New York Pizza Kitchen - Napa

657 Trancas St, Napa CA 94558
(707) 255-8488
Hours: Mon thru Sat: 11am to 9pm, Sun: 4pm to 9pm
Parking: in shopping center
http://www.napanewyorkpizzakitchen.com/

Last Visited: July 9, 2004

Food: 4 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 3 stars
Price: $$$

New York Pizza Kitchen is located inside Silverado Plaza, between Nob Hill Market and Longs Drugs Store. Upon entering the restaurant, you’ll see a counter to your left and a hallway adjacent to the kitchen on the right side. When you get to the back, you’ll see the dining area, which was larger than I expected since most of the view was blocked on my way in.

The walls are painted a bright yellow and there are posters of various cheeses and wine tasting information (e.g. flavors of various wines in terms of fruit, herbs, nutty, spices etc). The ceiling has a high skylight, and dangling from the skylight are two house plants. The booths lining the walls are dark green, and the lamps over each table are red. In the center of the room are regular tables. The table cloths are red and white checkered with glass on top of them. The remainder of the room is lit with black track lights on the high ceiling. In one corner sit a bunch of trophies with a picture of the New York skyline. In this same corner is a bookshelf filled with encyclopedias and numerous children’s books with authors including Dr. Seuss.

The place was quite busy and seemed to be filled with locals. The servers were wearing faded blue Monterey Bay Aquarium t-shirts with sharks on them. There is pizza as well as numerous pasta dishes available.

- Caesar Salad for Two – Romaine lettuce is topped with grated parmesan and croutons and served in a stainless steel bowl topped with two large Styrofoam cups filled with Caesar dressing. You are given tongs and allowed to serve yourselves. The lettuce was fresh, and there was an abundance of parmesan and croutons. The croutons could be lighter, but overall, the salad was very fresh and the dressing creamy and well flavored. (Caesar salad for one available for $6.99) $9.99

- New York Special Combo – Thin crust pizza with raised dough on the edges is topped with pepperoni, sausage, salami, medium sliced green pepper strips, diced onions, and mushroom slices. The marinara holds its own and the overall taste of the pizza is fresh and hot. The pizza dough is cooked just right so that the texture is not too hard, but still comes out soft and steaming. In fact, the pizza came out so hot that I could barely touch it. It’s topped with just the right amount of toppings so that the pizza wasn’t soggy or overwhelmed. Excellent. Small combos available for $14.99 through extra large for $23.99

There are eight combo selections available in sizes ranging from small (12 inches) to extra large (18 inches). You can also order the pizza by the topping. There are over 25 toppings available. All pizzas are served on a stand. They also have garlic bread, a family special, and kids menu available. The pasta selection allows you to select a la carte dining or dinner (which includes bread and a mixed green salad).

The food at New York Pizza Kitchen was excellent. The service was okay. The servers are on the younger side and are friendly. It’s a very casual environment. As mentioned above, the place seemed to be patronized by the locals. There were a few interesting characters in the place which gave the restaurant some interesting spice – it was fun to people watch. Service was average – our pizza took a long time to come out of the oven. I suspect our pizza went to another table that had arrived a little later than us but didn’t order any salad, so more than likely, they received ours and we received theirs. Also, since the place was full, we didn’t get as much attention toward the latter part of the meal, but service was still friendly. Good food and reasonable prices can be found at New York Pizza Kitchen making it worthy of a return visit.