I happily broke my rule of not eating at a restaurants’s opening night last week. We were so excited about Mission Pizza Napoletana coming to Downtown Winston-Salem, plus no one in my house wanted the chicken I had planned and if I didn’t have to cook, even better.

About Mission Pizza, owner Peyton Smith’s vision was born in Naples, nourished with a pizza food truck equipped with a clay oven (known as Forno Moto) and eventually has come to life in the Arts District on Trade Street. Located in the old mission building, which has a new corrugated aluminum facade, inside you’ll find a dimly lit, cozy place with high and low seating, a bar and an open eat-in kitchen with a great view of a massive pizza oven. The Ferrari of pizza ovens, honed from volcanic soil of Mount Vesuvius. It cooks a pizza in 90 seconds and at 1000-degrees. So, about that pizza….

It’s hard to decide which pizza to order. They all have fresh, interesting ingredients. No “supreme” here. With ingredients like, buffalo mozzarella, arugula, pancetta, sopressata, chiles, egg….you pretty much know it’s going to be special.

Mr. foodie and I shared a Diavola…a bit spicy with sweet sopressata, tomato, fresh moz, chiles, basil and honey. The crust was light, chewy with a barely there char and it was bada boom!!

Let me also add that there’s not a typical cheesy pizza that you might be used to for the kidlets. And on this menu, if it doesn’t say it has cheese, then it doesn’t come that way, however you can add it. We ordered the Marinara for our kids. At first, they were very skeptical….

But I scraped that beautiful garlic and basil onto my pizza and those kidlets transformed into cheese-less pizza fans right before our eyes.

Oh and we got dessert. Panna Cotta with wine soaked pears and Tiramisu. But it was devoured by all of us so there’s no picture. And the wee boy who last week suddenly didn’t like Tiramisu, now loves it again. Go figure. This child continues to talk about the pizza and tiramisu. The panna cotta was awesome. So thick, not at all watery or gelatinous. Just custard-y goodness.

Oh and they don’t just have Coke in a bottle, it’s Mexican Coke. Good stuff. It’s a little sweeter than the American version with real sugar. Go ahead and do what I did and let your kidlets have all they want. 🙂 There’s a small selection of Italian wine and craft beer as well.

So if the opening night is any indication of what awesomeness is in store for the Arts District, then you can be super-excited about getting a taste of Naples. Congrats, Peyton, your patience has been rewarded. It’s about time we had a real pizza place in that section of Downtown.

Look for the corrugated aluminum front of the building…they are still waiting on their sign and their front door is slightly hidden by a little alcove. Oh and the food truck? Still available for when you need the pizza party to come to you.

Mission Pizza Napoletana
707 North Trade Street, Winston-Salem
336.926.2497