Gus Franco's Pizza

The shop is bright and cheerful, and it smells like heaven. We tried the Vodka Sauce Margarita and Bianca pizzas with a side of meatballs on our first visit today. Everything was amazingly delicious. The high quality fresh ingredients shine through in every bite. The crust was super tasty, and I appreciated the long slow proofing paired with perfect leopard spots from the wood fired oven. The staff was super friendly and welcoming too. I think we found a new favorite!

Took this pizza home to my failing marriage, turns out this pizza isn't just the best I've ever had. It was able to repair my marriage and bring my wife and kids back into my life. This pizza isn't just made by amazing staff but probably by Jesus Christ himself. Thank you Gus Franco.

Some of the BEST pizza you'll find around these parts. The greatest of people running the spot too! Every time I come in there's a warm welcome and warm pizza waiting for me! A cute little spot where you can take home or grab a little seat on the patio during the warmer days to enjoy a slice or 10!

Probably my favorite pizza place in the area! Everything about their pizza is great - dough, cheese, sauce - it's all top notch and delicious. My favorite is the Hot Dad pizza, with Mike's Hot Honey drizzled on top but all the other varieties I've tried have been super good too. Great owners and staff - always make you feel welcome when you walk through the door. 10/10!

It's good wood-fired hand-crafted pizza made with care. Also I should mention this is a shining pinnacle of fine pizza when looked at in front of its backdrop of Lower Burrell, a place with a lot of "sus" pizza places that deliver the cardboard cutouts of pizza and claim them to be the "best" around. (update: owner said you don't have to call in advance anymore) -- but (I will give it 5 stars because I may have offended the owner with merely 4, and to support this establishment in a Westmoreland County swamp of crap food and limited options) At the time I had to call in advance. Glad that's over. May try again someday soon. That was my biggest gripe, I think. Upon review of my receipt, dated Nov 19, 2021, my clouded memory made me think these pizzas weren't worth the money. I stand by that I may not have liked the particular concoctions. I probably enjoyed the Hot Dad, but the Mike's Hot Honey was probably not necessary. My wife is particular since she is from NY, NY. My favorite NY pizza is Defara's, seconded by the L&B's red-top Sicilian, though one time I had a "red and green" Margherita (a Margherita pizza with a splash of pesto and a splash of red sauce on top of the regular Margherita slice) in Queens that I cannot forget.We ordered Hot Dad $13, Pepdoozie $14, Margherita $11, and got an olive salad $7.50, and ~$11 in desserts. His prices aren't that bad for wood-fired pizza, to be honest - especially since we are in a time where we now spend $25 on the regular for a "8/12 cut large with one topping" from other places.I will not insult the Mixed Olive Salad, nor the Wood Fired Meatballs.On the toppings topic:I will say this: $1.50 for a topping that is something like an onion or vegetable can be an insult. I pay that or more for toppings on a large pizza, and these are definitely not those huge large pizzas. Onions, mushrooms and stuff that is costing the place cents should cost me "cents times two" or something. I'd like to see some fresh broccoli. Example: you put a dime's worth of onion on the pizza and I pay for it 15 times over. I agree cheese and meat cost money. This also discourages me from creating my own combinations.Upon review of the current Pizza menu, here are my opinions:Cheese, $12. A base. Add 2 toppings it suddenly becomes the most expensive pizza on the menu. Thumbs down here. There should be some deal where you get to pick 2 or 3 toppings for a reasonable price.Legalize Marinara. Great political message. I get this in a much larger size, with anchovies, capers and kalamata olives over at Capri Pizza in Natrona Heights, for just a few dollars more, so I doubt I'll be ordering it here. I sometimes add fresh ricotta on the one I get from Capri, making it a cream dream.Cacio E Pepe. This as it is written sounds great. Might go well with some capers. Might go well with the option to ditch the crema and get ricotta instead. Might also go well with red sauce. I personally love red sauce, but not if it is too sweet. I'm kinda skeptical about the price, though, since this is practically the same as the Cheese pizza, but white, with black cracked pepper that I can put on it myself. I put cracked pepper on all of my pizzas usually, when available. It should be a free upgrade to do so.Hot Dad. Great name. I could care less about sweetened pizza, so I may have liked it simply for the fact that it has soppressata. I make a pizza like this myself when I'm feeling like it, but without the expensive brand honey (or any sweetener), and I shave my soppressata like razor-thin using a Japanese mandolin. I like to use the hand made stuff I can get from Costas Market.Peppedew. Grossly sweet.Vodka Sauce Margherita. This is no longer a trendy sauce. L&B Spumoni Gardens makes a great one. I've not had it since. The gist I'm getting from this pizza is that it's very creamy and again, it's sweet. I'm not that into sweet, creamy pizzas. My wife said, and she is right, that there are no vegetable motifs here. There is nothing that says "vegetables have a place as a centerpiece" .. only cheese and red meat (really only pork or pork-and-beef meatballs) or salty anchovies. To his credit, the chef has not added any barbeque or chicken to his pizzas, so he is definitely not drawing outside the lines at all which is commendable. Thank god no pineapple. And I hope I never see a banana pepper show up. Please no "HAM" What this menu lacks is a salty, savory, spicy pizza with some amazing sauce. A.k.a. the Arrabiatta. I'd like to see a red pie with light mozz, Kalamata olives, red Frescos marinated in spicy olive oil, and a dusting of Urfa Biber or some mild (not hot) calabrian red peppers ground-at-the-moment in a Waring spice grinder. Scissored basil on top, of course. But that's just my opinion.You can form your own opinion by ordering from Gus Franco's yourself. Give it a go, maybe you'll love one of these hand-crafted pies.

