional significance without adjusting a single thing about what it does. That refusal to compromise is, in the end, why it is the best pizzeria in Delaware.
La Pizzeria Metro is a team-dinner solution that reliably satisfies six to twenty diners with almost no logistical friction. The ordering format is simple — one or two fritti and antipasti to share, a whole pizza per three guests cut into slices, a couple of bottles of Montepulciano — and the per-head cost lands around $40 with wine. The kitchen is fast enough that nobody sits waiting. The room is loud enough that the table can talk freely without worrying about the neighbouring four-top. And unlike a fine-dining team dinner, nobody is calculating whether the account budget can absorb it. Book a long table at 6.30pm, agree the order in advance, and let the oven do the work.
I am from Naples — actually from Naples, not a New Jersey approximation of it — and I will not pretend this is a Naples pizzeria, because no American pizzeria is. But it is extremely close, and the Margherita would not embarrass anyone on Via Tribunali. My entire team ate well for less than fifty dollars a head with wine. That is unbelievable in 2026.
Thirtieth birthday dinner with ten friends. We got a long table, ordered six pizzas cut family-style, two bottles of wine, an antipasto board, and the tiramisu at the end with a candle. Everyone went home happy. Room is cramped and loud but that is the point — it is very much a pizzeria, not a pizza-themed restaurant.
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