Cal's Own has completely changed, so any review prior to April 2016 will be for their old location and old menu.
Now they are in Jesmond, with a bigger restaurant and a huge, awesome pizza oven from Italy. Their soft launch menu features only Neopolitan-style pizzas - you know the ones that are only baked for a minute or two in a super-hot oven, you eat with a knife and fork, simple fresh tomatoes and the finest mozzarella, not heavy with toppings?
They're very busy, as everyone is excited about the relaunch, but we came on the second night they were open and got a table after waiting only 10-15 minutes at around 630 pm, but if we went any later we would've been waiting longer. Staff are still figuring out the kinks of having a new restaurant, but you can't hold that against them at all! They'll have it down to a science within a few weeks, no doubt. Just be prepared to forgive a few occasional serving missteps.
The new building is casual but sleek and shiny, with a huge open kitchen where you can watch the master work! We enjoyed some huge plump green olives and drinks while we waited for our pizzas. And what can I say, for what they are, they are the best we've had outside Italy (and probably tied with those). Perfect crust. Light, fresh ingredients. Good size for one person (a rocket salad split between two is the perfect accompaniment and will help you fill up). The spicy sausage on top was great, but you can't beat the pizza margherita for sheer simplicity.
However, my husband and I both agreed that though these pizzas were great, we terribly miss the old Cal's Own. His Brooklyn-style pies were absolutely second to none, and that's what we crave when we want pizza. Neopolitan style is elegant and wonderful, knife-and-fork pizza. But Cal did huge pizzas that were sliced, and topped with all sorts of wonderful things, and we miss those every day! We hope that after a successful start, that Cal will expand his menu to include those beloved Brooklyn pies, but we'll definitely be back to try these again too! read more