Veloce Pizzeria

Really unique type of Pizza (ie. clam sauce pizza) great wine bar also. Too bad nothing lasts in NYC

Well, (mixed reviews)
I walked in there with a voucher. The fine print said dine in only. I wasn’t aware of this. So my intentions were honest.
The waiter Sawyer gave me a hard time about taking my pizza, salad and dessert home. The bartender was cool and said «no problem» when i asked him but then he told Sawyer who took my order. I felt restricted and had to kiss ass just to get my food to go. This made the experience «a shitty one» for me.
Food!- the pizza given to me in a box (FINALLY!) was SUPER HOT and the outer crust and some of the cheese was charred and the crust was soggy after the pizza cooled down in the box.
The salad was good. The tomatoes were amazingly sweet and delicious! (local food.)
I continued to be friendly to Sawyer, not as a fake, but I have worked in the Restaurant/​Food Industry and know how some waiters can be spiteful and spit/​do things to your food.
I left a tip for Sawyer but was very dissatisfied with the overall experience.

Whatever the trendy pizza people might tell you, this place offers excellent pizza albeit heavier and slightly greasier than many of it’s cousins.
A crispy crust is also on offer, along with a arugula pizza which despite being lighter on top, remains a crispy oily crust.
There are also ales and of course wine aplenty available for your conspicuous consumption.
You will not walk away from here hungry, I promise you that.
o date friendly — check
o delicious pizza — check
o soothing atmosphere — check
o italian b/​w movies playing — check

Friday night, perfect for Pizza delivery.
Had the margherita and it was pretty average. The crust & base were sickly and the topping added little.
I’ve had better Sicilian slices at Enzo’s on 2^nd, for half the price.

I went to Veloce’s Pizarria on Valentine’s day with my boyfriend for a nice relaxing Italian meal. The wait was nice, service was good, food was… ok, I guess, but the problem that I had was with their choice of movies displayed on a flat screen tv on every single wall.
I was sitting towards the back facing my boyfriend who had a large flat screen tv playing a movie with subtitles right behind his head. Because of the flat screen tv, I was slightly distracted from the conversation between us… But that’s not really anyone’s fault. Right before we got our pizza and pasta I realized exactly what movie they were playing-​the gruesome, graphic, horror film Silence of the Lambs.
Now, why on EARTH would anyone want to go to a restaurant on Valentine’s day, presumibly to have a nice, relaxing dinner with their partner, be served pizza/​pasta, and have to watch distrubing images of disgusting dead things being analyzed while eating.
I literally almost threw up. No. No. No. Thanks.

Veloce Pizzeria, the partner of Bar Veloce, doesn’t disappoint with stand up pizzas and tasty snacks to share pre-​pizza. There is also a decent wine list to perfectly pair with the pizza.
Some of the pizzas are not that great. The simple pies come out better and hold up on the soft crust. The crust is really special and I’m not sure what they season that bad boy with, but it has a very unique and yummy flavor. Sometimes you want to leave the crust on the plate, but with these square shape treats, be sure to gobble up everything including the crust.
Stand up spot in the neighborhood, fun for catching up with a friend or grabbing something nice on a random weekday.

Again, if I could give 3.5 I would. We ordered the mushroom pizza and platter of meats and cheeses. Its good solid Italian fare for good prices. I really liked the crispy crust too. All in all not bad.

You know food sucks when you’re trashed and think it sucks. That’s how my margherita pizza was at veloce pizzeria. I am of the opinion that a pizzeria is not a true pizzeria if it cannot make a proper margherita — and indeed, Veloce cannot. It was bland and a bizarre texture (somewhere between foccaccia and chewy. In my drunken (and rather belligerent) state, I did a lot of ranting and yelling about how sucky my pizza was. And then I sobered up, ate the rest, and it still sucked.
To be fair, the atmosphere is cute (dim lighting, vespa outside, wine bottles on the wall), and the SO loved his sausage pizza.

