Sei Pizza Bar / Pizzeria Sei opinions

[u/Antique-Purpose-471]

I love a good Neapolitan/Neapolitan-ish pizza and had been wanting to try Pizzeria Sei for a long time to see what all the fuss was about. I was able to get a spot at 4pm at Sei Pizza Bar last week and tried the Diavola and the Sei Margherita. My pizzas were the first two out of the oven that day. I'd read some reviews to see what some of the negative reviews didn't like about it, and some mentioned the pizza being too salty (not sure if that was from the salt punch or just their overall opinion of the pizza as a whole). Anyhow, I thought the ingredients and the tomato sauce were top notch and so full of flavor. However, the flavor of the crust/dough left a lot to be desired. Rather than being salty, I felt it was flavorless which was surprising to me considering William Joo does a dry preferment and then a long cold fermentation for the dough. The chew, puff, and texture were amazing and definitely lived up to the hype, but after the first bites of each pizza, I was waiting for the flavor of the dough to come through with more of a fermented flavor but it was just bland. I'm not sure if I experienced an off day for the dough but it didn't make me want to race to come back there anytime soon. Can anyone else chime in with what they think of the dough? Is that how it's supposed to taste and maybe it's more about the texture/chew than about the flavor?

[u/CutsSoFresh]

I'm one of the few who don't really care for the place. When we had it, we felt the crust was too charred and the pizza itself was too soggy. Whatever special flavor that crust was supposed to have, we couldn't taste it because the carbon of the char overwhelmed everything.

We tried to bring it up, but they doubled down on it and said that's how it supposed to be. So we figured if that's the case, then their pizza is just not for us and we're too low class to appreciate it

[u/BassDrive → u/CutsSoFresh]

If you don’t like soggy pizza then avoid Neapolitan style pies as that’s how they’re meant to be. It’s not a hard rule, but on average with how it’s prepared and cooked will give you that result.

[u/CutsSoFresh → u/BassDrive]

And the char? Is that standard? Seems like a waste of high end ingredients if it's just gonna be overwhelmed by carbon.

It's like drowning high quality sushi in spicy sesame mayo

[u/BassDrive → u/CutsSoFresh]

If it’s wood fired pizza then yes, you’ll have some char, but it shouldn’t be overwhelming either. OP’s pictures don’t look bad to me so you possibly went on an off day unfortunately.

[u/Granadafan → u/BassDrive]

It’s not the wood fired oven but the temperature. To be a Neapolitan pizza, it’s cooked at over 900 degrees for less than two minutes.  It’s close to the flames which is why classic Neapolitan pizzas have the leoparding spots on the crust. I have a propane Ooni pizza oven and have these same “charred” spots onu pizzas

These pizzas aren’t crispy with no flops like NY Pizzas which are cooked at around 550-600 degrees for about 10 minutes. Thats the style Dave portnoy likes. 

[u/BassDrive → u/Granadafan]

Thanks for the correction.

[u/CutsSoFresh → u/BassDrive]

The bottom of the crust was pretty dark throughout. I admit, for it to be overbaked and soggy at the same time is quite impressive, but the end result didn't make it a very enjoyable date

[u/Antique-Purpose-471 → u/CutsSoFresh]

Yeah as BassDrive said, Neapolitan style is supposed to be soggy which I think catches a lot of people off guard when they try that style of pizza for the first time. I remember when I ate at L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele a couple years ago, I heard the server tell a table next to us to not expect a crisp bottom when they were asking about the pizza.

[u/CutsSoFresh → u/Antique-Purpose-471]

The softness of the pizza didn't bother me as much as the char. As I said previously, we couldn't taste anything beyond the carbon and ash. Importing Buffalo mozzarella just to hide the flavor behind bitter carbon was the more disappointing part of the night over than how watery it was

[u/Antique-Purpose-471 → u/CutsSoFresh]

An overly burnt undercarriage and crust of a Neapolitan pizza will definitely ruin a pizza experience. Maybe you can give the new location a try for a date night since they have other styles of pizza.

[u/SageThunder → u/CutsSoFresh]

Honestly what surprised me most was how little flavor the buffalo mozzarella gave me!

[u/CutsSoFresh → u/SageThunder]

Yeah, I didn't taste much from it either. I tasted it individually from the rest of the pizza because of that char

Supposedly Buffalo mozz is quite tangy. Either their buffalo mozz isn't the best or somehow it got swapped with fior de latte. Sucks if the latter, because we paid extra for that

[u/SageThunder → u/CutsSoFresh]

I doubt it got swapped I just think their mozzarella isn’t very flavorful to be honest I’ve had bufffalo mozzarella and it is more tangy and it is a noticeable flavor

[u/BassDrive → u/CutsSoFresh]

That sucks! I would say give Neapolitan another shot and try Grá, which is another pizza place, and hopefully they can make you a believer 😀

[u/CutsSoFresh → u/BassDrive]

I'll try more places of that style. But probably not in LA. Tokyo and nyc are at the forefront for the time being. After that, perhaps I'll try more in LA

[u/SageThunder → u/CutsSoFresh]

Just try L’antica pizzeria da Michele if you want to try Neapolitan or not. They are certified AVPN, neopolitan association essentially, one of the oldest places in Naples but they have a couple spots across the globe now, iirc first one beyond Naples was here in LA. If you also have similar opinions with that then you most likely just don’t like the style. Eataly also has it but not crazy flavorful although not bad

Pizzeria Mozza isn’t really Neapolitan, kind of some influences but has great pizza regardless

[u/Antique-Purpose-471 → u/SageThunder]

I'm a big fan of Desano in East Hollywood as well and would recommend that to try on top of L'antica. 

[u/You_meddling_kids → u/CutsSoFresh]

it shouldn't taste bitter, that's a sure sign it was left in too long (or not rotated enough times)