Pizzeria Mercato

Pizzeria Mercato delivers across the board—food, service, and atmosphere. The Anson Mills Farro Piccolo Salad was fresh and vibrant, a perfect opener. The Neapolitan Meatballs were tender and deeply flavorful, and the Salsiccia pizza had that signature Neapolitan crust: airy, charred, and chewy, with perfectly seasoned sausage. Dessert was a knockout—the salted caramel gelato was rich and velvety, while the 2-piece cannoli offered a crisp shell and smooth, lightly sweet filling. The service was warm, attentive, and genuinely knowledgeable about the menu. The atmosphere struck a perfect balance: stylish yet comfortable, with an energy that made the whole experience feel special. A truly memorable meal—can’t wait to go back.

Good value-for-money thin pizza. Funghi, Panna, and Marg are my highlights. I’ve been here a couple of times. It’s a clean “modern” spot. The pizza is nice, a tad underbaked, and has huge crusts. Their ranch is pretty nice for the big crusts though! You have to ask for Parmesan / chili flakes. Ask for 1 set per pizza: we found ourselves rationing the Parmesan across our pizzas because there was not enough and it was difficult to get ahold of a server. However some dishes are absolute misses for me. Roasted olives get a thumbs down. Overpriced, way too hard, not even a toothpick to eat them with. “Side of garlic focaccia” is not even focaccia. It’s stale bread at best over roasted. Tiramisu cheesecake was far too heavy and lacked the coffee flavour. Salted caramel cookies are served cold and like they came out of a box. If you come here, get the field greens salad, pizza, and end with gelato. Maybe a side of ranch for the crust. Following this order, I think Pizzeria Mercato is a 4 stars. In my experience, it’s really been more of a 3 stars, but given the dearth of restaurants in the area, their salad + pizza + gelato is a good shout. BTW, 2 pizzas for 3 people is a good portion. Now for the tough part. Having ordered catering and been to the restaurant several times, unfortunately, the service is not reliable or attentive. When I ordered catering >1 week in advance, I made sure to email and call twice. I called on the day of ~1 h before agreed upon delivery time. They forgot! The manager of the restaurant said she couldn’t deliver half my order, only the pizzas plus salads. I told her I had 30 people coming over and we were relying on them for food. She told me she could throw a few more pizzas in. In the end, we got the same amount of pizzas as I originally ordered and just salad (instead of pizzas + salads + 3 main dishes designed for 30 people). Unfortunately it was not enough food for everyone. The pizzas were really good, sure, but it’s pretty disappointing to not have enough food to feed everyone. I asked for cutlery too, and I got 5 sets instead of 30. At the restaurant, I thought things might be better. There is one very excellent and attentive server (short curly hair), but everyone else seems more concerned with talking to each other than visiting customers. In my most recent visit this weekend, the restaurant was 3/4 empty on a Sunday night. Most servers were gossiping amongst each other instead of coming to the tables; as a result, our dishes were essentially never cleared and we wanted to order a few more things but we never gained the opportunity. In a previous visit, our group had empty water vials, waited >30 mins for appetizers, never got a wine refill, never got our takeout boxes, etc. During this same dinner, we had a server spill wine while pouring it and never cleaned it up. Minor note. I understand the aesthetic of casual dining. However, I think some of the outfits of the servers could be more thoughtful. I think wearing pyjamas or gym clothes is a line worth drawing, especially at a restaurant in this price range. Another small thing, vegetarian and vegan options should be more clearly labeled. Overall, you can get a nice, decent meal here. Don’t expect stellar service. This is probably better as a takeout spot. Also, not fit for groups >5 in my opinion.

Pizza was good. Toppings are high quality but skimpy. Two or three pieces per slice. Service was nice but the process was chaotic. Took almost 10 minutes for them to check us in and tell us it would be 45 to 60 minute wait. Very loud with the concrete floors and exposed ceiling. I would definitely eat there again but didn't blow our socks off. Still one of the better places to get quality pizza in the area.

Exceptional foods, always. This place should be Michelin Star restaurant! ————— Definitely the best pizza place in Chapel Hill. It was our first visit, took a single bite, and regretted not having come earlier. Crispy, chewy crust with fresh tomato sauce and cheese was a fantastic combination. Garlic bread was great with grilled octopus. Can’t wait for next visit! ——- It was our second visit to try different menus. Gnocchi was really great! Margarita with prosciutto was fantastic again!! Would love to visit everyday :) ——- After multiple visits, we’ve finally become big fans of this place. Our conclusion is that EVERY food in this place, including entree, main dishes (i.e pizza), and even desserts, is absolutely awesome! We thank staff in this place for providing such great foods!!

A+ service with not your typical Napoleon-style pizza. Unique combinations that will make any food critic happy.

Amazing food - probably the best pizza we have had in the NC area. Highly recommend the basic Margherita pizza to get an idea of the high quality ingredients they use and definitely ask for the chilli oil, which elevates the pizza with a few droplets. Polenta is great and comes with an egg yolk that you mix in leading to extra creaminess in each bite, surrounded by garlicky roasted butter mushrooms. The cacio e pepe style arancini was also amazing and I highly recommend it along with the Winter citrus salad. The cons would be they were extremely busy so the attention from the server was a bit lacking. The tagliatelle was also good, but nothing to write home about. The quantity of pasta for the price was also on the smaller side. My ratings would be Pizza - 9.5 Arancini and Citrus salad - 9 Polenta - 8 Tagliatelle - 7 This is a great place and I would recommend everyone to check this out, given the caveat that you will need to book in advance during evening as they tend to get pretty busy.

AMAZING food - the dough is at a “doughier”side, but those trying to avoid gluten should definitely try the chickpea Cecina. The Funghi pizza was sooooo aromatic (triffuleless but truffle-like) SO GOOD. AMAZING service AMAZING vibe! Reccc

We had a reservation so we didn't have to wait. The salads were great, and the pizza was extraordinary. Impossibly thin and crispy for Neapolitan. Desserts were high quality as well. Now that Pompieri is closed, we will be making the trip out to Mercato more often!