Great service, love the décor and atmosphere. The crispy fried calamari came mixed with greens (arugula?) which was an interesting touch, and while there was no sauce to dip it in, there was enough seasoning that a few squirts of lemon juice was all it needed. The arugula salad was good but could have benefited from a few more shavings of that great parmesan. Even though I normally prefer thinner crust pizza, I really enjoyed the piping hot pies. The prosciutto with rosemary and fontina was a standout.

Very confused. How does one judge a pizza place? For me, it’s based on the margherita pizza. Classic ingredients = standardized judgment. I am not joking when I say that I could barely tell what I was chewing. Tasteless sauce, cheese, and even the basil was lackluster. I understand it’s roman style, but still… what the hell happened?
I will say that yes, the place is nice, and we had a calamari salad that was tasty enough, but I really couldn’t believe the horror that was their margherita… sigh.

Fridays when I grew up meant pizza. So a few Fridays back, we decided to head to Veloce for some pies.
It was around 9 p.m. when we showed up and tables were scarce, but the host said he could squeeze us in. He made a big deal of putting our table of 4 in ahead of other reservations, so we gave him a little bit of a tip. As we sat at these elevated picnic tables, we knew we had to keep drinking from Happy Hour, so we went with the cheapest bottles of wine at $ 32 a bottle.
We just decided to go with two pies for dinner and the waiter advised two pies were enough for the 4 of us if we weren’t starving. Coming from some appetizers at City Crab, we weren’t too too hungry, so we went with the two pies, one being a margherita and a sopressata picante (also known as pepperoni). We dug into the pies, with three of us grabbing from the pepperoni, but I decided to dig first into the margherita. Everyone started raving about how great their piece was and I couldn’t understand it. Were my taste buds off? This pizza tasted terrible.
And then I realized, the entire bottom of my piece was black.
Charcoal black.
I might as well have been licking charcoals that were cooled off. I honestly can’t even tell you how the sauce tasted because this burnt taste was so overpowering. Everyone thought I was out of my mind and then Eddie realized a part of his piece was burnt, and admitted too that it was all he could taste.
I moved on to the pepperoni piece, checking the bottoms first to make sure I wasn’t getting another burnt piece. Not sure if it was this type of pie, or the fact that I could actually taste it, but the sauce was delicious and had a great spicy flavor. The crust was also fabulous — and I did enjoy that the pizza was cooked in a square pan since it made me think of mom’s (aww love youuuu, Joanne).
The bartender sent over some complimentary limoncello as we wrapped up our meal, which I thought was a nice gesture. While I wasn’t a fan of the pizza, especially since it was so highly recommended from every review site, I did think it was a great atmosphere and the wait staff was very attentive. I understand the kitchen might have had an off-​night, but if pizza is your specialty, don’t serve burnt pizza. Since half our pizza was black on the bottom and the other half was perfect, Veloce, you may want to check your oven.

First of all the pizza is good. Maybe too expensive, but good. Had the porchetta pie and thought it was amazing, as was the frito misto.
However due to the lackluster service of this place I will never go back.
Made reservations for midnight on a saturday night. I know it sounds silly, but I love open table and wanted the points. When we arrived they seemed to have forgotten the reservation, but the place wasn’t busy at all so it wasn’t a problem (we later were explained that they thought our reservation was for noon instead of midnight? Wah? I thought open table was pretty clear on what time of day reservations were for?). Strike one. However, despite many tables being open they tried to seat us at the bar. After we requested to sit at a table, they agreed. Strike two.
We put in an order for an appetizer and order wine. Waiter suggests a white wine for me, which honestly was pretty average. I was not a fan, but that was the least of the issues.
Food arrives quickly and we enjoy the meal. Yet during this time we were never asked if everything was ok or if we needed anything. I wanted to order dessert, but the waiter never came back so I gave up. (Strike three four and five). Again, this place wasn’t busy.
Finally, we get someone to bring us the check (not our waiter-​still MIA), and as I try to pay we watch as the waiter hangs out at the bar, about to MAKE A CALL with his Iphone. I understand you aren’t busy, but really, at least 1. Take your phone call outside and 2. Take care of your tables before you finish your personal business. I have never been so disappointed in my life. Again, the food was really good, but with that service I will never go back.

