Mellow Mushroom which has multiple locations around the Metro Atlanta area has become a staple for Pizza in the area. Mellow Mushroom was started in the area by two Georgia Tech students in 1970’s and in the past 30 years has grown to include many stores with some even outside the Metro Atlanta area. This is not New York-style pizza, and it doesn’t aim to be Pizza, sandwiches and an enhanced focus on healthy options, including tofu and temper, are the hallmarks. The house special, Kosmic Karma with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, feta, fresh tomatoes and pesto, is particularly tasty as well. The Gourmet White remains a favorite, with fresh and sun-dried tomatoes and lots of garlic.. Mellow Mushroom’s dough is made with spring water, and toppings include pesto, artichoke hearts, alfalfa sprouts and spinach. This is probably about as healthy as pizza gets.
Baraonda Cafe Italiano located at 710 Peachtree St NE # 200 in Atlanta is one of the more popular Pizza restaurants in the Atlanta metro. It has a cozy setting of warm woods and earth tones are home to a long, narrow dining room surrounded by a large bar area and a wood-burning pizza oven. Everything here is done with top-flight ingredients, such as mozzarella di bufala. The lunch menu features the usual antipasti, salads and pastas, but it’s the thin-crust Neapolitan-style pizzas loaded with ingredients and dotted with air bubbles that generate Baraonda’s allure. Choices range from the classic Margherita with tomato, mozzarella and basil to the more unusual capricciosa that features tomato, ham, mushroom, artichoke and mozzarella. While most of the pizzas are Italian in inspiration—prosciutto and arugula is one choice we like a lot—there is the American-style taste here and there, such as the Hawaiian, with pineapple and bacon. The dinner menu offers more than 20 types of pizza and calzones, as well as an expanded pasta menu and pricier selections such as veal scaloppini and the fish of the day. Their starters include a crisply fried calamari with tomato sauce, Soups vary daily but seem always to hit the spot including the very popular potato and pancetta. . Reasonably priced wines, heavy on Italian choices, with excellent offerings by the glass, make an appropriate wine list for this type of casual operation.
Cameli’s Gourmet Pizza Joint located at 699 Ponce de Leon Ave. in Atlanta serves thin, crispy, ultra-basic pizza. Owner George Cameli is a purist, so you won’t find garish flavors but he offers 35 choices so boredom shouldn’t be a problem. One can opt for the plain cheese classic thin or a monster slice and add the homemade Italian sausage. They also offer some of the best gourmet combinations like the Tranquillo or the Pax Americana
Stuffed pizzas are a specialty, and solo diners can order a half pie. The monster slice is at least a foot long and comes on Cameli’s famous thin crust.
Bella’s Pizzeria located at 3599 Atlanta Rd SE # A13 in Smyrna was opened in 2000 by Mario D’Elia and Bruce Blumberg. This traditional New York-style pizzeria moved into a much larger location in May of 2003. The restaurant features an expansive, full-service bar area decorated with tons of Yankees, Jets and other sports memorabilia, as well as a dining section full of New York City photographs and memorabilia from Italian pop culture cornerstones such as The Sopranos and The Godfather. The food at Bella’s is typical pizza joint fare with hand-tossed crust and fresh ingredients cooked in a stone hearth oven. Pizza is obviously the focus here, with the Spinach Alfredo topped with spinach, artichoke hearts and alfredo sauce being a popular favorite that has earned pizza chef D’Elia acclaim in national restaurant industry publications. The menu also includes calzones, strombolis, and subs, with the Meatball, which has three homemade meatballs that weight nearly half a pound being the most popular. Their entrees include dishes such as veal, chicken and eggplant parmesan.
Fritti located at 309 N. Highland Ave. NE in Atlanta was a restaurant opened by Riccardo Ullio, who at opening hired a pizza specialist from Italy, Enrico Liberato, to put a little extra zip in the pizzas and the place. A wood-fired oven for baking pizzas, the menu mainstay, anchors the open kitchen. Pizza also defines the brief brunch menu. This is pizza with a difference, as it doesn’t come sliced, because the kitchen thinks doing so lets the crust get soggy; so you cut or tear the pieces yourself. One pizza easily serves at least two, although the pancetta and caramelized onion is so good that you might be tempted to finish it all by yourself. This restaurant is also devoted to authentic Italian fare, with the basics such as spaghetti and meatballs and Chicken parmesan being favorites.