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- Hours:
Mon-Sun. 12:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good for:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
17 reviews for Casale Pizzeria
PROS & CONS:
+ okay pizza
+ good bruschetta (had the barcelona - it was only 3 slices though)
+ good bread (had to ask for pepper and olive oil to make dipping since they don't have butter?!)
+ good service
+ clean bathrooms (doesn't hurt to mention this)
+ the panna cotta ($6) - I actually LOVE their panna cotta (size small btw). There's mango and strawberry, strawberry slices, and mint - it melds into a wonderful combination and I must say it's one of the best panna cotta I've had in a long time.
- bad timing (appetizer came with the meal, and the complimentary bread came last... hello?)
- hostess was... mute? I don't know, but I did the greeting, request, asking, and explaining and her response? Zilch. To me and 3 other people. Not sure if she's skirting her job but it shure felt like it!
- their 13 inches personal sized pizzas are overhyped (if it wasn't, this wouldn't be a con - $14), but they're still good. the Tuttavista pizza has cheese that overwhelmed any truffle flavor that it was supposed to have. The veggies from the barcelona bruschetta and some red peppers helped make it flavorful enough to eat it all (instead of getting the feeling of having too much from one taste)
Decent food, simple but nice ambience (maybe they could do a bit more), good company , and good service make this place an alright place to be.
Great ingredients, friendly service, poor execution. Casale seems to have all the right stuff. The servers are actually friendly and on the ball, the ingredients are fresh and top notch, the pizzas are properly thin and fired. Our food overall, was disappointing.
As we debated on the wine, our server put in his two cents and we acquiesced. The bottle finally selected hurdled rustic into harsh and did not go well with any of the food (an aglianico, I believe). Mrs. Cork and her mother opted for a shrimp cocktail, which was actually served with a cold red sauce that was just a bizarre choice. It was a shame, as the shrimp were enormous and tasty. From there we ordered two burrata, neither of which were creamy, a salty lasagna, a delicious side of roasted cauliflower (really, it was), and a seafood pizza.
Now, why would I order a seafood pizza? Well, because it's the freaking Sardinia people and the server said not to worry, it was great. We were mislead again. Fresh, full-throttle flavored mussels, clams and octopus topped an otherwise good pizza. It broke the no seafood and cheese rule of Italian cooking for no good reason. Completely disappointing use of the ingredients. I won't go back to this place, but for those of you singing the virtues of Pizzavolante as an alternative, please swing by Joey's at least once.
I really wanted to like this place, but from a once over on the menu I started debating whether a trip across the street to B & B might have been a better idea.
The location is nice, a little dark for an already dark street, but I digress. The patio has a lot of potential but needs work, much like the menu and even the bar! The drinks were poorly mixed and we even had them remake a couple of them.
I had the 4 Pastori, basically a four cheese pizza it was merely ok. There was something sweet that I couldn't put my taste buds on, but it drove me nuts all night... it threw off the taste completely. I decided on my 4 Pastori after reading over the menu for a good twenty minutes trying to find that item that would scream out at me to try it, but nothing.
The service wasn't bad, I was with a large party and our waitress was pretty attentive most of the time.
To sum it up, there was nothing memorable about this place and I think I would decline if I was invited to eat there again.
I went to Casale for my boyfriend's Birth Day we had a lounge table reservation in the terrace area. It is super cool because you are in a second floor enjoying the weather. The food is great, la "burrata" is home-made and is delicious. The brick oven pizzas are really good too and the price is reasonable.
2.5 This wasn't my first choice for lunch and after today it never will be.
I walked into this place and immediately liked the airy, sun-lit room. Once at my table I attempted to consult my server on her recommendations for lunch. This wasn't really successful and to her credit her job isn't to play concierge and pick my meal. After a few minutes I settled on the Catalana pizza.
I couldn't get online and that's a deal breaker so I opted to have my lunch to go. Maybe it would have been nice of them to slice the pizza. A minor oversight, right? right. However, that wasn't the last disappointment as the pizza itself proved to me average.
Maybe I went on an off day, maybe I should stick to mozzarella and mac. I'd go back for drinks as this is a beautiful space.
So I finally got to try Casale and was slightly disappointed. In the war between best pizza in Miami, Volante is still tops for me. I frequent Volante with my mother and she immediately remarked how non-intimate the place is, it's enormous. As stated in a previous review, while Volante's locale is hip and industrial this place is more of a rustic dining room. Also, we were both slightly disappointed at the lack of reasonably priced wines. In these times Volante has come through with an amazing wine list where nothing tops $18 a bottle. You'd be hard pressed to find a bottle at Casale that is less than $36.
