On our way home from Quinnipiac, we stopped in Eli's shortly after opening and got a large half sausage half meatball pizza. New Haven style and was very good. Staff was very friendly and helpful. read more

Eli's Brick Oven Pizza Market - Large Mozzarella Pizza with half sausage half meatball - Pizza Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

Great pizza, cross between NY pizza and New Haven. I do prefer NY pizza, but this was really good. And they have great daily specials also! The staff was very friendly!! I enjoyed this much more than Sally's Apizza. read more

Eli's Brick Oven Pizza Market - Cheese Pie. - Pizza Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

Eli's Brick Oven Pizza and Market is a brick oven pizzeria and Italian restaurant that opened in Hamden, Connecticut in 1998. It was founded by the Eli's Restaurant Group, which owns a number of restaurants, bars and breweries in Connecticut. Their original flagship restaurant, Eli's on Whitney, opened in Hamden in 1994. When Bimonte's Pizza Castle across the street closed down a few years later, the restaurant group decided to acquire the building and turn it into their own pizzeria. The menu features a variety of gourmet brick oven pizzas, calzones, stuffed breads, Italian entrees, Italian subs, salads, and various appetizers. My family and I recently visited Eli's Brick Oven Pizza for the first time. We were meeting up with some friends for dinner. Although it was my first time visiting the pizzeria, I had visited this location several times growing up when it was still Bimonte's Pizza Castle. After looking over the menu, my family and I decided to order and share the "Margherita" (Alfredo sauce, sliced plum tomato, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, olive oil drizzle) and the "Penne Vodka" (vodka sauce, penne pasta, mozzarella, grated parmesan, fresh basil). We also ordered a small side of "Penne Vodka" for our younger son who currently enjoys pasta more than pizza. The pizzeria also carries locally-produced Foxon Park Soda, so my wife and I grabbed some bottles of White Birch Beer to enjoy. Both pizzas were pretty good and had a decent chew crust that was crispy around the edges. The ingredients seemed pretty fresh too. I must also note that Eli's Margherita pizza is actually an American-style Margherita as opposed to a traditional Neapolitan-style Margherita. Overall we had a nice experience at Eli's and would definitely order pizza from them again! read more

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Okay so I went in having read other reviews and was fully prepared for a customer service catastrophe. I was not disappointed. The kiddo and I arrived to dine-in just as the lone person working the counter picked up the phone for a pickup order effectively turning her back on a woman already at the counter. Two other families walked in behind us and we all got to listen to the conversation with the phone customer while several men stood in the kitchen area staring at us. We were eventually helped by the grouchy, clearly frazzled/perturbed/why the hell am I the only person helping people around here cashier/hostess/server. Yes. She was a pizza shop do-it-all. She was trying. But lord, it was painful to watch at times. We made sure to be as nice as possible to her just to lighten her load. We ordered two small salads and two small pizzas. We then picked out our table and waited. We did not wait too long before the salads arrived. The kiddo's Caesar salad looked fresh and was served with dressing on the side (perfect for her.) Although, it had an over abundance of croutons that she picked around. My garden salad was super fresh and had black olives (yay!), super sweet peppers (yum!) and juicy cherry tomatoes. It did not have dressing. Not mixed in nor served on the side. I ate the salad plain for fear of feeling the wrath o' the pizza shop do-it-all. The pizzas were delivered as we were halfway through our salads. They were crispy and delicious. No complaints, just good traditional red sauce pies. I ended up piling my plain salad into my pizza slices and found joy. But it was nowhere near as good as a real salad pizza from Colony Grill. We finished up and left without incident. Would I recommend this as a must try pizza shop? No. Would I recommend it if you're in the area and immediately hungry for pizza? Yes. It suffices for that purpose. The next time we're in the Hamden/New Haven/West Haven area, we'll spend the extra time driving to Sally's or Modern or Zuppardis. Meanwhile, we're fortunate to have both a Pepe's and a Colony Grill in our hometown. read more

Everything was AMAZING!!! We dined in, and I couldn't have been more pleased with the food and service. It is a diamond in the rough!!

