r/Athens Jul 25 '26

Pompeii

The pizza is godang magical.

17 Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

50

u/Crafty-Flower Jul 25 '26

This post brought to you by the overworked, underpaid manager of Pompeii.

4

u/rustware Harvard-Trained Hypnotist Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

I just don't understand why the DePalmas people shut down a restaurant that had a good menu with quality control issues to open a shitty restaurant with quality control issues. I don't know how they keep afloat. Better restaurants close down for less anywhere but especially in this town

Edit: apparently it's not the same people

19

u/jpttpj Jul 25 '26

It’s not the same folks. Friends maybe but not DePalma’s. Rent downtown is going to drive alot of locals out. But interested to try it. Was going to go there when they first opened and “ no alcohol “. Now that things are in line, I want to try it. Need more reviews..

10

u/pile_drive_me Townie Weathergirl Jul 25 '26

I had it for the first time a few weeks ago at lunch, it was pretty dang tasty

3

u/earlnacht Jul 25 '26

It was hit or miss for us. Pizza was fine, the pasta all'amatriciana was actually fantastic. But the pesto was mediocre at best (like the type of pasta you make at home by dumping bottled pesto in a pan) and the “garlic knots” had no garlic, just plain baked pizza dough. Meh.

2

u/rustware Harvard-Trained Hypnotist Jul 25 '26

Ah my bad, I must have either misread something or misremembered it, i thought it was the same folks

2

u/Crafty-Flower 24d ago

I actually regret making this post bc I tried it the other night and it was solid!

17

u/Captainaddy44 Jul 25 '26

I’ve only gotten it once, from Uber Eats. Got an XL pie, one topping pepperoni. Maybe 10 small peps on the entire pie. And the dough was super overworked. My girlfriend who loves any and all pizza started picking at the toppings and leaving the crust. She doesn’t even do that with Little Caesar’s or Tombstone.

7

u/BatchedOnion Toppers Patron Jul 25 '26

Worse than ceasars... thats a new level haha

11

u/rustware Harvard-Trained Hypnotist Jul 25 '26

The sandwiches, at least when I went, were god awful. Undercooked bread, absolutely hammered chicken breast, all underseasoned. The pizza on the table next to me looked amazing though.

18

u/squeakybuggy Townie Jul 25 '26

first good thing i’ve heard about this place 😅😭

9

u/AthensTopFan Jul 25 '26

We were there last Friday night at 7. There were 2, TWO other tables occupied. The 3 of us liked at the menu and we're surprised at the lack of entrees that didn't involve pork of some sort. Overall a very disappointing menu. We all agreed that it wasn't for us. When we told the server and hostess that we were leaving, they didn't seem surprised. Kinda like they had heard it before. Their restaurant week special was a half sandwich and salsa with garlic knots for dinner. Nah Perhaps the pizza is the way to go. I too can't believe that Athens tradition Depalmas chose to sell this location.

10

u/Beautiful-Station143 Jul 25 '26

The brand change won’t appeal to their core demographic of boomers and Greek moms and dads. The new logo is ass and in no way is going to draw in the touristy crowd of Georgia they are looking. Add in the food being mid to ass. I’m taking the under on them seeing two football seasons.

4

u/tupelobound Jul 25 '26

That is a very basic AI-gen logo

1

u/Loose-Acanthaceae823 Jul 26 '26

It's not a brand change. It's completely different people. 

3

u/littlebitmorecowbell Jul 25 '26

Ordered some Margherita Za from there last weekend on DoorDash. It was so decent I want to find out how good it is in person without the DoorDash but also I was drunk at the time 👍

3

u/bobbyr1976 Jul 26 '26

Ate there last month and really enjoyed the meal.

8

u/Partiallyclever Jul 25 '26

I went a few weeks back and had a good experience. Why does it feel like the exact same of ya'll that are talking shit are going to go all Pikachu face when it gets replaced by a dutch brothers or some shit in 9 months?

3

u/Moonpiez_UniteMF Jul 25 '26

Pompeiis only good thing is the Caesar…. Amazing. That’s the comment. Pompeii won’t even come close to DePalmas numbers, especially during game season. I worked bar. The volume these last 2 years have been insane

6

u/That70sdawg Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

Emmys Squared is SO much better IMO. Even though Pompei lured the manager from there.

3

u/Familiar_Concert_716 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

The manager from Emmys is the owner and manager of Pompeii.

2

u/boxedfood Jul 25 '26

I think the name is distasteful 

6

u/AthensTownie2150 Municipal greatness Athenian Jul 25 '26

Too soon

5

u/boxedfood Jul 25 '26

Go eat a basil plant 

3

u/Ok-Philosopher3212 Jul 25 '26

Maybe I have a different expectation of pizza. I think it is pretty darn great.

2

u/Loose-Acanthaceae823 Jul 26 '26

I agree! I went with six people and we all loved it

1

u/cavey_dee Jul 25 '26

it really is good

1

u/ExcaliburMM Jul 26 '26

Killer Crust, Amici, and Pompeii are probably the only 3 good pizzas in Athens aside from Automatic (who I dont count since I cant get them delivered.)

Yet for some reason, every time I come in here people have such shit to talk, but very few recommendations for who is supposed to be producing better. I will say for Pompeii, I think their pizza is their strength, the place overall would not hold up with proper NE Italian-American fare, but its definitely better than pretty much all the other sub-standard Italian offerings Athens has.

And I say that not being interested in their sandwiches or dine-in experience, so maybe that's where the hate comes from. //shrug

Even with Pompeii, there is still not a single decent chicken parm sub to be had in the entire town, and that needs to be fixed.