Michael’s Pizzeria

Without going into details just trust I’m a qualified person to make this statement: Michael’s has the best authentic Italian pizza in Los Angeles county (with exception to Prova in WEHO which is like being in Italy). I have lived in Italy and New York so I can’t proclaim it’s the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s damn good. And Margarita (not the drink, the pizza) Monday is a great time to check it out (buy one pizza of any sort, get a Margarita Pizza free) although any day will not disappoint. Not to mention it’s great service (which is always nice), dog friendly patio (bonus for me), and the owner? /​manager? Came around and thanked us for coming. A great touch. Not that I need great service to give a place 5 stars because I’m all about taste — but it’s nice to find a place that has all 3 elements that make a restaurant awesome — 5 * atmosphere 5* service 5* food.
I made a leap one time trying the gnocchi and gelato and to be honest, it was okay but not something I’d order again (the Trader Joe’s frozen but imported Gorgonzola Gnocchi spoils me for American restaurants). Stick with the pizza and you’ll be more than satisfied. After all, it’s appropriately named, Michael’s PIZZERIA, and they do it well.

I love pizza cooked in a wood fire burning oven (if that’s the actual name for it lol) the dough is great! And the customer service was very pleasant. Let’s say they’ve made a repeat customer out of me!

Just ordered my first pizza from Michaels via Postmates, and while the Postmates delivery was even quicker than estimated (my food arrived in about 25 minutes), my pizza arrived COLD. The cheese was no longer melty or stretchy and the crust was cool to the touch. I’m reheating now and I’m sure it will taste fine, just a little disappointed as it seems this pizza really was not «fresh from the oven».

I really like the Pizza here, it’s a very thin Rustic style crust with very fresh Italian sauces and toppings plus the chili oil you can drizzle over the top was my favorite

Ok, our only issue here was, we didn’t realize there were 2 different restaurants. We wanted to go to the actual restaurant and we ended up at the pizzeria. But we had no complaints. The food is amazing, the service was phenomenal and the cork fee was 10 bucks! We will try the actual restaurant some day soon, and take some friends to the pizzeria all the time! Very happy!

Very good pizza~~
I can so imagine the line out the doors!
Haven’t had pizza this good since I was in Italy ~!
Bravo!!!

So Michael’s Pizzeria was on my list after hearing that it was voted Zagat’s best pizza in the NATION! And it’s in my backyard! I’ve had my fair share of amazing pizza from all over the world, so my expectations were (rightly) really high for my visit.
We arrived after finding street parking and there was no wait, that was a great start! We got a table right by where they make all the deliciousness. Since we had all never been here, we went soup to nuts with a bottle of red wine (the name was very Italian and was supposed to be similar to a pinot noir). The wine was really good and went well with our food choices.
For our starter, we shared the brussel sprouts with fennel sausage and the mushroom bruschetta. The brussel sprouts were good and the sausage laid right on top so we had to divvy it up amongst ourselves. The bruschetta as alright. The mushrooms were slippery so they didn’t stay on the bread while trying to eat it.
Our main meal consisted of pizzas to share. They had pesto pizza, tomato based pizzas and white pizzas, plus a very yummy sounding special that our waiter failed to mention to us. We chose a tomato and a white. We had the pollo e pancette (chicken and pancetta) and the proscioutto e pere (prosciuto and pear with arugula pizza). The pizzas were big enough to share. But honestly, after my first, second, third bite… I wasn’t impressed. The middles of the pizzas were soggy and toppings were heavy. The crust tasted sourdough and salty, and while I love that flavor, it didn’t work for a pizza, to me. The pancetta was a slice of bacon, not cut up pieces. The chicken was dry. So very disappointed. For the pear pizza, they put thin slices of pear but it was hard to eat without the prosciutto becoming stringy or hard to cut.
We decided to have dessert and chose the tiramisu, cannoli and scoops of pistachio and salted caramel gelato. These were the highlights of the experience. All were tasty, but one of my friends had a piece of onion in her bite of cannoli (we had new plates as well).This was not a flavor she was expecting, nor were we, so that ruined her dessert.
Total for 4 people was under $ 125 but that is with a bottle of wine. I most likely will not be coming back because I just didn’t love the signature dish. Service was good, but a bit intrusive as we were trying to have conversations and were interrupted more than usual.