Awful terrible never again, No taste - arrived cold. I watched on my phone as the uber eats driver picked up the pizza about 4 minutes before it arrived at my house so it was not uber fault. Eli's had the $100 worth of pizzas sitting under their lights for who knows how long. For $100 for pizza I want taste and I want it hot. DO NOT PATRONIZE THEM it's not like it used to be. They SUCK read more

The pizza. Fantastic. We ordered the Boomers Bee and what appeared to be a long spinach calzone (I forgot the name), but those were some delicious eats. Service was friendly & quick (ordered take out). Yet to know what the dine in experience is like but we will definitely be coming back for more! read more

Eli's Brick Oven Pizza Market - Boomers Bee - Pizza Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

The interior was full because of a private party. Clearly the manager was flustered by the noise and could barely handle the phone. Or walkins. Apologies were given and we were going to take home an order or explore another establishment. While we decided, the manager took a phone order. Another server offered the outdoor seating as an option. We took the suggestion and placed our order. Her intervention gave more profit towards the Saturday night. Very pleased with the pepperoni pizza and loved my favorite Chipotle pizza. Thank you for suggesting alfresco dining, as the weather as perfect! read more

Not good at all. Place was empty, but phones were ringing, so it seemed popular. Could I have asked for it to be fixed, sure, but there was not much coming back from this. Soggy dough and topping covering the pizza despite asking for half. Should've headed further south on the highway for a pizza in New Haven/West Haven. The salad was good (and gigantic) so I guess that's a positive. read more

Eli's Brick Oven Pizza Market - "Pizza" - Pizza Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

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I adore this beloved pizza restaurant in New Haven. This spot displays a beautiful wood finish. The restaurant provides entertainment as there a few arcade ganes to play while you wait for your order. Service is friendly as the staff inquired about any accomodations I needed while providing a smile. I ordered a large cheese pizza. Hands down one of the better eateries on the east coast. I will definitely never forget the amazing food provided by this establishment. read more

Eli's Brick Oven Pizza Market - a view of the dining area - Pizza Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

Great spot! Super clean with friendly service staff. Even with getting there close to closing super welcoming and served an amazing pie! Thin and crispy with a good char underneath. Nice cheese pull and perfectly seasoned sauce. Definitely will be back. read more

Eli's Brick Oven Pizza Market - Pizza - Pizza Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

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Well I for one am impressed. I drove here with one goal in mind: to try the winning Elite Chef featured Truffle Pig Pizza. Created by chef John Brennan during the second episode of Elite Chef, the truffle pig pizza is only available through this Saturday (today) at Eli's so I HADDDDD to drive down to have it. And omgosh am I glad I did and if you live in CT, you gotta get down here for a date night STAT. Not just for this pizza, but all the pizza. But this pizza in particular was the perfect blend of pomodoro sauce, mozzarella, Genoa salami, roasted red bell peppers, fresh basil, and the secret ingredient that pulled it all together: truffle honey. Omg. That's all I can say. You may be thinking honey on pizza? Ohhhhhhhhh, honey. You are missing. Outtttttttttt. It brings forward so many flavors and let's just say I ate a whole half a pizza by myself, drank a whole glass of white zin to complement it, and then had to eat the tiramisu. Because I had to make sure everyone in the kitchen knew this was a serious food mission and I was there to try it all. Wednesday nights are pasta nights so I think I know where I'm gonna be at least once a month. I also sampled the chicken bacon ranch bread and it was amazing. So gonna be back soon for sure for more deliciousness. It's amazing. read more

Was told on the phone it would be a 30 minute wait, and they hadn't started making it by the time I got to the restaurant 30 minutes later. Guy behind the counter says "20 more minutes". 20 minutes go by, nothing. 30 minutes go by, he says 10 more minutes. They were unprofessional towards another man waiting, trying to find out how much longer his order would be. Pizza ended up being burnt slop once I finally opened it. read more

Such a great place to meet a friend after work ... Loved it !! I enjoyed the atmosphere and everyone was super friendly. Can't wait to go again read more

Eli's Brick Oven Pizza Market - Pizza Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

Good food but their Hot Oil pizza is not as spicy as I expected. Otherwise I like their pizza.

