Antica Pizzeria: Underwhelming

Antica Pizzeria in Marina Del Rey is known for the most authentic Neapolitan pizza available in Los Angeles. They offer two versions of their signature margherita pizza: one regular and one DOC with imported ingredients.

On a recent lunch I opted for the Pizza Margherita DOC made with San marzano tomato , fresh buffalo mozzarella, basil and Grana Padano imported cheese. It was bland.  I am a big fan of margherita pizza and it is often my "tester" pizza at an establishment that is new to me.  The crust was fine, with a little char and it held up well but the pizza lacked any real flavor, especially the sauce.  I've had passed Hors d'œuvre bruschetta or pigs in a blanket with more flavor. It was disappointing.

What I love about margherita pizza is its simplicity, there is nowhere to hide if something isn't up to snuff. I don't doubt that they use good ingredients but the whole was less than the sum of its parts. Very disappointing as Antica has an excellent reputation, but the pie that I had was unremarkable in every way, except that it had significantly less oil than most pizza pies. This is no rival to Pizzeria Mozza.