PIEZON'S PIZZERIA
Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★
District: Southwest Omaha
New York-Style Pizzeria
Perfect For: Lunch; Drinks; Happy Hour; Casual Dining; Takeout
Standout Dishes: The Oh Mio Dio; The Hos; Pastrami Sandwich
Imagine, for a moment, if there were a restaurant that combined fantastic pizza, beer, Husker football and a fun, laid-back atmosphere. Sounds pretty magical, right?
Well, you don’t have to imagine any longer. This place exists, and it goes by the name Piezon’s Pizzeria.
A few years back, Piezon’s started as a humble hole-in-the-wall off the intersection of 156 and West Center Road in Omaha. The joint had just a few tables, serving almost exclusively take-out orders. But people quickly caught wind that Piezon’s was something special, and soon the restaurant found itself outgrowing its location.
In 2017, Piezon’s, co-owned by former Nebraska offensive lineman Matt Vrzal, moved just a few doors down to a space that seats around 50 and features a full-service bar. The place has a very neighborhood-bar style feel to it, as Vrzal can often be found greeting regulars and making the rounds with customers.
But it’s what’s behind the scenes that really makes Piezon’s special, starting with the deck stone ovens that give each pizza’s cheese a brilliant melt and the crust just the right amount of crunch. The process results in tremendous New York style pies that rank up among the best in the city.
The restaurant offers 13 signature pies with a variety of toppings while also allowing patrons to create their own. The dough, which is made daily, is stretched thin to achieve that iconic New York slice. It’s topped with a sauce based with oregano, basil and garlic, along with a host of ingredients and one of six cheese options.
Piezon’s offers three sizes (14″, 16″, and 18″), and also serves by the slice. One of the coolest things about Piezon’s is it lets you split each pizza into four different quadrants, allowing diners to sample many different kinds of pie rather than being stuck with each flavor.
Whichever combination you choose, you can rest assured it starts with a good foundation. The crust is thin yet firm, as the cooking process produces a nice crisp throughout, and the sauce adds a nice sweet tang.
I haven’t had the pleasure of sampling every slice yet (though I’m sure I’ll get there soon), but here’s a rundown of what I have tried.
The Hos (Canadian bacon, hamburger, sausage, pepperoni): Basically the greatest meat lover’s pizza. Every cut of meat played its part and created a wonderful symphony of flavor. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better meat-dominant option in the state.
Oh Mio Dio (spicy Phoenix chicken, pepperoni, cream cheese): Turns out cream cheese on a pizza is delicious, and this comes from someone who can’t normally stand the stuff. But Piezon’s dollops provide nice bursts of creamy flavor. The pepperoni brings a brilliant saltiness, accented by just a hint of spice from the Phoenix chicken.
The Mahalo (Canadian bacon, pineapple, cream cheese, jalapeños): Pineapple on pizza is a controversial topic, but it shouldn’t be. What’s wrong with a little sweetness to cut through the salty Canadian bacon? Add in those beautiful cream cheese dollops and you’ve got another great slice.
The Dave (BBQ sauce base, cream cheese, Italian sausage, pineapple, mozzarella cheese, jalapeños): Those cream cheese dashes also elevate The Dave, which switches things up from Piezon’s traditional red sauce to a sweet BBQ base. A wonderful Italian sausage combine for just the right level of fat and fresh flavor.
The Slice O’ Country (pepperoni, hamburger, mushrooms, onions): This was a pizza made for the Midwestern palate.
The 55: I once had a wise man tell me you should judge a pizza joint based on a slice of cheese pizza. This is where the quality of the crucial ingredients—cheese, crust, sauce—have nowhere to hide, no mound of toppings to cover them up; it’s here the you truly determine how much effort a restaurant put into its pizza. That’s what makes Th 55 great. There are no bells or whistles here; just tangy sauce, awesome crust, and bubbly mozzarella cheese.
Piezon’s would be fantastic if it stopped at pizza, but that’s not all it has to offer. The menu also features calzones, pastas, and several sandwiches, highlighted by the Pastrami Sandwich, which features meat marinated for two weeks in a brine, then cooked low and slow to achieve maximum flavor. The technique works flawlessly, and the result is a tender, salty masterpiece that completely overwhelms the bread (locally sourced from Rotella’s) trying to encapsulate it. It’s far and away the best pastrami sandwich I’ve had.
The Traditional Chicken Wings are very good as well. Both drumsticks and flats are large with plenty of meat, which is tender and pulls nicely from the bone. They’re are liberally doused in one of Piezon’s five sauces. The Sriracha Bourbon perfectly marries those two flavors, supplying that familiar Sriracha taste with just a hint of whiskey. The Buffalo is a bit of a curveball, as it had a sweetness not typically associated with buffalo sauces.
There are big-screen TVs everywhere, all tuned into various sports channels, and the restaurants carries a neighborly feel. And you’ll be hard-pressed to find better customer service—Piezon’s goes above and beyond to make every customer happy and will happily correct any rare mistake.
Piezon’s isn’t an artisan pizza shop, and it doesn’t want to be one. It wants to serve high quality, consistent pizza with standout customer service, and it checks all those boxes.