Every pizza review on this site is built on a specific scoring framework. We don't score pizzas by vibes. We score them on five weighted criteria, and we score restaurants on four additional weighted criteria. This article explains the full system — why each criterion exists, what it measures, and how it contributes to the final score.
Why a Weighted System?
The simplest approach to scoring pizza would be to just give it a number from 1 to 10 based on how good it is. And we do ultimately give a holistic 1-10 score — that's the number that goes into the ranking. But the criteria table exists for two reasons.
First, it forces rigor. When you have to score the dough separately from the sauce, you notice things you'd otherwise average out. You can't hide a weak sauce behind excellent toppings. You can't let enthusiasm about the vibe of a restaurant inflating your sense of the pizza.
Second, it gives readers a map. When you see our score for Sorellina (6.7/10), you might wonder: why not a 7? Why not a 6? The criteria table tells you: the dough scored 8.0, which is exceptional; the bake scored 5.0, which is poor. That breakdown is more informative than the aggregate number alone.
The Five Pizza Criteria
1. Dough — 25%
We weight dough the highest of any single criterion because it is, categorically, the hardest thing to get right and the most revealing about a kitchen's seriousness. A great dough requires time — proper fermentation takes at minimum 24 hours and ideally 48-72 hours. It requires technique — the right hydration ratio, the right flour, the right handling. And it requires consistency — the same dough should come out the same way every time.
What we look for, specifically, depends on style:
- Neapolitan: A crust that's light and airy in the cornicione (the outer rim), with a slight chew, a tendency to blister and char during the high-heat bake, and a faintly sour flavor from proper fermentation. The crust should be strong enough to hold the toppings but delicate enough that you actually want to eat the cornicione on its own.
- New York: A crust that folds in half without cracking. A moderate chew. Enough structural integrity to hold a full load of toppings without going limp. The classic "crunch-chew" combination on the bottom.
- Detroit: A very well-fermented dough with a pronounced honeycomb interior structure. A light, airy crumb inside a crispy, oil-enriched exterior. The edges and bottom should be caramelized rather than raw or burnt.
2. Sauce — 20%
The sauce criterion measures one thing above all: does it taste like tomatoes? In a world of pizza sauces that taste like canned tomato paste, dried oregano, or cooked-down sweetness, a sauce that actually tastes like fresh, bright, high-acid tomatoes is a revelation and deserves a high score.
Secondary considerations: balance (between the tomato's natural acidity, sweetness, and savory depth), intensity (not too much, not too little), and style-appropriateness (a Neapolitan sauce should be different from a NY sauce — the former is typically uncooked San Marzano crushed by hand, the latter is usually partially cooked and seasoned).
At Sorellina, we scored the sauce a 6.0. The Margherita had a sauce that fell flat — the tomatoes weren't shining through. The Diavolo's sauce worked much better, largely because the salami's fat and salt brought out characteristics in the tomato that the margherita's more neutral environment didn't activate.
3. Cheese — 20%
We weight cheese equally with sauce because a bad cheese choice or execution can ruin an otherwise excellent pizza just as effectively as a bad sauce. The criterion covers quality, distribution, and melt.
Quality means the right cheese for the style: fresh fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella for Neapolitan, low-moisture mozzarella for New York, brick cheese for Detroit. Using the wrong cheese for the style isn't necessarily a disqualifying move, but it has to be justified by the result.
Distribution means every bite has the right amount. A cheese clump on one slice and a cheese desert on another is a failure of execution. Melt means the cheese has been baked at the right temperature for the right amount of time: stretchy and gooey but not greasy pools, with some browning on the high spots.
4. Bake — 15%
The bake criterion captures the oven's contribution: the bottom char, the color on the crust, the leopard-spot charring on Neapolitan, the frico on Detroit, the bottom crunch on New York. It's weighted lower than the other four because it's somewhat less under the kitchen's direct control (oven temperature varies, gas ovens behave differently from wood-fired), but it still matters significantly.
At Sorellina, the bake scored a 5.0 — our lowest criterion score in our first review. The reason: the kitchen burned two of our four pizzas during the visit, and one reviewer noted that the kitchen seemed unable to regulate the oven temperature. A 5.0 for Bake is a serious problem signal for a pizzeria. It's not just about the aesthetic of the char; it's about control and consistency.
5. Overall Balance — 20%
This is the criterion that doesn't fit neatly into the other four. It captures the coherence of the pizza as an eating experience — the ratio of ingredients to dough, the harmony of flavors, the first bite, the last bite.
A pizza can score well on all four other criteria and still score poorly on balance if, for example, the cheese completely overpowers the sauce (a common failure mode), or the toppings are piled so high that the crust becomes irrelevant (a common failure mode of American pizza more broadly), or the opposite — a pizza so minimalist that it feels unfinished.
The Four Restaurant Criteria
Service — 25%
Friendliness, speed, attention to detail. At Sorellina: 4.0. The 40-minute gap between our first and second pizzas is the main driver here. An empty restaurant on a Saturday evening is context that makes that wait more concerning, not less.
Atmosphere — 25%
The space, the sound level, the overall vibe. At Sorellina: 5.0. The room is attractive but the emptiness at peak weekend time gave it a slightly uncertain energy.
Value — 30%
We weight value highest of the restaurant criteria because it's the most practically important. At $31/person (including wine), Sorellina scored 4.0 — the price is high for the level of consistency we experienced.
Consistency — 20%
Menu coherence and reliable execution. At Sorellina: 4.0. Burned pizzas and a 40-minute wait are consistency failures. We hope they're not representative of every visit.
The Final Score
The number that goes into the ranking is neither the weighted pizza score nor the weighted restaurant score — it's the group average of our three holistic impression scores. GA gave a 7. MW gave a 7. MA gave a 6. Average: 6.7.
The criteria tables inform those holistic scores, but they don't mechanically determine them. This is intentional. Pizza eating is a human experience, not a spreadsheet. We want the rigor of the criteria system and the honest subjectivity of the holistic score. Both are real. Both matter.