PITCH PIZZERIA
Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★
District: Dundee; Village Pointe
Coal-Fired Pizza
Perfect For: Breakfast/Brunch; Lunch; Casual Dining; Date Night; Happy Hour; Takeout
Standout Dishes: The Doc; Calabrese Meatballs; Weekly Special (check the website)
Pitch Pizzeria attempts to do a lot of things very well in its kitchen. In addition to the coal-fired pizza that it’s known best for, the restaurant serves pasta, burgers, brunch, seafood, barbecue, Mexican food, and craft cocktails.
The dinner menu alone has more than 70 items, all coming from a scratch kitchen.
That’s a lot.
I respect Pitch’s boldness and ambition, and both locations offer unique, special atmospheres. But in offering so many different dishes and cuisines, I fear Pitch doesn’t truly master any of them. They’re very good, but the heft of the menu keeps Pitch from being elite.
With locations in West Omaha and Dundee, Pitch offers 14 original pizzas with elevated ingredients such as short ribs, fennel sausage, basil pesto, pancetta, smoked cheddar, and much more. Pitch isn’t afraid to get innovative with its pies.
The restaurants have a very modern feel. The West Omaha location has an outdoor patio and roof seating to go along with its interior, where diners can watch the chefs create their meals.
There is a lot of seating, and the restaurant needs every spot. It’s common to arrive and see a line outside the door. Word has gotten out, and patrons flock there nightly.
Of all that comes out of Pitch’s kitchen, the pizzas are the highlight. And regardless of which pizza you select, you know it’s going to start with a great foundation. Pitch’s crust is thin but holds up well underneath the toppings. Though the wood-fired cooking process results some bubbles and pockets of char, they’re not as pronounced as you’ll find at other wood-fired pizzas joints. The sauces are all flavorful, but they serve as background singers that allow the ingredients to take center stage.
The Peppadew Pizza is a great example of this. One of Pitch’s weekly specials, it uses peppers to add just the right amount of heat, while the ham and prosciutto arrive with a salty hint. The sweet tomato sauce was the rug that tied the room together.
Another standout special is the Buffalo Chicken Pizza. The creamy blue cheese base is perfect with the crispy crust, while the bacon provides salty bursts of flavor and the onions added a nice bit. The spicy chunks of buffalo chicken are tender and delicious, though the spinach topping the pie is both excessive and unnecessary.
But the best of the bunch might be The Doc Pizza (the featured image at the top of this post). The fennel sausage adds just a touch of heat and salt, which plays nicely with the crispy pancetta. A bevy of vegetables add the perfect amount of freshness, and the airy crust is allowed to sing.
The olive oil base provides a lighter feel than some of the tomato sauces pies, and the pops of goat cheese and fresh mozzarella are just perfect.
I’ve never had a bad pizza experience at Pitch, and the creative and expansive menu—along with the weekly specials—ensure you can get something different every time.
But if you’re not feeling pizza, Pitch still has you covered. The menu has burgers, steaks, fish, salads, and seven different pasta dishes.
The Spaghetti and Meatballs may seem a bit basic, but the dish is a classic for a reason. Each bowl comes with three tennis ball-sized meatballs, which are made in house. They’re succulent and bursting with flavor. The noodles are cooked perfectly, and the sauce has just enough sweetness and tang. The meal also comes with a few slices of focassia bread to soak up any leftover sauce.
The glorious Calabrese Meatballs are also present on the appetizer menu, which also features wings, calamari, onion rings, crab cakes, and more. The Truffle Fries are good, though I’d prefer them a bit more crispy. The Roasted Brussel Sprouts are excellent, especially because they come with bacon.
If you can, save room for dessert, specifically the Chocolate Red Velvet Cake. This three-layered monster is all kinds of decadent and is honestly one of the best red velvets I’ve had.
The outer chocolate shell is cold, reminiscent of the shell topping you put on ice cream as a kid. The cream cheese frosting plays a wonderful duet with the chocolatey cake, and the dollop of vanilla bean gelato on the side is the kicker that sends this wondrous dessert over the top.
And the service is incredibly fast. Drinks arrive almost immediately after ordering, and the appetizers appear just a few minutes later. The typical wait time for a pizza is less than 10 minutes, and the waiters are attentive and friendly.
However, I’ve also had experiences where entrees come at different times, or even before appetizers. The wait staff has explained that’s because, as a scratch kitchen, everything is being made to order. I respect that, but other scratch kitchens should hypothetically have the same problem, then. It’s only been an issue once or twice, but it is disruptive to the meal.
Pitch does many things very well. It doesn’t have the city’s best coal-fired pizza, nor is it serving Omaha’s best pasta. It’s not the top scratch kitchen. But it does all of these things very well, and it deserves credit for doing them all at a high level and creating a great space to enjoy them in.