Freshness is the word to use at Michaels Pizzeria. You can taste the freshness in everything from the bright red marinara to the ooey gooey mozzarella which is all made in house. We started off with the baked mozzarella wrapped in cured ham swimming in fresh marinara and kalamata olives. It was delicious the only gripe I would have is that it was a small portion. I ordered the sausage and mushrooms pizza which was enjoyable. The fennel sausage is also made in house and tastes phenomenal married with mozzarella, fresh marinara, mushrooms and the slightly charred crust. The calzone was also a great dish with a very creamy ricotta cheese mingling with salame and mozzarella. They kindly brought us more bubbling marinara heated straight from the oven. To top it all off we ordered a Nutella pizza where that fresh yeasty sourdough mixes well with thick decadent chocolate and light tart strawberries. Overall it was an amazing meal with amazing service to boot. Highly recommend.

I feel silly describing pizza as light and refreshing but Salame Piccante with chilis is so easy to eat and so satisfying and so stinking good… it’s not a heavy filling pizza. It’s just GOOD.
Our server was great, recommending we add the chilis. I wish I’d caught her name. She really took care of us. After pizza we had the gelato, pistachio and salted caramel. Goodness all around. One of my favorite meals during our stay in LA! Seriously, get that pizza!!!

Been coming here for awhile now and each and every time I am not disappointed!
The service is great! The food is great and the atmosphere is great!
I will continue to support this restaurant and refer my friends.
If you want great food and a great atmosphere.
Come to Michael’s Pizzeria !

One particular entry on the menu alone got me in the door: the duck confit, fig, Brussels sprout, and fresh mozzarella pizza.
I hated pizza as a kid — I’d always want to sabotage my class spelling bees so we wouldn’t win a pizza party — and still don’t love it now, so the less like ‘traditional’ tomato-​sauce pizza something is, the more I like it, generally. BBQ chicken and pineapple? Yes please. Arugula, pear, and prosciutto? My favorite to date (in San Francisco, though, sadly). So pizza with duck and figs sounded just perfect.
The crust here is super yeasty. It almost tastes like sourdough. I liked that. I also liked the big toothsome circles of fresh mozzarella. What I didn’t love, counter to my rant at the top there, was rest of it. Mostly because there wasn’t enough of the rest of it. I’d say there was enough duck, actually, but it was kind of strawy. There were hardly any figs, and the figs were so mushy they just blended in with the crust. There were maybe 6 Brussels sprouts, which was especially too bad because that was what really pulled the bites together. When I got a bite with sprout, duck, AND fig? Wonderful. Flavorful. Heaven! But that was maybe 5% of total bites.

If this place was ranked as the ‘best’ pizza in the country, must be sarcasm.
My husband and I are not impressed at all. we’ve had our far share of delicious pizza all over the country and in Europe, and this is by far, ranked at the bottom of the barrel. To simply put it, it lacked flavor. It really lacked flavor. Even the cheese or prosciutto wasn’t holding up to its role of being the yummy salty bites. What does that mean — poor ingredients.
Also, the pizza dough was super spongy and paper thin that it was impossible to hold and eat a thin rubbery pizza.
What else, portions were small and it’s over priced.
Service was good and I do love companies investing in Long Beach (hence 2-​stars), but it’s really not a go-​to place for pizza.
Sorry Michaels. We have been wanting to try your pizza in years and we were just disappointed with the food…

4 stars for service alone!
2 stars for pizza.
Doughy lack luster pizza, limp and soggy, flavorless. Disappointment.
Simmzys pizza is better!

