One year in, this family-run pizzeria still has a line out the door.
Talk to Lorenzo Renna any afternoon before he opens his pizzeria, Margherita Pizza Co., at 5pm. He’ll tell you, “I’m making the dough. It’s always a work in progress. You’ve got to make it work every day.”
He says this in his Sicilian accent, which makes it much more charming than it sounds on paper.
Ever since the Surf City pizzeria opened on July 5, 2023, people have been lining up, Tuesday through Saturday, to wait for the doors to open at 5pm. Customers have four hours—they close at 9—to try the New York–style pizza cooked for 90 seconds in a wood- and gas-fired oven.
The dual-fuel oven makes it easier to have it run at a lower temperature so he can also cook his chicken dishes and roast eggplant and peppers.
After 26 years of co-owning a successful pizzeria, La Campannina, on the East End of Long Island, Renna and his family—wife Diane, sons Gavin and Michael, daughter Meghan and son-in-law, Joe DeCicco—chose to move to south and ended up in Surf City.
Soon construction started at a mixed-use development off Roland Avenue. Diane suggested they look for a space. And now the whole family works turning out the Queen Margherita pizza—their most popular, followed by the Margherita Meatball—in addition to charcuterie, salads and calzones. Gluten-free options are available.
They don’t take reservations. Send an email to inquire about large parties.
Margherita Pizza Co.
Triton Village Shopping Center
112 Charlie Medlin Dr. Unit A, Surf City
(910) 803-2253
mapizzaco@gmail.com
The story was originally published in the Fall 2024 issue.
