Pizza Wars: Is This Boardwalk Big Enough for 18 Spots?

Seventeen pizzerias list the Ocean City Boardwalk as their address -- 18, if you count the pizza stand inside . All are crammed into an eight-block stretch between Sixth and 14^th streets.

And not everybody is happy about it.

In some cases, the proliferation of pizzerias has fractured families and angered merchants. Visitors, unaware of the intrigue that bubbles beneath the surface like a vat of simmering sauce, know only that they now have a dizzying array of options from which to choose.

Gone are the good old days of simply plain or pepperoni pizza. Now there are big slices, bigger slices, thin-crust slices, $6-made-for-two-people-to-share slices, shrimp- and broccoli-topped slices, Buffalo and barbecue chicken slices, Hawaiian (ham and pineapple) slices and pasta-laden slices.

“There are too many,” Richard Ford says of the pizzeria-littered landscape.

He’s managed Bob’s Boardwalk Pizza, the southernmost pizzeria on the boards in the 1300 block, for three of the eight years he’s worked on the Boardwalk. “This is absolutely the most I’ve ever seen up here.”

“The explosion of pizza places,” is the way Walt Gauta describes conditions.

As an 11-year occupant on the Boardwalk, Walt’s Original Primo Pizza is a relative newcomer to the 800 block, situated between longtime tenants Pisa and Litterer’s, both of which are owned by Rosario Palmieri.

While Litterer’s bills itself as a “Food Court” and technically is not a pizzeria, it must be counted as such since the first sign hanging from the ceiling says “pizza,” the front counter is devoted to the display of pies, and pizza ovens take up considerable floor space behind the counter.

“It’s gotten to the point where the Boardwalk is overly saturated with pizza places,” says Dino Tridente, for 25 years manager of Roma Pizza, the northernmost pizzeria on the boards in the 600 block. “The Boardwalk has gotten very boring: It’s all T-shirts and pizzerias.”

He says both landlords and prospective business owners need to weigh the chance of another pizzeria finding success in such a cluttered environment.

“A prospective buyer should ask why he wants to open a pizzeria if there are already four in a two-block area,” Tridente says.

The 700, 800, 900 and 1000 blocks of the Boardwalk each have three pizzerias. In some instances, such as Mack & Manco and the Promenade Food Court pizzeria in the 700 block, they are in such close proximity that they are back-to-back. The 1200 and 1300 blocks each have two pizzerias.

To put the cramped conditions on the Boardwalk in perspective, consider that various sources indicate there are eight pizzerias off the Boardwalk in all of Ocean City, from in the north end to pizzeria at 55^th Street in the south end. Even the city doesn’t know how many pizzerias are located on the island.

“We classify restaurants as food/takeout or food/handling,” says Jaime Cornell-Fine of the city licensing office. “We can’t tell how many are pizza places.”

Last year, three new pizzerias entered the fray: Big Slice, which replaced an arcade, in the 900 block; a second 3 Brothers from Italy location, which replaced a toy store, in the 1000 block; and Jo Jo’s, which replaced Pizzaland, in the 1200 block.

While the net effect was two more pizzerias than the year before, the overall effect was greater, dividing some families and driving some participants to engage in competitive practices.

One longtime pizzeria owner in town swore he would never again speak to his cousin, who opened a pizzeria on the Boardwalk. Bob’s introduced a "Buy One, Get One Free" pizza deal, which it has since discontinued, to lure customers to the south end of the Boardwalk. Primavera, in the 1100 block, started advertising itself as the purveyor of the board’s biggest slice. Big Slice put its claim in its name.

“If I came up here as a new guy, I’d have to do something different,” says Gauta, who has intentionally limited his pizza selection to traditional toppings, including anchovy, on a conventional-sized crust. “Crazy toppings and odd combinations are different.”

“We needed to change,” says Gus Herrera, manager for 11 years of Primavera, which underwent extensive renovations last year and up-sized its special-order, eat-in-only pizza ($42, available only in plain cheese) to an unwieldy 33 inches and its “regular” pizza to 29 inches ($6 per slice with toppings).

“Because everybody was going to bigger slices, we needed to change. People are happy when they get a big slice,” Herrera says.

3 Brothers From Italy was the first to bring over-sized pizza to the Boardwalk. Six years ago, it opened a location in the 900 block and billed its 26-inch pie as “The World’s Largest Pizza.” 

Last year, Primavera attempted to top that, and lettered its awning with the proclamation “Largest Pizza on the Boardwalk.”

An unscientific measuring of a slice of Primavera’s newest flavor, Bacon Tomato Ranch, failed to live up to the hype: It was 12.5 inches from crust to tip, meaning a pie would measure 25 inches, not 29 as Primavera claims it does, in diameter. The other big slice player, Big Slice, says its pizzas measure 27 inches.

“Bigger slices, buy one, get one free, they’re all gimmicks,” says Anna Santoro, owner of 3 Brothers at 944 Boardwalk. “Seven dollars for a slice of pepperoni pizza … that’s crazy. Just do it right and charge the right price.”

Santoro has heard the rumors that certain pizzeria owners plotted to put her out of business last year. Other pizzeria operators, on condition of anonymity, corroborated her tale. But instead of closing her doors, Santoro watched her brother-in-law open a second 3 Brothers in the 1000 block last year, and do so with an expanded menu.

"I don’t care what other people say,” Santoro says. “I care what the customer says.”

Tridente, who has stayed true to normal-sized pies with traditional toppings at Roma Pizza, predicts the winner of the Pizza Wars will not be determined by the size of the slice. “People,” he says, “will buy where it tastes good.”

Boardwalk Pizzerias, from north to south:

, 656 Boardwalk

, 706 Boardwalk

Promenade Food Court Pizza, 744 Boardwalk

, 758 Boardwalk

, 812 Boardwalk

, 832 Boardwalk

, 840 Boardwalk

, 920 Boardwalk

, 944 Boardwalk

, 968 Boardwalk

, 1004 Boardwalk

Perky’s Pizza, Playland’s Castaway Cove, 1020 Boardwalk

, 1030 Boardwalk

Primavera, 1102 Boardwalk

Mack & Manco, 12^th and Boardwalk

, 1214 Boardwalk

, 1328 Boardwalk

, 1368 Boardwalk