Manhattan Motorino:
We went on a Saturday night around 8:15 and for a table of two there was maybe a 10 minute wait (might have been less) because of the quick turnover.
Here’s the first thing. I love Neapolitan style pizza and I’ve eaten a lot of it. I know that they are cooked in ovens that are upwards of 800 degrees. Now I always ask for mine lightly done because I’m not much of a blackened, charred crust type of person. Other Neapolitan places are able to accommodate this request merely by taking it out of the oven a few seconds earlier than other pizzas. Our server instantly said it would have to be charred because the oven is hot. Well no, it doesn’t. Just take it out earlier, which is what we told him. He said he would make a note. Our pizzas did not come out as charred as it would have had we not requested them lightly done, but I have definitely been to places that are able to accommodate this request better. We’ll see next time.
The second thing is that they pour salt on top of your pizza. We were highly suspicious of this when both of us thought our pizzas were way too salty and it seemed like we were eating clumps of salt, so we asked. Yes, they just add a bunch of salt to the top of the pizza. All pizzas. Regardless of whether the ingredients on there might already be salty (various meats, cheeses, sauces, olives, etc.). It’s weird and they don’t say this anywhere on the menu. We ate it anyway, but I would absolutely say no added salt every time.
Other than that, it was definitely great. To judge it relative to other Neapolitan pizzas places in the city I’d have to go back one more time and again request lightly done with no salt, but for now I can say it’s great enough to go back.
One thing to know is that with the D.O.C., the quality of the buffalo mozzarella was not as good as some of the others I’ve had, but again I’ll give it a second try. It was pretty rubbery actually.
Also, their menu is more limited than other Neapolitan places, but they have a list of various toppings you can add.
Brooklyn Motorino:
The ambiance is nice and it’s much more spacious than the Manhattan Motorino and also less crowded. Not a particular fan of the servers or the service.
I have to say the Manhattan location is much better in terms of food quality. The pizzas that are presented at this location look great, but don’t taste great. Definitely lacking. The crust looks so fluffy and thick, but it is actually hard, crispy, and quite thin because the inside is oddly hollow.
Also, I have never seen such little amount of pizza sauce put onto a pizza. Our pizzas were dry and there were huge areas the pizza sauce didn’t even cover a little. We asked for more sauce and they said they would need to charge $2. $2 for pizza sauce when I ordered a pizza that was supposed to come with the marinara sauce anyway? Weird.
Flavor wise, nothing stood out as back. It’s more a textural problem and there were too many details that were overlooked.
I did enjoy the fior di latte more than the mozzarella.