I’d say this is more of a 3.5 honestly. First, the décor is cool and there’s a nice bar area. I also think the screening of old Italian movies on mute is a nice touch. Kinda bummed that it appears as if they got rid of their draft beer — although I think they only had 2 beers on tap.
I think here you just need to know what to order. The porchetta sausage pizza, I think, is amazing. With fennel and sage. A lot of great, nice flavors. The margherita was kinda meh — just very plain tasting — I’ve had much better. I also really like how there’s caramelized cheeze on the crust — some places do this and it tastes greate.
The pizza size is also a bit weird. Like, 2 guys can’t eat one pizza. But ordering one pie each is a bit too much. I can eat about 3 of those slices. But getting 1pie (guy and girl) is enough.
Overall — a solid pizza place — just gotta know what to get — and if you like sausage, get it here. That’s what she said.

I’m actually not a big fan of pizza. So why am I rating a pizza place? …Because if I do decide to eat pizza, I want it to be different (not the usual new york style plain pizza) and Veloce Pizzeria is certainly different. They serve Sicilian style pizzas with a variety of interesting toppings.
Boyfriend and I stopped by to pick up an early dinner. It was around 5pm on a very cold Sunday and we wanted to satiate our pizza craving. We’ve never tried Veloce Pizzeria before, even though we live right around the corner (literally next to Porchetta). Boyfriend didn’t know this place was a collaboration between Bar Veloce and Porchetta, so once I told him, he was all for it. Since it was cold, we wanted to take the food back with us so we waited at the bar and the nice hostess brought us some ice-​cold refresing glasses of water while we waited. We could see that those who are wine drinkers may enjoy this place. They have a pretty wide selection of wines on the menu. The décor inside is pretty modern but still warm and inviting. We thought that it’d be nice place to have a medium sized party/​gathering of friends.
Anyway, it took about 15 minutes for our food to be ready (there was just one other group in the restaurant eating at that time). We ordered the Porchetta Meatballs, Calamari, and the Bianco pizza. Since were only a short walk away, everything was still piping hot and fresh when we got home. The Porchetta Meatballs were delish! Makes me want to try the Porchetta pizza next. The Calamari were nice and crispy, though the box was half calamari and half greens. I would have preferred the ratio to be heavier on the calamari rather than the greens. The Bianco pizza was seemingly heavy for a white pizza. The fontina cheese definitely gave it a nice flavor though. The size was also perfect for 2 people.
Overall I enjoyed my first Veloce experience and will be visiting again soon :)

Yum, I liked the pizza here. We split 3 square pizzas between 7 people which was more than enough if most people aren’t famished. The pizza dough is noticeably more eggy than normal pizzas, which isn’t a bad thing, just different. The crust manages to stay crisp underneath the generous toppings. The margherita pizza was my favourite, followed by the one with sausage. I did not like the prosciutto one as I thought the meat had a strong metallic taste to it, but some of my friends loved it.
Dessert wasn’t particularly memorable. The «sliced gelato» is basically two layers of different flavored gelato. We had the chocolate pistachio & the strawberry lemon. The chocolate was good, the pistachio was good, the strawberry was good, but the lemon was «blech!» It tasted chalky and artificial, like those sweet heart candies. The panna cotta was decent too, with slivers of dark chocolate and toasted pistachios.
Service is also excellent. The waiter was very nice, helpful, and didn’t say a single thing when we only ordered 1 bottle of wine to split between 7 people.

This review is written specifically for the Sicilian-​style pizza. We got a Margherita pie to share. I like using the Margherita as a baseline because it is a classic flavor (just like I use pistachio as a gelato baseline). The square was cut into four slices so that each slice was a corner slice. The crust and consistency of the dough was excellent — yeasty and springy. I wasn’t, however, a fan of the flavor. There wasn’t enough basil and overall, just a bit too bland. We also tried the porchetta meatballs, which was also just mediocre. Also, a bit too bland. I think some people have complained that it was too salty… perhaps the other choices are better?
On the other hand, service was excellent. But, given the options in the area, I don’t plan on returning.

