Soho Slice Pizzeria
There is an old maxim in the restaurant business when an owner realizes a failed concept (usually discerned by auditing the monthly receipts): if you have time left on the lease and the landlord will not cooperate, try a new concept that doesn’t require much of a new kitchen investment. Alas, the former Atlantic Social, may she not rest in peace, has been rebranded by the owner as Soho Slice Pizzeria, promising “New York style pizza,” whatever that means. Soho Slice doesn’t offer slices, but it does present wood burning craft pizzas that, while perhaps not New York quality (we do know what that means), still, among the better craft pies in the Delmarva region. Salad offerings are as expected, nothing special, but more than passable, and the service, while spotty to some, was also as expected – good, but not great. Still, the recently opened Soho Pizza needs time to get its game going, and is off to a promising start, even in a market crowded with design-your-own-craft pies, including a competitor right up the Rt. 1 road. Despite its promising start, Soho Pizza suffers from the same thing that its predecessor lacked: authentic ambience. The restaurant is clean but sterile, spacious, but without character, and, now rebranded as a pizza joint, omitting anything that strikes you as a red sauce joint, other than what is available on the menu. Lacking a an arresting environment, the kitchen really needs to soar – Soho Slice is not there yet, but perhaps it will find enough of an audience so that the next time we visit, whatever flair a “New York” pizza place needs to have will give way to pizza that actually tastes like we were dining in the City (it must be the water!). Here’s a thought, if you want authentic New York pizza (not style), visit New York and grab a slice. Or, be bold enough to boast that you are proudly cooking “Delmarva Style Pizza,” creating a new brand of historically mediocre pizza for vacationers to reject when comparing it to New York hole-in-the-wall pizza joints. Or, just stick to seafood, a more popular local bet that doesn’t compete against generations of pizza makers hundreds of miles to the North . . .
19340 Lighthouse Plaza
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
302-212-5319
