Paulie Gee’s is pretty great and it’s fantastic that they’ve expanded to five cities with more on the way. It’s really one of the only things that make a trip to Greenpoint worth the commute and it would be nice to have another NYC location pop up at some point.
To give you a sense of the cult following this place has developed: we arrived just before 7 pm and ended up waiting close to an hour for a table. There was such a huge crowd waiting and parties of 4+ were quoted wait times well over an hour. A party of 8 was told 2 – 2.5 hours and decided to wait anyway. We wouldn’t’ve waited but for the fact that we were able to occupy ourselves elsewhere for an hour and then come back, so it wasn’t wasted time. As great as this place is, think carefully about your timing!
One loophole: you can sit it at the bar (first come, first served), and order from the full menu, but there are literally only 4 or 5 seats there, so you can’t count on it. Plus, it’s not very comfortable.
Paulie Gee’s has all the classic Neapolitan pizza options, but adds some fun, non-traditional ones too. We couldn’t resist.
Cherry Jones – this is such a unique pizza. If you’re into trying something you can’t get anywhere else, I’d recommend this one. Mozzarella, Gorgonzola, Prosciutto di Parma, Dried Bing Cherries, and Orange Blossom Honey. Crazy, right? Great combo, delicious. The Gorgonzola they used did not have an overpoweringly blue cheese taste like some can, so it worked really well and did not overwhelm the entire pizza. I would actually recommend getting this with sopressata piccante instead of prosciutto. The prosciutto really adds nothing to it, but the sopressata would add a nice spicy kick. White pizza, so no tomato sauce.
Simply Red with fresh garlic and basil – well when this pizza first came out, it was dripping in oil and we had no idea why because we’d requested no olive oil drizzle on top. It turns out that the basil is coated in oil before cooking it! Have never heard of this being done elsewhere and we really should’ve been told given our request. I understand the rationale – they don’t want the basil to burn during the cooking process, so they coat it in oil. But this isn’t status quo and other pizzerias add the basil immediately upon removing it from the oven so that it warms and cooks into the pizza while it’s still hot, without burning it. Wasn’t a bit deal as they brought us a new one with fresh basil. So take note that if your pizza comes with basil, it will be oily unless you specify otherwise. The pizza was delicious. Given that there isn’t much on the pizza, the few ingredients there are become extremely important. Dough was fantastic, though we’d asked for it lightly done, so I’m not sure what it would have been like otherwise. The tomato sauce was ample and delicious. It had a bit of a tart taste to it instead of a sweeter taste, which I like. The fresh garlic was sliced thin and spread throughout the pizza and the basil was tasty.
Even though it was super busy, we didn’t feel rushed and our server was attentive. I don’t really know how she did it because she was waiting on so many tables.
The shortage of hands, though, is definitely one thing that could be improved here – there just aren’t enough staff members. The host at the front desk is clearly super overwhelmed. She has to answer the phone, handle takeout orders, manage the waiting list, wipe tables, put menus on them, deal with the line, seat people, etc. She is constantly running back and forth from the dining room to the kitchen, the outdoor waiting space, the bar area, and the reception. It is so inefficient and she really needs assistance. At most restaurants, the bar generally deals with to go orders and the hostess usually has a helper seating others. Also, they generally aren’t responsible for wiping down tables, either.
Other than being understaffed, it’s great. The location is pretty out of the way, so I can’t really say it’s a place you should frequent, but it’s worth a trek once, especially if you have a reason to be in Greenpoint. Also you’ll likely meet Paulie himself. It’s nice that he’s there quite often and mingles with the tables. Good guy, we enjoyed talking with him.
