Our first time experiencing La Festa was last year. It was really an enjoyable time and we had a…read morelot of fun trying different food from different stands.
This year we decided to try a plain slice from every stand that offered pizza and well... we couldn't really tell we were at an ITALIAN festival.
Almost every stand only offered the "old forge" style pizza, and I don't think any of them should.
More than half of the old forge style squares were cafeteria quality at best and even worse.
The better of the bunch didn't exceed Ellio's Frozen Pizza quality at the best either.
Here are our rankings of each stand from best to worst.
Luigi's Pizza 7/10
Lupo Russo Woodfired Pizza 6/10
Novello's Pizza 5.5/10
Electric City Pizza 5.2/10
DaVinci Pizza 4.5/10
Roseanne's Pizza 4/10
Buona Pizza 3.4/10
Arcaro & Genell's 2/10
Calarusso's Pizza 2/10
Arcaro's the Next Generation 1/10
Capone's 1/10
Carmella's Italian Deli & Pastry 0/10
Now that is the listing for a plain slice of pizza.
Carmella's may have the worst square of pizza with it being as cold as a leftover slice in the fridge, but they were bangin for pastries. Pumpkin cannolis, normal cannolis, pastries galore, they had the sweets down.
And going off that point, I believe this festival is a hotspot for sweets, italian ice, funnel cakes, cannolis, lobster tails, etc.
The problem with this event is the mundane options from stand to stand. Almost every stand had the same options as their neighbor. The ones that had unique menu options like the garlic knot sliders had the longest lines.
Almost every stand offered basic pastas, basic pizza and basic pastries.
There was very few "authentic" food options like seafood salads, pestos, or braised veal shanks.
Sadly, the most popular stands didn't offer italian foods. Like Chef Von and Mom serving burgers and BBQ, had a line from the start of the festival all the way up to the end. Along with the roasted corn stand, you couldn't walk 5 minutes without seeing someone with a corn on the cob.
I do think this festival is turning into more of a dessert fest than a true italian festa.
I personally would rather see every stand offer italian options to stay true to the "La Festa" name, instead we are starting to see more and more "fair" food stands like fried oreos, funnel cakes, and whoever can afford to buy a slot.
Overall I'd say to come for the desserts, garlic knot sliders, and live music.
Just bring your walking shoes, and be ready to slide in and between crowds of people.
After trying the sad pizza here, we decided to go to an actual flavorful pizza joint, Scranton Pizzeria. Shout out, great flavor for a decent price unlike at this festival!