On April 21, social media star and famed pizza reviewer Dave Portnoy visited Massa Roman Square Pizza in downtown Scotch Plains. Located on Park Avenue, the six year old pizzeria was given a rating of 8.1 by “El Presidente.” The rating was released on May 6 via Portnoy’s social media pages, which have a combined 24 million followers, bringing extra hype and excitement to the momentous occasion.
“Light, crispy and tastes good,” Portnoy said when reviewing the pizza. “The pizza is gigantic but lives up to the hype.”
Dave Portnoy, founder and owner of Barstool Sports, set out on a mission to “review one pizza place a day until he tries them all” back in 2013. Although not at the finish line yet, he has reviewed 1,723 pizzerias in the United States, from coast to coast. Each review is met with Portnoy’s famous phrase of “one bite everybody knows the rules,” where he takes one bite of the crust and one bite of the cheese slice before giving his final analysis.
These simple few words of critique can make or break a business’ livelihood, as either pizza-loving fiends will travel to Scotch Plains for a taste of the glory or leave it in the dust and make it never seen again. Ratings that have been given out range from 0.1 all the way to 10.0, making the score of the local pizzeria even more exceptional.
Students at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School were elated to see the local pizza joint get put into the national spotlight, and surprised to see it was picked out of millions of pizzerias in the country to be reviewed.
“When I first heard that he came to Massa, I was pretty shocked because I would’ve never thought a pizza place in Scotch Plains was going to get a famous review from Portnoy,” sophomore Brandon DiNizo told The Fanscotian.
The high rating will only help the relatively-new business thrive in the Scotch Plains community and drive tourism in the township that resides in Union County. Established in 2018, Massa Roman Square Pizza’s unique style separates itself from the competition. Bringing an authentic taste of Roman Square Pizza back to New Jersey, visitors are able to experience a slice like they are on a vacation 4,000 miles away in Rome, Italy.
“I think this rating will help Massa in a very good way,” DiNizo said. “An 8.1 is a pretty good rating for pizza that isn’t bar style like Dave Portnoy likes it. They will definitely get a lot more customers and become well known because of this.”
