Pizzeria Da Gloria Takeaway. A Shining Example Of Wood-Fired Pizza On The Hill. I'm not a wood-fired pizza guy, but this is my favorite in St. Louis so far. Comes in at a very respectable 8.1 / 10 pizza score. The top-notch sauce carries the pizza. A little too many cheeses for me. Very good crunchy crust. The undercarriage isn't crispy enough because it's wood-fired. The pizza is the most expensive I've measured in St. Louis thus far, coming in at $1.09 per oz.
One of my top five best pizzas in St. Louis.
Service was standard the one time we ate inside about two years ago. I ordered online this weekend, and it was ready on schedule. Street parking in The Hill can be tricky at prime time, but I found a spot on the side street for pickup at 5:30 pm.
Pizzeria Da Gloria Experience Summary
Another Friday afternoon, and I find myself in the car around 5 pm with my four-year-old in the back. He's happily sipping his Friday Sprite as we sit at yet another poorly timed light in St. Louis.
We are driving to another stop on our pizza pilgrimage to try and find the best in St. Louis.
In what I hope will become a tradition, we're headed on a pilgrimage to Pizza Town. In this case, we first stopped by Pizza Head because my wife still needed to try it. She was working when we went and missed it. It's still my favorite pizza in St. Louis.
But when I ordered it in the morning, I snuck in a treat for myself.
My son and I don't go home. Instead, we head across Tower Grove into The Hill to hit up Pizzeria da Gloria, the next pizza place on my list.
It's the last remaining recommendation from Reddit to check off my list.
But when we walked in to get the pizza, I immediately remembered being here. I can't place when or why we ended up here, but it's like a ghost of a pizza memory.
We sat in the back left corner and had the marghharita and a specialty pizza with a salad. But it was so long ago that I forgot what it tasted like.
Let's see if this pizza ghost will haunt my Friday.
Like my experience the week before at Pizzeoli, I order online in the morning, but this time the pizza is ready as soon as I get there.
I grab the pizza with my son on my shoulders and run back to the car. I can't have anyone critiquing me, saying I don't eat it when it's hot.
I threw him in the back seat. I opened the box and took a look at the beautiful pizza. The crust has crusty bubbles, and the cheese-to-sauce ratio is appropriate.
Time for the bite. Hope it's better than last week. While wood-fired pizza will never be a chart-topper for me, this pizza has promise.
…
There we go.
That's how you do wood-fired pizza. With a solid 8.1 / 10 pizza score, the sauce on this thing nails it. It has a bit of a bite without overpowering the rest of the cast. The undercarriage isn't as crispy as I'd like, and they added some kind of secondary cheese that I could do without, but man, that sauce is special.
The crust has the crispy, crunchy, chewy texture you'd expect. It's very solid.
All in all, this is the best wood-fired pizza I've had in St. Louis. I'm still a NY-style pizza man at heart, but I'd consider this a win.
The flavor comes with a price. At $1.09 per oz, it's the most expensive pizza so far.
The Food At Pizzeria Da Gloria
When I first posted on Reddit asking for the best pizza in St. Louis, most people replied with Pizzeria Da Gloria. I'm not a huge fan of wood-fired pizza, but I'm not against it. Wood-fired will never be my favorite, but it can still be worth a date night.
Or, in this case, a shot at adding to the list of the best pizza in St. Louis.
Overall, I really enjoyed the pizza. I'll go with an 8.1 / 10, which would be about as high as I'll go on wood-fired pizza. The crust and undercarriage just don't get crispy enough for me to rank higher.
My favorite part of the pizza, by far, is the sauce. Da Gloria nailed it on that end. It has a bit of kick but isn't spicy, and the bite continues to dazzle with flavor throughout.
The basil from the Margherita comes in fresh and adds a refreshing taste to the afterbite.
They added a couple of different kinds of cheese beyond the standard mozz, which detracts from my core pizza concept. The flavors were foreign to my baby tongue.
The biggest downside here is the price. At $17 for a 15.6 oz, 12" pizza, it's the most expensive I've measured in St. Louis thus far. That breaks down to $1.09 / oz. Compare that to my favorite, Pizza Head, at only $.45 / oz, or Pizzeoli at $0.95 / oz.
Pizzeria Da Gloria Atmosphere And Miscellaneous
You'll find Pizzeria Da Gloria in the center of The Hill, the Italian part of town. It has the standard Italian pizzeria vibe with eclectic colored tables and family-sensibilities.
For our pizza last night, I ordered online at 9 am for a 5:30 pm pickup, and they had the pizza finishing up when we got there. You can pick up the pizza from a dedicated door in the back of the restaurant, but we went to the front door.
Like any good pizza place, it has seating that looks directly into the kitchen. When we came a couple of years ago, my sons watched them cook pizzas in the wood-fired oven the whole time.
There are a dozen tables in the seating area near the kitchen. On the opposite side, they have an outdoor patio eating area. It must be warm enough to be open, so wait for the spring or summer on that one.
Parking At Pizzeria Da Gloria
Parking in The Hill can be a little hit or miss. My son and I found a spot around the corner at 5:30 pm on a Friday. However, I've gone closer to six. At that time of night, you might have to walk three or five minutes to find a spot.
Pizzeria Da Gloria Receipt
Pizza Size And Price Comparisons
