Paizanos

Tucked away in quaint Old Norcross you'll find Paizanos, a neighborhood Italian restaurant, serving up a slice of New York City. The atmosphere here is friendly and calm. The interior of the restaurant was a little dark, making the restaurant suitable for a nice romantic dinner rather than just a slice of pizza.

Paizanos also had numerous beers on tap, which helps since there's nothing quite like a cold beer with hot pizza.

The specialty pies are each named after a region in NYC. With names like "Bronx Bomber" and the "Park Avenue", it's hard not to miss home.

The calamari appetizer, usually a crowd pleaser, was light and fresh. Small circlets of calamari was breaded and lightly fried so it didn't have that heavy or greasy feel. Served with a marinara and a smokey pepper sauce, the fried calamari is a must try.

Three pies were ordered to benchmark this establishment. Firstly the classic Pizza Margarita is, secondly, a Park Avenue pizza which is a white pizza with spinach, garlic and Romano cheese, and lastly the Staten Island Ferry pizza which had Genoa salami, cappicola and proscuitto because someone wanted meat :).

The pizzas overall were fairly good. Fresh ingredients and made to order. I really enjoyed the garlic and spinach of the Park Avenue. The Staten Island Ferry was very salty as can be expected from its toppings. One complaint is that the crust is not as crispy as a good NY pizza, it was chewy, not in a bad way...but the crust can use some improvement.










Dessert consisted of the classic cannoli, this one was made with ricotta and marscapone. Sprinkled with chocolate chips, I did miss the pistachio variety.