It isn’t hard to find great pizza at the Shore.
We have it all: thin-crust, New York style, Detroit pizza, bar pies, grandma pies, Neapolitan, Roman pizza, boardwalk slices, Sicilian … the list goes on.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t have more. And more is on the way.
Two well-regarded pizzerias, Coniglio’s Old Fashioned of Morristown and Pollara Pizzeria of Berkeley, California, are opening restaurants in Monmouth County, and Vinnie’s Pan Pizza of Millburn recently added a second location in Brielle.
Here’s what to know about the new pizzerias on the block:
Vinnie’s Pan Pizza, Brielle
Pizza, salads and sandwiches are on the menu at Vinnie’s Pan Pizza, which has restaurants in Brielle and Millburn.
A thin, crisp-crusted pizza inspired by a family recipe awaits at this new Monmouth County restaurant, which opened in early November.
It is the sister restaurant to a nearly 6-year-old location of the same name in Millburn, which owner Peter Falzo opened in the footprint of his former longtime bistro, Peter’s. At the time, during the pandemic, he wanted something simpler, a restaurant that reminded him of the years he spent working at his uncle’s North Jersey pizzeria, Cammarata’s Pizza Pantry in Livingston.
“I started making pizza and found this solitude and peace,” Falzo said. “I just had to go back to my roots.”
Vinnie’s Pan Pizza makes one kind of pie: “We only do a thin-crust, tavern-style, bar-style pan pizza,” Falzo said. “We bring the cheese to the edge, we bring the toppings to the edge.”
Thin slices of pepperoni are a popular topping (he calls them “shoe string pepperoni),” and the menu has pizzas like “The Gramps,” with Italian sausage, chopped hot cherry peppers and onions, and the “Sgt Peppers” with meatballs, long hot peppers and onions.
An eggplant parm sandwich from Vinnie’s Pan Pizza, which has restaurants in Brielle and Millburn.
Salads made with organic greens, pasta dishes, parms, sandwiches and soups round out the menu.
Falzo chose Brielle for the new location after turning down dozens of others.
“I just love being at the Shore,” he said. “There’s something about being there that is very calming to me, and I always wanted to have a business down there.
“I wanted to be part of a community as well,” he added. “I spend a lot of time in Spring Lake, in Manasquan, in Brielle and at the restaurants there, and I saw there was this Old World sense of community, and I love that.”
Go: 713 Riverview Drive, Brielle; 732-978-9668, vinniespanpizza.com. Also at 61 Main St., Millburn; 973-564-9600
Coniglio’s King of Pies, Asbury Park
The owners of Coniglio’s Old Fashioned, a North Jersey pizzeria, are opening Coniglio’s King of Pies in the former Killer Pies space on Mattison Avenue in Asbury Park. Pictured Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025.
The historic brick building at the Asbury Park corner of Mattison Avenue and Bond Street has seen many businesses come and go, from a bank to a variety of restaurants.
The newest is Conigilio’s King of Pies, sister restaurant to Coniglio’s Old Fashioned in Morristown. Owners Nino and Shealyn Coniglio have spent months converting the former Killer Pies, which closed in 2024, into a restaurant that will serve New York-style, Sicilian and grandma pizzas, sandwiches on housemade bread, and salads.
The opening is near, Nino said, pending inspections.
“Our plan is to open for dinner about five days a week and eventually expand into lunch,” said Nino, who will eventually add breakfast sandwiches, too (the Morristown restaurant serves classic egg and cheeses sandwiches, plus Italian-inspired versions including one with mortadella, egg, hashbrowns and whipped ricotta). “We won’t be doing pizza at lunch; we’ll be doing sandwiches, where the bread is coming right out the ovens.”
The Coniglios hope to eventually purchase a liquor license as well as the building, then make use of its three floors and roof space.
The owners of Coniglio’s Old Fashioned of Morristown are opening Coniglio’s King of Pies in Asbury Park. The restaurant will serve pizzas, sandwiches, salads and more.
More: At Coniglio’s Old Fashioned in Morristown, pizza with a pedigree
Born in Brooklyn, Nino worked his way through pizzerias in New York, won the World Pizza Championships in Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy, numerous times, and bested other pizza makers on Food Network’s “Chopped” before opening his North Jersey restaurant in 2022.
Go: 649 Mattison Ave., Asbury Park; coniglios.com. Also at 11 South St., Morristown; 973-723-9430
Pollara, Red Bank
Jon Smulewitz, a New Jersey native who followed his culinary dreams to California, opened several restaurants there, and learned to make pizza in Italy before coming back home, plans to open his newest venture in Red Bank in the spring.
Pollara, opening next to Elsie’s Sub Shop on the restaurant-heavy Monmouth Street downtown, will be a small, mostly takeout spot that Smulewitz says will represent each of his prior concepts: Dopo, an Italian restaurant in Oakland, California; Adesso, an Oakland wine and salumi bar that earned a James Beard Foundation Award nomination in 2010; and Pollara Pizzeria in Berkeley, California.
“It will have touches of Dopo, touches of Adesso, touches of Pollara and whatever evolves from there,” Smulewitz said. “This spot here is kind of going to be a little bit of everything I’ve experienced.”
The restaurant will feature Roman pizza, a by-the-slice style Smulewitz learned to make after discovering it at the famed Pizzarium in Italy, as well as round, New York-inspired pizzas, baked pasta dishes and bread.
“We’re going to focus on pizza, but we’re also going to make fresh ricotta every day, we’re going to make salumi every day — guanciale, pancetta,” he said.
“The space is small,” Smulewitz said, “but I want it to feel alive and (like) you don’t know what you’re going to expect all the time. Pizza will be a mainstay, but we’re going to cook what we feel like cooking.”
Go: 76 Monmouth St., Red Bank; instagram.com/pollarapizzeria
Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to [email protected], and for more Jersey Shore food news, subscribe to our weekly Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: 3 new pizzerias coming to the Shore. And they are big names.