I have had better frozen pizza and the vodka sauce tasted bland . Go anywhere else but here

First time here, paid $5 for a SLICE of pepperoni pizza LOL. Yea, $5. If I wasn't so hungry, I would've just left. Pizza was blah. Plus the younger guy at the register and blonde female were just snotty and rude to every customer. Um ok, you have a line of people and the phones are ringing, I see you're busy - but these are people supporting this business, why not treat them with excellent customer service ? That's what will make or break these local businesses. Plus, it's not like you're a nurse treating patients- is it really that difficult to multi task here? LOL. Sorry, I'll stick to Inferno in North Haven for local pizza or Paul and Eddie's. read more

And the decline of customer service at Eli's continues... both at the bar and the pizza market. 6 years ago when I started working in Hamden, Eli's had good food and good service... as the years have marched on, the service has slowed, and the quality of food has slipped. I've witnessed firsthand some terrible customer service where the bar tender was much more interested in having a personal call rather than taking care of his lunch crowd on several days in a row (yes, I used to come here that often.) We had our company Holiday party at Eli's restaurant group last Christmas (2013) and at the last minute they put us into a different room that quite frankly looked dirty and dungeon like. The closest thing that I can see being related to it is a funeral parlor in feel and ambiance. Top that event off with food that was worse quality than a lot of giant chain businesses and it was a perfect storm to illustrate the lackluster quality. Fast forward to today. I tried to call ahead to place an order for pizza. We have a 1 hour lunch and we have been late several times getting back from here. I asked the woman who answered the phone if I can place an order ahead and she said "No, we don't do that; but our dining room is empty." I tried to explain to her my concern and I offered to prepay for everything over the phone but alas, I am sitting here typing a review rather than eating their pizza. She said that I could order a take out order and then eat it outside of their dining area... umm... if I wanted to order take out I would have done it already. I can literally see the restaurant from my office building windows. read more

Going down hill. Pizza is trash now. Buffalo chicken stuffed bread is flavorless. So bland. After spending 60 on garbage I was questioned about a review wrote a year ago. Lol read more

I don't know how to just compliment a business so here's my review. As a company I really like how they support the community. They give to their neighbors in need during this very difficult time of covid. I always get a pleasant greeting from the girls at the register. They have $1 slice on Mondays which allows people who may not be able to frequent their business often afford a nice lunch treat on Monday. Pizza is thin crust true Italian pie. Love the sauce and everybody knows great pizza is in the sauce. My favorites are the white sauce spinach and also the pepperoni with red sauce. Thank you for supporting our community in so many ways. read more

Best pizza in town by far. Specialty pies are delicious. Can't beat the Mac and cheese pie for something different!

Extremely rude and disrespectful restaurant staff. If you like to be called a "dumb*ss" in front of other customers & told to "Get the *uck out" by immature overly emotional unprofessional staff then come to this place. Don't bother to call ahead and ask if your pickup order is ready or not. Very rude disrespectful sarcastic staff that take joy & pride treating people/customers with disrespect. I would not spend my hard earned money at this place. read more

7/29/18 I have been here a couple of times and I have only done take out here. It's nice if you wanna grab a slice then walk around. The pepperoni slices are really good. Stuffed breads are ok side sauce I don't really care for. In general ok spot for a quick bite. read more

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Has become one of my favorite pizza places. Thin crust brick oven grate ingredients. When in Hamden it's the place to go.

