Marco's Pizza, Asheville, North Carolina, Pizza Restaurant Details

Food:

Service was good. Friendly staff. The Pizza... was just edible. Laking in flavor and soggy. They put the sauce on top of cheese. The cheese they do use is very bland. This is not NY style pizza. I am very particular about pizza and this totally missed the mark. Try the NY pizza just down the road, it is much better.

Food:

Very good Italian restaurant. Classy but not snooty. Meatballs were amazing.

Food:

The best pizza! Nice thin crust with fresh ingredients. Salads are also excellent. Owner's a great guy. Our #1 choice for pizza.

Food:

This is the best pizza place in Asheville, hands down. Fresh, delicious pizza that is reasonably priced. There is no reason to go anywhere else.

Food:

This is a rock solid pizzeria. I'm not going to go on about New York style, or authenticity, or anything like that -- I think New York pizza exists in so many variations that there's nothing concrete to compare to anyway. It's a vague illusion.

So what I will say is that Marco's pizza is several things:

1. The crust is a perfect expression of a very specific philosophy: it's glutenous and chewy but not bready and "full". It's salty, flavorful and elastic, yet it does not get in the way. To me, it exemplifies a very specific balance that bespeaks a deep culinary understanding. As the base of the pizza, it has what you're looking for in every dimension.

2. The sauce is clean, bright, and light, yet flavorful but still straightforward. It is a lightly spiced mixture and it really tastes fresh. I don't know the actual story, but if these tomatoes came from a can, I'm in line to stock my pantry. It is delicious in every way.

3. The mozzarella is a perfect match for the crust and sauce. It's in no way greasy or heavy -- it's airy and has real texture; miles away from the globby mouthfuls that are so often explicitly marketed as desirable. Again, it's a pointed decision that defines the pizza as one thing and not another, rather than attempting to turn the end result into something that resembles eveyone's idea of a pizza.

These three points are what place Marco's pizza above everything else in town, and what make his pizza an absolute rival to any pizza anywhere. It's pizza with a real heart and soul, and it is magnificent.

I haven't approached toppings, and the reason is that I'm not that familiar with Marco's topped pizzas. I've had them and they're good, but extra toppings never seemed to me to be what made Marco's pies shine.

For me, it's always just been the pure simplicity of the three components I described above (plus fresh basil!) that drew my attention.

As others have said -- great beers, great staff. I also love the Greek salads; Marco's dressing is really nice. And sure, things may take a while sometimes, but the staff is über-friendly, and you really can't rush quality.

The decor suits the vibe, and I suppose I probably should have put Excellent for both that and the service, but there are a few tiny details that could be addressed so let's leave a little room for improvement.

Besides, perfect is boring, and a perfect pizzeria would not be a pizzeria, it'd be a factory run by robots. Marco's is a real pizzeria, and it's as close to perfect as can be.