I moved to the Fox Cities area about 9 months ago and have been searching and searching for a legitimate pizza place. Yes, there are plenty of decent places around offering Milwaukee-style pies, but there was no true Neopolitan style places around. Anyone that has talked to me for more than 45 second knows how much I love pizza, so It was promptly told about this place's opening. After looking at pictures online I knew this was the traditional pizza I sought. And I crossed my fingers.
Today, they opened and I was not disappointed. This place is legit. I will break it down starting with the most important part, the pizza.
Sauce: You can taste the tomatoes, with a perfect tang and just a bit of spiciness to it. The cheapo places use low quality tomatoes and balance out the bad tanginess with sugar. Here you get the bright, fresh tomato taste. 5/5
Toppings: All ingredients were fresh and seemed to be of pretty high quality. It's so easy to ruin a good base pizza with poor quality toppings. Not a problem here. 5/5
Crust: The place has a wood fired oven, which is exactly why I came. I saw someone checking the temperature with an infrared thermometer while I was there so that is definitely a good sign that they are keeping the oven running well. This shows in the crust. The bottom had a great char (not burned). The crust held itself pretty well but still had that perfect bit of chew in the texture. My only complaint on the crust was there wasn't a whole lot of air in the cornicione so it didn't get that great hole structure and crispiness, but that was not a problem for me. 4.5/5
Service: Any eating experience can get ruined by service. I usually have low expectations for new places, but this place was ready to go. The staff were moving smoothly and everything is set up pretty clearly. The staff were also all very friendly. Most importantly, everything was organized and running smoothly. Also, service is fast. You expect fast pizzas out of a wood fired oven and this is exactly what you get. I ordered my first pizza at 11:03 and was done eating it by 11:20.
I say first pizza because toward the end of it I ordered a second one. I did this for a couple reasons. First and foremost, they were really delicious and I wanted another one. Second, I wanted to see how the oven was holding up after several other pizzas went through (my first pizza was their first order, second was maybe 6th or 7th). Third, I wanted to try a different, plainer combination of toppings so I could get a better sense of the sauce flavor. Last, I wanted to see how fast it came out when there were a couple people ahead of me. All aspects of that second pie were just as good as the first. Great crust, great flavor, and made quickly. Overall I highly recommend Broken Tree Pizza. I love pizza, I like to think I know a lot about pizza, and this is hands down the best I've had in the Fox Cities area since moving here.
Additional info you may find useful:
1. Pizzas are only 10" personal pizzas. You might be able to split one among 2 people if you're not too hungry.
2. It's inside the marketplace building so it might not be super visible from the street.
3. I didn't notice wifi but the place next door has it and you can sneak onto that (shhh) read more