Taste With Tori: Tacconelli's Pizzeria
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It seems like almost everybody likes pizza.
And everyone has their favorite place.
One Philly pizza shop is so popular that the owners suggest you call ahead to reserve your dough!
Must be good!
Let's get a Taste with Tori from CBS3's Vittoria Woodill.
Yes it's true. It's not always easy to get a pie at Tacconelli's Pizzeria but it's definitely worth the wait.
Steaming hot pizzas topped with lots of red sauce and a crunchy crust to die for.
"It's always good you never have a bad pizza," said one longtime customer.
"We grew up in the neighborhood and tried pizza all over the country," said another faithful customer. "And this is the best."
This place can get so busy the owners suggest you should call ahead days in advance to order a pizza.
"You got a good product, the people will come," said Giovanni Tacconelli.
Giovanni is the guy in the kitchen making pizzas in a brick oven just as the Tacconelli's have done for decades.
"You don't just go into any restaurant and see an oven like this," he said as he took pizzas in and out of the oven. "It allows you to serve a style of pizza you don't get everyday."
For 67 years, the Tacconelli family has been making pizza here in the same building on East Somerset Street in Port Richmond.
John Tacconelli took over the business from his father.
"Well he made me work here when I was 12 years old and he was tough," said John as he described how he learned to work the oven and to work hard.
Something that 23 year old Giovanni can relate to as John's son.
"I mean you watch something for so long," he said. "I started busboying when I was in 4th or 5th grade."
Work hard and don't be lazy was one of the many lessons he learned from his dad.
And as you might expect things can sometimes get a little hot around the oven.
Giovanni recalls the making his first pizza as his dad looked on.
"It was surreal, nervous very nervous because he's a perfectionist," said Giovanni.
But as the future boss and the fifth generation of Tacconelli's to slide pies into the oven, Giovanni is gaining confidence.
It's not uncommon for customers to seek out Giovanni to compliment him on his pies.
And Giovanni's mom, Rose, could not be more proud of her son and his involvement in the family business.
"We didn't want to force it on him, we wanted it to be his decision," said Rose. "So he went to college and he decided this was to be for him."
And customers are so glad he made that decision and that Tacconelli's will live on.
A special thanks to viewers Michael Lohner and Bridget Mancuso for suggesting we visit Tacconelli's Pizzeria!
You can let Vittoria know about your favorite places and why you like them at https://www.facebook.com/vittoriawoodill/
We've set up link here so you can check out Tacconelli's and its menu.
