Barstool Sports Reviews Zuppardi’s Apizza In West Haven

WEST HAVEN, CT — Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy recently made his long-awaited visit to West Haven’s Zuppardi’s Apizza for his popular "One Bite" pizza review. While he was making the rounds in New Haven this past December, West Haven residents were imploring Portnoy to come to Zuppardi’s, saying it was right up there with Wooster Street’s iconic institutions. Portnoy ultimately declared New Haven the “Pizza Capital of the World” and said Sally’s was the best he’s ever had.

Portnoy gave Sally’s a 9.2, Modern Apizza on State Street an 8.8, Pepe’s an 8.5 and Bar on Crown Street a 7.4. He said Modern and Pepe’s were very close in quality and noted that Bar was more of a nightlife pizza, but was still good.

In his review of Zuppardi’s, located at 179 Union Avenue in West Haven, Portnoy said he loved the history of the 85-year-old family business and the people inside. Zuppardi’s started out as a bakery and was founded by Dominic Zuppardi, who was a master bread-baker in New Haven throughout the 1920s. He worked in a variety of bakeries making artisan Italian breads, as well as “abeetz,” according to the Zuppardi’s website. Dominic suffered a stroke in the late 1940s and his son Anthony eventually took over the daily operations of the business and recognized the popularity of the bakery’s pizza and made it his primary focus.

Anthony Zuppardi passed away in 1988, but his children and grandchildren continue to operate Zuppardi’s today.

In his "One bite, everyone knows the rules" reviews, Portnoy samples a bite of cheese pizza and grades off his first impression. For Zuppardi’s, Portnoy said “it’s very good… I love the lady, I love the family, the history…” and gave them an 8.2.

Portnoy then gave a bonus review of Zuppardi’s famous sausage pie. He only samples cheese pizzas for the reviews, so it didn’t count for the review but he said it was “excellent” and gave it an 8.6. Portnoy said he loved Zuppardi’s but said Sally’s is still the king in the area.

“We haven’t made it through 4 generations by being satisfied!,” Zuppardi’s wrote in a post on Facebook. “8.2 is good, but it’s not perfect! So cheers to another 85 years of hard work and staying hungry to be the best we can be! Thank you @barstoolsports for the recognition! It was an honor!”

See the full Barstool “One Bite” review at its website here. (Note: there are some expletives in the review).