Review: Harry's Pizza - Miami FL

Coconut Grove is a lush, green, upscale, and tranquil Miami neighborhood that has little in common with the garish excess of places like South Beach. Nestled along the shoreline of Biscayne Bay, this leafy neighborhood is lovely for walking through streets with hip shops and relaxed sidewalk cafes, and there we found Harry's Pizzeria.

Margherita pizza at Harry's

It was a lovely warm evening in early spring, and we opted to dine al fresco. Harry's pizza is authentically Neapolitan, which means a small 10" personal-size pie, flash-cooked at 900-1,000 degrees, with a thin crust, puffy edges, and leopard-spot char. The one "compromise" for this American rendition of an Italian pizza is that it arrives cut into six slices.

Al fresco dining at Harry's Pizzeria

We ordered two pizzas for two people. The Spicy Pepperoni included tomato sauce, fontina, fresh mozzarella, pepperoni, arugula, and chili flakes. We also had the Margherita (fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce, basil) which is the purest way to evaluate any Neapolitan pizza. 

The Spicy Pepperoni pizza

The Margherita was one of the prettiest pizzas I can remember. The crust was very soft, but also flavorful with the perfectly puffy cornicione so typical of Neapolitan pizza. Appropriately for this style of pie, the excellent sauce and cheese were applied sparingly, so that it didn't overwhelm the crust. 

It was a tad wet in the center (typical for a Neapolitan), but it impacted only the first bite of each slice. The fresh basil was applied post-bake and was the ideal complement to the fundamental flavor mix.

The pepperoni pie was indeed spicy as advertised, and surprisingly it carried a bit more cheese than the Margherita. Despite the extra payload of pepperoni and cheese, this pie wasn't wet in the center and the crust was able to support the integrity of each slice. The entire top surface was covered with fresh baby arugula, and the flavors were all in harmony.

Beautiful char underneath

Just a decade ago, it was still hard to find properly executed Neapolitan pies in America. Now, that skillset is common in every major city and well into the suburbs. While this pizza won't make me forget the world class Neapolitan pies at places like Scuola Vecchia in Coral Springs, it was nearly flawless and served up in a lovely location. You can't go wrong eating here when in Coconut Grove.