In southern New Jersey, Italian eateries, pizzerias and restaurants abound; while many are chains, a relatively high percentage of them are family-owned and operated, having been in operation in some cases for decades. With southern New Jersey’s highly concentrated population of Italian-American residents, folks know a good Italian meal. Whether it is an antipasto, Italian wedding soup, pizza, veal marsala, shrimp Fra Diavlo, and even that New Jersey stalwart, the cheese steak – if the food isn’t good, the customers won’t come. There are far too many other restaurant choices to make. Good, if not truly great, Italian food is a staple in the southern New Jersey lifestyle, calories be damned!
My husband I recently took one of the best vacations we’ve had in years. Our two teenaged daughters spent two weeks together in a rented house at Ocean City, Maryland. For two weeks, we did not have to consider the needs of the lactose-intolerant daughter, nor the whims of the strictly vegetarian one. We were free to explore eating out as a couple!
Word of mouth is truly the best recommendation that a restaurant can have, and that’s what brought us to Pirone’s. While my spouse was buying paint at the local MAB store, a contractor mentioned that he lived in Westhampton and that his favorite restaurant was Pirone’s. Like many hidden treasures of a restaurant, it is located on a county road in a strip shopping center, tucked neatly away in its corner. There is a sign visible from the street, but you might easily pass it by. Across the road is the huge Burlington County complex of buildings: its main library, animal shelter, school for special needs students, and an annex to its large community college. While there are some other interesting shops in the strip center – a pet store, a karate studio, and a dance school – Pirone’s is the kind of place that is your destination, not a sidebar to a shopping trip or an afternoon spent running family errands. On our first trip there, we actually missed the restaurant, and had to turn around and backtrack our steps.
In operation since 1990, Pirone’s bills itself as an “Italian Family Restaurant and Pizzeria: Serving Your Family the Finest Food Since 1990. On our first (of four total in two weeks!) visit, we stood somewhat confused in the lobby, not knowing if it was seat yourself or wait for a hostess. An amiable, balding middle aged man saw us and came over to introduce himself as the owner. Since the restaurant was not particularly crowded on a Tuesday night, he would sit us himself. Mario, the owner, proceeded to seat us in an absolutely charming and romantic separate little dining ‘room’, set apart from other tables by its latticed trellis. There are actually several dining options at Pirone’s – the takeout area at the front with a few tables and chairs scattered about, the dining area to the right, with a section of lattice-work separated tables and more informal seating, and the largest dining area to the left, with a half-dozen ‘private’ little dining areas for those romantically inclined diners who don’t mind being included in the larger dining area with other customers not quite so sequestered.
This is truly family Italian dining. Luncheon items, offered between 11 AM to a very reasonable 4:00 PM, include baccio di amore (stuffed eggplant), cio bella (grilled chicken and black olives served over penne pasta), lobster ravioli, and chicken scarpariella, served with mushrooms in a garlic, wine and provolone cheese sauce. You may also select from pasta – gnocchis, spinach manicotti, baked ziti, etc., served with either soup or salad – for under $9.00. Cold and hot subs – tuna fish, turkey, cheese steak, veal parmigiana – are both lunch and dinner fare.
Pirone’s has a surprisingly large selection of appetizers: pescattori di napoli, with mussels, clams, crab meat and shrimp, cheese fries, shrimp cocktail, bruschetta, chicken wings, and either small or large antipastas. The soup and salad individual selections are varied as well: turkey salad, caesar salad, minestrone, Italian wedding soup, and more. Caution! The portions at Pirone’s are so generous that you might want to consider either skipping the ‘befores’ or taking a goodly portion of them home with you. (Servers are very accommodating about wrapping those leftovers!)
Pizza a la Molisana is the house specialty pizza, with your choice of toppings on an extremely thin, somewhat hard crust. (Trust me, it is to die for, especially their pepperoni Molisana!) House specialty pizzas include ricotta, broccoli, spinach, cheese and Sicilian pizzas as well. You can easily feed a family of four – or six – for well between $20 – $25 with very fresh, mostly homemade, and nutritious picks from the ‘starters’ and pizza menus themselves!
The regular menu items are a truly amazing range of tastes and price. Over a dozen house pastas are offered, each served with a soup AND salad. (Prices range from $11.99 to $14.99.) I am normally not a ‘pasta person’, but Pirone’s penne pasta was really the best that I’ve ever had. House specials (which do not include the nightly specials presented by your server) include some quirky choices, one of which is bound to grab your attention. The ‘house specialty’ is a chicken, veal and eggplant parmigiana dish; ‘Pirone’s Specialty’ is stuffed shells, manicotti, baked ziti and ravioli (plus lunch and dinner the following day!); for the seafood lover, there’s Salmon Italiano, served with ‘little garlic, caper, broccoli served over pasta’. At $15.99, the Salmon special is the most expensive of the list; all other are $14.99, and again include both soup and salad plus some of the most delicious Italian rolls (which come with real butter packets) I’ve ever tasted.
Other dining choices include veal, chicken, steaks, pork and seafood in a variety of shapes and forms; ranging in price from $14.99 to $17.99, these meals include not only soup, salad, those to-die-for rolls but also a side of spaghetti, penne, capellini or linguini. Whew! Consider some of these choices: veal saltibocca (my very own personal favorite), veal with prosciutto, spinach, eggs and mushrooms in a sherry wine sauce served with (freshly grated by the server) Provolone cheese; chicken marsala, Abruzzo special (ziti with grilled chicken, artichokes, black olives, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, and green peppers in a marinara sauce), beef braciole, broiled pork chops, mussels marinara, fried shrimp, shrimp and scallops scampi, chicken cacciatore, veal sorrentino, chicken Tuscanina (with hearts of artichoke and mushrooms in a wine sauce), pork chops marsala, stuffed or broiled flounder, or Zuppa di Pesce (clams, mussels, shrimp and scallops served over linguini with marinara sauce).
We have never, ever left Pirone’s after a meal without a doggie bag (sometimes two!). Desserts available are on the lighter side: ice cream, cannoli (we’ve seen them freshly made several times), and cakes provided by a south Jersey Italian bakery. The selection of cakes from which to choose usually include three to four different types: chocolate, coconut, vanilla, and carrot. Both cappucino and espresso, both made on site, are also offered.
Service at Pirone’s is everything you would expect – of a much higher end restaurant. Servers are prompt, unobtrusive, willing to go the extra mile for a customer (“I don’t know if the chef can make that for you, but I’ll check” – and the answer has always been yes), and friendly. (Friendly, that is, if that’s what you want. If you choose to have a more sedate, intimate dinner, we’ve found that the servers intuitively ‘back off’.)
Pirone’s has no lqiuor license, which is why they are able – and literally why they have to – offer mammoth meals of top quality, freshly made Italian dishes at remarkably low prices. Diners are welcomed to bring their own beer or wine; servers provide not only chilled glasses but will keep your beverages iced as well. While cash is always welcomed, all major credit cards are also accepted.
I would highly, highly recommend Pirone’s as really one of the best, if not the absolute best, places for true Italian family dining in all of southern New Jersey. The only way you’ll be able to refute that lofty claim? Head over to Pirone’s and find out for yourself!