I would not recommend the this place . My entire order was bland, flavorless and a waste of very good money. For the price the sizes were small. The pasta sauce taste out of a can and did not taste seasoned at all. Even the chicken parmigiana was not great it was hard and had limited flavorless sauce. In all I do not know if the food is always like this but it was expensive and gross. I threw away the entire meal including the soggy salads that were an extra fee. read more

Nothing compared to Bimonte's, but a solid bar style pizza before a club night out on the town

We ordered "Eli's specialty clam pizza" but little did we know shells were all over the pizza. Instead of enjoying the pizza, we had to check each slice/bite for shells... This was an awful experience.. read more

Excellent broccoli pizza, red sauce with just a hint of cheese. Crust was just right; not mushy and not burnt.

Pizza was good. I had a slice of the Buffalo chicken pizza and it was really good, but also had a slice of the sausage (red sauce pie) and it was not that good. If you're in the area and want decent pizza with a good price, recommend. read more

I've only been for here for lunch. So, I don't have any complaints in reference to service and the speed of getting our food. This review is primarily focused on the pizza. Its on the thinner side but not as thin as BAR's (Crown St., New Haven) pizza, which I'm not a fan of. Eli's pizza is tasty and the toppings were plentiful. The pizza is similar to New Haven style pizza, in that it's on the slightly more we'll done side of things. As much as I like Eli's pizza, it's a notch below your more famous top tier New Haven restaurants. Basically, what I'm saying is that it's good pizza when you don't want to bother with trying to find parking on Wooster St or State St. Enjoy yourself! read more

Eli's Brick Oven Pizza Market - "Holy Sausage Pizza" - Pizza Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

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We have eaten in and taken out multiple times - always a so/so experience but never bad enough that we would not go back. I would say tonight solidified my decision to never return. Tonight we ordered food for take out - I went with eggplant parm, one of my favorites. There is no description on the menu so I assumed it would be like every other eggplant parm I have had in the past. When we got home with our order, I opened my container and dug in! However, I started to notice that I was pulling out shreds of eggplant - absolutely nothing was formed. It had the consistantly of oatmeal and it was truly inedible. I decided to call Eli's just to check in that I had gotten the correct order. I also wanted to make sure that the manager knew that I had recieved such an inedible dinner. She was pretty apathetic and let me know that they make it by layering eggplant in a dish, putting cheese on top and then baking like a lasagna? Interesting. Either way, she got me off the phone pretty quickly and was definitely annoyed. If you're in dire need, you'll definitely get okay food here but honestly I wouldn't waste your time! read more

Eli's Brick Oven Pizza Market - Eggplant parm? Looks like mush and smells incredibly bad. - Pizza Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

Good pizza and other food, but the recent renovation isn't good. The space went from cozy to cold. It is dark with hard chairs. Loved the old space so much more. read more

To be honest I used to love this place. Got breads for thanksgiving which were amazing. We fought over them. Fast forward to Christmas and they were horrible (same breads). I talked with robin in catering for Eli's and she apologized and sent me a gift card for my troubles which was nice. Went out for pizza in January as takeout and when I arrive in the 30 minute time period they then told me they didn't even cook it!!!!!!! I had to wait another 15 mins for it to cook and it tasted rushed. Last time there unfortunately. read more

This was our first time here in a while - since the remodel. We didn't know what to make of it at first - or for a while arriving, for that matter. Even more casual than before. Open concept with random tables. We didn't know for a bit that there isn't table service. Well, a least there wasn't last night. We had to retrieve menus on our own and place the order up at the counter. And that's fine. Maybe a little sign or QR code on the table would've been of great assistance. All in all, the food was good. Apps came out at the same time as the pizza - or in one case afterwards. I'd chalk that up to being a busy Friday night, but it wasn't all that busy. Just kind of disorganized. read more