Now the actual pizza was very tasty although sliced pretty poorly. The waiter got our order wrong but was quick to correct our order. The dough is nowhere near as good as Volante's which is nice and crispy. The only thing we found Casale to be better at was the sauce, but only by a tiny margin. Otherwise we both agreed Casale's pizza was a notch below Volante. Not that Casale was bad by any means, definitely one of the top pizza places in all of Miami and certainly worth checking out.
The smoked mozzarella appetizer was very tasty but the portion of tomatoes with basil we got was pretty pitiful and the tomatoes were not that great to begin with. The eggplant pesto was also very tasty but was also a very small serving. In summation, Casale serves its purpose by catering to the local South Beach foodies but being a downtown resident I would never make the trek back here when you have arguably the best pizza in Miami at Volante.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!
Casale's serves THE BEST PIZZA in the Miami area.
Creamy, buttery, heavenly mozzarella. A perfect tomato sauce, a little sweet and just a little tart. A chewy crust that is slightly charred.
Whoever is making those pizzas really knows what they are doing.
And the place is just far enough away from the madness of Lincoln Road that it has not yet been discovered by the masses, so no crazy lines (yet)!
Correct website address: http://www.casalepizze...
From the people that deliver a great experience at Sardinia, we have Casale Pizzeria. Honestly, they should have focused on what they already succeed with.
Greeted by hostesses that showed more skin than fabric, I was kindly seated to the table of my choosing. The lobby had a strong incense smell (a HUGE no on my list for a restaurant). Given that Casale just opened, my selection for the meal was pretty easy (in my opinion, the only way to judge pizza quality is to through Pizza Margarita).
Started with a plate of burrata with Prosciutto and Heirloom tomatoes and was disappointed. The texture of the burrata was more like a regular Mozzarella instead of that creamy and silky interior.
Now to the important part...the pizza. The tomato sauce was absorbed by the extremely doughy pizza crust / dough (I tend to like thinner pizzas unless you are going deep dish). The dough did not have a unique taste. Tomato sauce and cheese were better than average and compared to other pizzerias, one could easily find the basil.
The disappointing food was rescued by the Panna Cotta which was above average and the extremely friendly and attentive service. The space is great and homey with a great outdoor area; however, they need to work on the access (a bit confusing) and open the parking area to the public.
I will try Casale one more time given that it is their first day open to the public; however, Pizza Volante continues to be my favorite in Miami.
I feel bad writing this because it just opened and I'm sure a lot of things will improve after a few months. We were looking forward to this place because of the location and the talk of a mozzarella bar. We went with a group of 6 and made reservations for the downstairs. The place is very large, we didn't go upstairs but apparently its a lounge that serves the same menu. Although the place was crowded the decor and white walls made it feel too new. Also because the walls and floors, it was very loud.
When we sat they gave us glasses and a pitcher of water, without pouring it, I'm not sure if that was an oversight or part of their thing, but we had to pour our own water all night, which was fine. We ordered a bottle of wine, the first one we asked for they didn't have, so they suggested something similar, it was fine but by no means good, so we ordered something different for the second bottle. That bottle was spoiled and smelled like gas, so they gave us their best bottle of cab, which i thought probably would have sold at wild oats for $8. To say the least the wine list was not very good.
We ordered the mozzarella sharing platter, which included 5 different kids i think, it also comes with two "sides" which we chose heirloom tomatoes and prosciutto. The mozz was good but they didn't explain which was which, and it was all kinda lumped together, so i didn't feel there was a huge taste Test, also the tomatoes and prosciutto was too little compared to the amount of cheese.
The boys had pizza which they liked, but the piece i tried was overly salted and too wet for my taste. Two of us had salads, one was too salty to eat and mine was not dressed or seasoned at all, i put s+p, olive oil and balsamic and it was still way to bland to get through, it was the romaine, fennel, artichoke and pecorino salad.
Our server was good and you could tell he was trying so hard but it just wasn't able to save a bad meal. when we were walking in, trying to find a door, a group of people had just come out and showed us where the door was but said that the meal was awful and that we should run for our lives, definitely not the best first impression =(
I hope this place can do better because its a great location and good concept...
BEST MAC N CHEESE...EVER...annnd the most expensive I've ever had @ $14 a serving! LOL
Didn't really feel like you were in South Beach anymore stepping into Casale not to mention it took us 5 minutes to find the front door HAHA. Outdoor area is gorgeous! Service was good, menu was a bit difficult to understand but def was a-ok and I will be back again when I feel like ponying up $14 for the best mac n cheese in South Florida LOL.