I was in the neighborhood and they do Margarita slices for $ 3 during lunch, so I decided to give it a shot. It was a solid and unique pizza, as you don’t see many new places opening that specialize in Sicilian Pizza. Veloce attempts to make a gourmet version, which is almost an oxymoron in itself (not that I don’t love a good Sicilian).
The very airy, soft, tasty crust was easily the highlight, but the cheese tasted odd and the sauce was dried out and not that flavorful. It all worked together somehow and I thought it was a tasty, abiet unusual slice. The place itself looks very nice, but the staff were a little snooty for my taste. As usual, Bruni is following trends of writing (NYMag, NYTimes, and Time Out all had similiar articles) instead of actually trying to be a writer himself.
I will be back for a lunch slice next time I’m around. Would I come here to order a whole pie though? Usually no because of the superior competition (pizza and otherwise) in walking distance.

Looks light but weighs a lot and tastes rich. This neo-​Napoleon style pizza joint won my stomach with its amazing flavor and super friendly and fun waitress.
1 pie is good enough for 2 people; unless you are very hungry.

A pleasant surprise for a pizza joint! The service was 1^st class and the ambiance was nostalgic. Loved the red and white checkered tablecloth, the African Safari themed wallpaper, and especially adored the wine bottles that lined the wall. Lighting was very romantic even though we were there with a group of 7!!!
The salad was the freshest I have tasted in a long time and just perfectly dressed… the calamari was battered deliciously. The main course, PIZZA, had a crust that suited me just fine, not deep pan thick and not wafer like thin. and it was served square. Who says pizza has to be round… that is so old skool. We ordered the mushroom, which was to die for and the sausage had a nice spice to it. I didn’t put any parmesan cheese on any slices, it didn’t need it. It was perfect the way it came out of the kitchen. Dessert was again top notch… We ordered a crème brûlée like dessert that was topped with pistachio and pistachio oil. Yummy to my tummy!
The price was super fair… A great spot to entertain out of town guests or a casual evening out with whoever, without incurring debt. It is literally across the street from the most well lit McDonalds in East Village. If you are into vintage motorcycle, in the front, there is a White Vespa that has over 135K on the odometer. Rad! Life is too short for Pizza Hut and Rountable pizzas. This place is recession friendly… with a date or solo night out! Veloce Pizzeria is a Win-​Win!

I often feel as though I shouldn’t review pizza places — it’s not that I don’t like pizza, but if all I ever ate for the rest of my life was Two Brothers’ $ 1 slices, I’d be perfectly happy. I couldn’t tell you what «good» pizza is, all I can tell you is if I like it.
And I liked the pizza here.* The tablecloths are typical Italian, but nothing else about the place screamed «Please play Billy Joel and drink cold red wine» — in fact, it was warm and inviting (if suspiciously empty**) and the waiter/​bartender kindly obliged our party when we went from four, to five, to seven as the stragglers*** made their way in.
The menu is not large****, but really I think that helps the group setting as its not particularly expensive, either, especially for this neighborhood where the idea that you put candles on a table means you can jack up prices 15%. We had the margherita, mushroom and sausage pizzas and three pizzas satiated seven people (each person got four slices while one person got three***** — appx. nine per pizza), though we probably could have eaten more.
There’s a healthy appetizer menu of which we didn’t partake this time around, though it’s likely you could get a few appetizers and not get any pizza. You won’t find salads and stuff here, so if you don’t want pizza, this isn’t a good choice.******
This is a good place with potential to be a nice, reliable, East Village place, especially for taking out of towners. I think it lets in too much light (though we were there at 6:30 and all the doors in the front were wide open) to be a really good date place, but what do I know?
* — And your mom.
** — It was 6:30 p.m. on a Monday and, as well know, New Yorkers do not eat at that time. We only actually eat at 10:30 on Thursdays and then, only if people can see us while we do it.
*** — Of which I was one.
**** — Like your mom.
***** — It’s probably just easier if your group arrives as a number that evenly divides into a multiple of 9.
****** — No Coke, Pepsi.