We waited what seemed like an eternity for them to open and they even joked about it putting a sign out front that said "Good things come to those who wait, and wait, and wait, and wait!" Lol This is day 2 of operation in their new Brick and Mortar building. They make 120 pizzas/dough balls per day. The dough takes 48 hours to proof. They turn on/Start answering phones at 3 till they run out. The Mrs called 10-15 times yesterday and got the voicemail just about every time. She finally got someone at 3:40 and they told her sorry they had just ran out 4 minutes before. Today she called 42 times starting at 3PM and finally got through. She ordered 2 pizzas cheese with extra sauce. $11 each. Booked for 6:40 PM. We arrived at 6:40/6:41 and headed for the door. Stopped and the Mrs went back for masks as they have a big ole mask sign and everyone minus the little one inside was masked up. There was a lady there picking up her order in front of us. There were 2 boxes on the counter she was kind of leaning on/touching. The employee behind the counter asked us "Do you have an order?" To which my wife said yes and gave her name that she put the order under. The employee told us that they were just putting the final touches on our pizzas and it would be ready in a minute. The one guy behind her who was boxing pizzas set 4 boxes in the middle of the counter and someone asked what our order name was and discovered our pizzas were the ones chilling on the counter that the customer chit chatting was laying on/touching. Hers were the 4 that just came up. I wouldn't say they were piping hot at that point mildly warm may be more accurate but we settled up and left. We transported them straight home in a heavily insulated hot/cold bag and sat down for dinner right away. The pizza was very thin and light which I appreciate. I wouldn't call this extra sauce unless regular portion of sauce is sparse. The crust and bottom were corn dusted which I didn't mind. The flavors were interesting, the sauce being sweet but in my opinion more acidic than what I normally like or encounter from most of the local pizza joints. I know the cheese being sparse is a new era thing of like fancy pizzas and is In but I'm definitely a fan of cheese all over. 100% flop on these as El Presidente would say and 1 bite everybody knows the rules. I'd give this a 6.9 for my first impression. I look forward to trying their other pizzas and "specialties" in the future. Little steep $11 for the size of it but overall worth trying and checking out. I encourage everyone to call early and often to get your order in and support small business like this. Worth trying and seeing as how they sell out so quickly and even did so every day in their Food Truck people love it. Can't please everyone and everyone is a critic. I get it. I wish them all the best of luck and will update my review the next time we go. Hopefully a better system will be in place for ordering.

WOW! Gus Franco's is THE REAL DEAL for pizza!We got the regular cheese, hot dads, and cheesecake. Both pizzas were phenomenal. Light, fresh ingredients, and cooked perfectly. And the cheesecake was great!Friendly people working behind the desk, clean, and an awesome vibe. It's tough to give 5 stars, but this spot is top notch!

Food, Service and People are Exceptional NICE...You will Enjoy the FOOD and the FRIENDLY EXPERIENCE.

If you are getting pizza, this is the place to go! The meatballs are brilliantly flavored and taste like they are made by my Italian grandmother. The pizza is again stellar! The nice outdoor seating ambiance and kind service made my visit special. Thanks so much!

This table-less gem is a standout in Lower Burrell. Asked for a recommendation and ended up with the "Hot Dad" and Margherita.Both excellent.Crust is cravable. Perfectly thin,minimal flop.Completely understand those who have this wood-fired pizza in the top 10 for the Pittsburgh area.