The servers are friendly, pizza is satisfying, and non pizza options are solid as well. I love Margherita Mondays here, which will net you an extra Margherita pizza if you order one.
Recently, they threw the «Chianina Steakhouse Burger» on the lunch menu and it was this very flavorful and lean piece of ground beef on a toasted brioche bun with garlic aioli that I bagged and took home with my extra pizza. A very good burger.
I don’t really get the whole fancy chili oil thing, it doesn’t really add much to the experience. Still like my crushed red pepper! The temp was freezing when we ate there at lunch and the aesthetic is looking a little tired. Other than that, food and service was great. #laeater #foodiechats #foodie #pizza

I enjoyed my late afternoon luncheon with my boyfriend, who has been wanting to take me here for quite some time.
We started with a salad. I had the ceasar salad and he had the beets. Normally I’d order the beets, but I read how good the caesar salad was. Sure enough I enjoyed it more than I did the beets and I LOVE beet salads.
The pizzas were good but not amazing. I guess when you get the hype of it being a tasty of Italy, you’d have high expectations. The crust was crispyon the outside and soft on the inside. It’s thin crust so there wasn’t too much of the soft to enjoy. I’m a red sauce kind of gal, so I was pleased with my DOP. Had a slice of the Carbonara and he and I both agreed it was missing something. Just a tad bland for us. Overall, it was a good meal and the service was friendly too.

Actually cannot believe people rave about this place…
My pizza was terrible… doughy and not evenly kneaded — not enough sauce to go even close to the edge… think there was about 2 mushrooms too, which bugged me — i love mushrooms on pizza… clearly made by someone who just didn’t give a fuck
genuinely… dominos thin crust is better… by a long shot…
and thats really saying something

We came on a Monday, so it was free margarita pizza monday, so we got 1 pizza, and got another free. Overall, the pizza was good but I think I’m just not the biggest fan of Neapolitan pizza. It tastes fresh and light but there’s not enough flavor and cheese for me. The sauce was really tasty, but I’m from Chicago, and you really can’t beat Chicago pizza. Something that I wasn’t happy about was they charged $ 2 and $ 2.50 for adding onion and mushroom to our margarita pizza. The pizza’s aren’t that big and overall that pizza was $ 17.50 – way overpriced.
The caesar salad was great, but a little overpriced considering the portion size, and if you’re not a fan of fresh anchovies, ask for it without them. Wish this place was bigger, but the service was excellent. Really liked the staff and it was quick.
4 stars for service and free margarita pizza on Mondays!

It’s Amore! This tiny little ten– table place offered a better food and better atmosphere than some of the biggest restaurants in LA.
On this day I came off the beach and didn’t feel like sitting in traffic on my way back to Riverside for an hour, so I stopped in for a bite by myself. I received excellent service right off the bat. For only 10 tables this place had a lot of people working. I decided to treat myself with a full meal.
I ordered the margarita pizza and a Ska Pale beer. The Pizza was magnificent! The crust was Neapolitan style, superthin and well cooked. The tomatoes were mild with just a little bit of acid and tang to tickle the tastebuds. Just the right amount of fresh mozzarella and basil made this a perfect pie. But, I didn’t stop there. I ordered a beautiful piece of Tiramisu and the cappuccino. The Tiramisu was lovely and everything this dessert should be. Flavorful, without being to sweet. Moist without being soggy. The cappuccino was perfect in its flavor, temperature, and presentation.
Long Beach has so many wonderful places to eat, but I can’t wait to come back to this particular one.

This is the place that was rated Best Pizza In the U.S. by Zagats in 2013. It was good, really good, though not sure I agree with Zagats, maybe because I prefer NY style. Here they serve Napoli-​style pies.
It was spot on. Crust was perfect, crisp and chewy. The sauce had nothing in it but fresh tomato.
The first photo is the Capricciosa ($ 16) — tomato, house-​made mozzarella, artichokes, mushrooms, prosciutto cotto, and olives
The other photo is the Margherita ($ 13) — tomato, house-​made mozzarella, basil, and extra virgin olive oil.
We could see them making a bunch of dough in the open kitchen.
Service was excellent.
BTW, they have a Monday special. Buy any pizza get a free Margherita.

Let me add to the other 383 reviews that say this joint is LEGIT!
Parking is a little tight, and there’s only about 20 seats in the whole place. Service, beer selection, and freshness is beyond compare!
This place is just awesome, a little pricey, but not too pricey to take away a star.
Just go and you WON’T be disappointed! I’ll be back.