If you’ve read any of my previous reviews, it shouldn’t surprise you that I love authentic Neapolitan pizza. Fritti, located in the Inman Park neighborhood, serves fantastic pizza as well as salads, fish, meat and many different antipasti. Inman Park is a great place to spend an afternoon; its verdant parks and crisp lakes are a nice change to the usual pace of Atlanta life and scenery. Fritti is walking distance (how often can you walk to places in Atlanta?) from the park, making it a perfect post-park pizzeria. With a full bar, indoor and outdoor seating and a large Italian menu, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

Fritti’s menu is particularly varied, which is definitely not the case at most pizza restaurants – even the upscale ones. Not every pizzeria has great pizza and a number of other delicious dishes. Even so, the pizza is definitely the star of the menu. Fritti boasts a whopping 25 different kinds. The pizzas are pretty large, so if you’re dining with others, sharing an appetizer instead of having each person order an individual is probably the way to go.

Neapolitan pizza is defined primarily by its thin crust; it is cooked quickly in an extremely hot oven (usually around 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit). I saw and sampled around eight different pizzas in the large group I dined with, and each one was better than the next. There were seafood toppings like calamari, mussels and scallops, and more traditional ones with different types of quality cheeses and meats like prosciutto, salami, sausage and cured beef. And of course, vegetables like spinach, artichoke and mushrooms were available as well. I guarantee you will find a combination you like, and if you are like me, you will be deciding between four or five.

Even non-pizza lovers should be dragged to Fritti to enjoy the rest of the menu. The beautiful space inside the restaurant and area around it makes for a lovely night in a chic area of Atlanta. Fritti is only about 10 minutes southwest of campus and is open seven days a week. The atmosphere feels contemporary and clean, with a hint of tradition. If it is a warm day, I definitely suggest sitting outside. Nothing encloses the patio, so the sidewalk melds with the restaurant, which is an interesting touch. What used to be some sort of garage is now the patio, and it has a large, abstract mural on the wall. It is anyone’s guess as to what it is, if it does in fact represent something. I think that it is depicting a Pokémon scene, but like deciding which pizza is the best, to each his own.

– By Ethan Samuels 

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