Jason S.
Yelp
I've been to a lot of pizza joints in my day, and probably more Italian delis and bakeries than I can recall. From New York to San Francisco...from Chicago to Miami...and even from Venezia to Palermo, I've been fortunate enough to experience some really wonderful Italian cuisine.
I was in the area over the weekend visiting family who recently relocated to Chamblee. While watching college football we were all looking for an alternative to the chain pizza joints on Saturday night and I turned to Yelp for some suggestions. I didn't want anything "fancy", but I wanted quality. Avellino's seemed to be a winner, but I feel like this the first time I've been lead astray by my fellow Yelpers.
After ordering a medium Greca, a medium Margharita (with red sauce) and some Canolis I headed off to pick it up from the Brookhaven location. I'll take responsibility for not checking the order before I left. But, when I got back to the house I was surprised to see a small Greca and a small Vegetariana in the boxes. Also, when I saw the teeny tiny canolis, I was left wondering if someone was playing a joke on me. Unfortunately, the only joke was the quality of the food.
The pizza crust was too chewy for consumption on the edges. And, even though my order was wrong, they still forgot to put any basil on the Vegetariana. In fact, the only flavor profile any of us could taste in that pizza was the mushroom. In addition, the canolis weren't fit for consumption. I took one bite and all I tasted was old cooking oil and powdered sugar, with a gritty tasteless filling. It was as if the shells had been fried a week ago and the oil had been used for a week before that.
In all of my travels I've come to believe that any Italian local (in the USA) should be able to nail a basic Canoli and three main entré staples: Red Sauce, Meatballs and Pizza. Of these four, they've missed the mark on at least two, and I didn't try their meatballs or red sauce (thanks to a mix up in my order), so those may be duds as well.
In all, this place seems to be a bar, with a sad excuse for a pizza joint and Italian kitchen added simply to justify the Italian name. They may have a wood fired, brick oven, but you'd be better off burning your money in an outdoor fire pit than spending it here. Undoubtedly, Atlanta has some great restaurants to choose from; Avellino's, however, certainly is not one of them.