After a lengthy hike on a mountain, my father and I stopped at Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria in downtown Mountain View on the way back to Hotel Avante. Fortunately, parking on Castro Street was fairly easy on a Sunday night around 6:30 p.m.

Upon entry, the wait time for a table was around fifteen minutes. The floors were wood, the walls adorned by sports photos; some green plants were strategically placed throughout the restaurant. After some moments, we were seated at a small table near the entrance. Amici’s was filled to capacity, hence the initial wait.

A few moments thereafter, our waitress took our order for beverages. I ordered a Dr. Pepper. I examined the menu in some detail, but focused primarily on the available pizza choices. Amici’s bills itself as an authentic New York style pizza joint and naturally I intended to order a cheese pie.

When our waitress returned with our drinks, we placed our order. I ordered the aforementioned cheese pie. My father had some kind of noodles; tired from our lenghty hike, I wasn’t really paying attention. Sampling my Dr. Pepper, I found somewhat lacking in carbonation, although within some reasonable tolerance. The atmosphere was abuzz with patrons conversing. I sipped my drink.

When the pizza arrived, it was blackened and somewhat charred, as advertised. The crust was quite thin, the cheese unintrusive. Hungry, I started in on a slice. It was quite impressive, boasting a unique taste of a wood I cannot quite place. The flavor was delivered predominantly from the manner in which the pizza was cooked in what was billed as a classic brick oven. However, there was not much else to the unique taste and when I finally happened upon some small sections of a slice not entirely blackened by the cooking process, the pizza was modestly bland in comparison to more blackened bites. Nevertheless, and excellent, unique taste. As the remaining slices cooled, they remained easy to extract, cheese intact, and consume. The cooling problem that plagues pies with heavier amounts of cheese was most definitely not present.

With the pizza consumed — I ate far more than I should have — it was time to depart. During the evening I found the waitress to be timely and she tended to our needs well.

I’d highly suggest Amici’s to anyone in the Mountain View area or within driving distance of any of their California locations.

Enjoy!