I find Casale to pretty much be the inverse of Volante.
Where Volante seems to be more about the pizzas, Casale really pushed the cheese platters.
Where Volante has the most basic of hip decors, Casale has a really nice rustic dining room.
The crust at Volante is very crispy, while it is pretty chewy at Casale.
Volante is young and hip, while Casale really plays well to the tastes of middle aged people (that sounds mean and douchey, but it isn't meant to be).
So where Volante has better food, Casale has better atmosphere. If it is just me and the girlfriend, we are much more likely to go to Volante; but if we were to go out in a group, you cannot deny Casale as a great gathering place.
If you eat here, definitely try the fennel and tuna salad. It is by far the best thing we had on the menu. We were much less impressed with the burrata and the wild mushroom pizza.
went there on Saturday with my wife for a quick dinner and had a good experience. We shared the Catalan pizza and it was very good. The pizzas are cooked in a wood fire oven and you can quickly tell the difference. The dough was thin, had a bit of char which I think is key and was deliciously chewy. This pizza had olives on it and we were expecting slices but it was more of a tappenade which sadly overpowered the manchego and chorizo.
We want to go back to taste the freshly made mozzarellas especially since they have various Buffala types.
All in all, I recommend the place because it is very affordable for the area ($12 for a pizza), and for the lounge upstairs.
I finally got to take a look at the brand new Casale Pizza today. The place was originally to be called 2 Ovens.. I know because I was part of the Interior Design team. Due to the economy and some other factors, the original design was value engineered a bit, but the essence made it into the project... I am particularly impressed with the spider ceiling on the second floor lounge as well as the roofed extension to the terrace. If you like to see renderings of the original design, shoot me an email.
So much for my design point of view. I ended up note eating there but was please to see a rather full house at the ground floor restaurant. The 2 ovens are all that is used for cooking, and they were in full swing! Upstairs turns into a lounge at night and I am sure that it will be good...next time I am out on the beach, I will defiantly eat in and follow up with part II.
For now I can recommend to take a look at the design and enjoy some wine. Since this is owned by the same individuals that run the Sardinia Enoteca next door, the wine and food are bound to be great! (review of Sardinia coming soon...)
Let's cut to the chase. The food was good. Over the top? No. We started out with the Cheese Grand Tasting. Did the 5 cheeses and two sides. The heirloom tomatoes (nothing very heirloomy about them) and an Eggplant side (not the pesto). We were brought the plate of 5 cheeses, however not being mozz gurus it would have been nice if the waiter pointed out each of the cheeses. Were tasty but couldn't tell you what was what.
We ordered the Funghetto with wild mushrooms, taleggio & sage. While the sage was interesting as a topping, it was way to strong and overpowered the slices. Perhaps shredded and spread on the pie versus whole leaves might have been better. Second pie was Super Margherita with prosciutto, bufala, arugula was adequate. A tad soggy and the prosciutto was suprisingly under-salty? Final pie was our fave for simplicity. Tuttavista with robiola & truffle pecorino. For me anything with truffle goes over well so not sure if I was biased. Lots to choose from and wish it was closer to the movie theater as I would take this over Piola any day!
Finally, we didn't do dessert but ordered coffee. One macchiato and a latte. The busboy I assume, wasn't sure what was what and we had to remove our coffee off the tray, no strike against them but was a funny experience, a first!
I agree with the Miami New Times, the pizza was nearly flawless. Occasionally, as Alice Water's pointed out in her memoir about Chez Panise, wood oven's often take some time to work out there kinks. (As do new restaurants.)
I've visited Casale twice and loved every minute! The bright decor, boisterous crowd and random -running child, ah...it makes me remember the great pizzerias of my childhood.
And Kudos to Sergio for putting together such a thoughtful wine list. Feels like I'm in Bari.
Casale is a smart-looking and comfortable Italian trattoria specializing in wood oven pizzas and italian cheeses, espcially mozzarella. Their Mozzarella Grand Tasting ($24), accompanied by two sides of your choice (i.e. bresaola, heirloom tomatoes, prosciutto, etc.), is a perfect sharing plate for anyone with a taste for real Italian cheeses. The wood burning oven infuses a smoky taste to their pizzas and calzones that is also hard to beat. The service is generally good as well.
Criticisms would be a wine list that could use some less pricey by-the-bottle options and the room iteself, which can echo & boom when it is crowded.
I forgot to mention the upstairs bar/lounge area--very sexy!
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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7/27/2009
I may be a bit biased because I live in the neighborhood but I really liked this place. Casual… Read more »