Never have sat down for a meal here yet, have always gotten take-out. One time we got pizza to go and it had an amazing pizza oven crisp to it, almost too cooked/burnty. Another time we got it and the middle wasn't even cooked, it was dough and we ate the edges only. Therefore, the pizza seems to be hit or miss. We're afraid to get the pizza again for fear of how it will be. The signature salad is the way to go, I day dream about it. I've also gotten tom, mozz, flatbread sanwiches that are fresh and great too. Just still unsure about that pizza.... read more

Very disappointing. I've eaten many times at the restaurant and it has always been wonderful. I called an order in and still had to wait almost an hour. When I reached home, I found the pizza burned almost all the way around. How could they serve something like that? Shameful read more

Eli's Brick Oven Pizza Market - Certainly not worth $20 when you have to throw away the entire edge. - Pizza Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

They have a very great Turkey flat bread that I get quite often, but after the service I received today I can assure you I'll be finding a new place to frequent. Every time I go there I am never greeted, which I let slide because I guess I have to get used to the generation not having the best people skills. I placed an order online and my food is normally never ready at the time it says online so today I went about 5 minutes after the time I was told online and then waited behind two other customers who Matt delivered good customer service too. When it was my turn I was told my order would take a few more moments which I was fine with so I moved over to the sliding door and waited. Normally they have the decency to wrap my order up and hand it to me and tell me to have a good day, but today was the opposite. I seen Matt put something in a bag leave it by the register and walk away to talk to the cooks. 3 minutes later Matt looks at me an says you know your food is on the counter right? I looked over and sure enough an OPEN bag was sitting at the register. He then proceeds to say I tried to get your attention. Common sense if someone didn't react most likely they didn't hear and if you get paid to serve people maybe the appropriate thing to do would be to pick it up and serve it to the paying customer. The other two customers before me who were handed their food and told to have a great night were Caucasian and I am African American I would hate to think the change of customer service has to do with race, but it's very hard to think it was anything other than that. I am honestly so disgusted and would hope that this is not something Eli's promotes nor condones. read more

Eli's has become my favorite pit stop off the W Cross/Merritt Parkway driving between Boston and NYC. It's right off the highway, has its own parking lot, and serves up tasty brick oven pizza for hungry travelers. I have only tried their pizza, garlic bread and calamari. Based on my experience however, Eli's truly deserves a 4-star rating. While the bread and calamari are merely good, the pizza is great! The crust is thin, light and slightly chewy. With all brick oven pizzas, the pizzas do get some blackened edges and lose some shape. However, I think this gives the pizza a slightly pleasant bitterness, which offsets the sweetness of the tomatoes. Try the margherita, Smokey the Chicken, and On the Bayou pizzas. read more

Eli's Brick Oven Pizza Market - Pizza Near Me - Hamden, Connecticut

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This take out/more casual sit down side of Eli's is great! Its a very easy spot to grab a bite, they have all the classics you would want like penne vodka and the signature salad, and delicious pizza's! The pizza is thin crusted (which I am a huge fan of) and they have a bunch of specialty pizzas that are always a good option. I also love that they have a take out section, I stop to get the signature salad with grilled chicken all the time when I need a quick lunch on the go. Service is good, very casual experience, the restaurant is very clean and usually pretty quiet. If you want to get food for take out and are in a rush i recommend calling ahead! read more

When I eat restaurant food, I expect everything to be quality and consistent. I love the stuffed spinach bread, Main dishes we've had have all been good. Salads too - that is when you eat in. Takeout last night was another story. We had the spinach bread (delicious), small old fashioned pizza - again delicious, sausage and peppers onions sub - very good. But, my Cesar salad was a disaster. I was told to take my salad from "the case". So, for FULL price, it was a not freshly made salad. I asked when it was made and the answer was today and we replace them when they are low. Okay - I got the salad home and the lettuce was clearly soggy, limp and brown. The croutons were soggy. Such a huge disappointment. What does it take to make a FRESH SALAD to go?? My bad for trying to eat something lower calorie. Will think twice before going back. read more