Apizza di Napoli | Best Pizza in South Carolina … and Beyond

Authentic Neapolitan

Apizza di Napoli is the real deal, certified by the Verace Pizza Napoletana of Italy. The rules: a resilient edge surrounds a soft, wafer-thin crust. Pizzas are twelve inches across. Groceries used to make them far exceed ordinary pizzeria ingredients. Flour for the dough comes from Italy. Tomato sauce reminds you that tomatoes are a fruit. Mozzarella is fresh. A 900-degree wood-fired oven cooks them in just a few minutes. They arrive at the table piping-hot.

Anatomy of the Pizza

Traditional pizzas come Italian-style: unsliced. Use the cutter provided to slice your own. Knife and fork are provided, too. You will need them. The center of most pies is too floppy to lift. About one-third of the way up each slice, the bottom becomes firmer. You can hoist it, fold it, and eat it a libretto style. By the time you get to the circumference, the last few bites remind you of a chewy loaf of freshly-baked bread.

Naples and New Haven

Choose from among white pies, red pies, marinara pies (no cheese at all), and fancy pies. Beyond sausage, pepperoni, peppers, et. al., the menu offers tuna (from Italy), grana padano cheese, Gorgonzola, marinated eggplant, and prosciutto. A “New Haven style” pizza, made with smoked provolone, garlic, and oregano, is described as “charred and well done.” This pie demonstrates just how different Connecticut’s Wooster Street pizza is from its Neapolitan ancestors, as served here. Apizza di Napoli’s looks like a New Haven pie, but it is light and elegant, the crust nearly fluffy. Pepe’s and its brethren in Connecticut, on the other hand, have crust with profoundly muscular chew. I am a chewy-crust guy, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this refined, true-Italian way. It’s the best pizza within 500 miles.

Casual and Comfortable

Ambience? Italian music is piped in to set the mood and an overhead TV shows scenes of Italian food being made. Service is casual and friendly. Customers place their order and pay at the front counter. Up here you have a fine view of the oven at work. When the pizza is ready, a staff member brings it to the table.

In a part of the world where good pizza is rare, Apizza di Napoli is a beacon of excellence.