By Joe Skms
Score: 83
Porta in Asbury Park at 911 Kingsley St. (also now in Jersey City) is coming up on its 5th anniversary. In the past Porta had received some very nice praises from the likes of the NY Times, Star Ledger, jerseybites.com etc.
I decided to spend several days over the last month at Porta, eating Pizza and talking with other patrons. During that time I witnessed some nice food being served, sadly I didn’t eat any since I only had the Pizza.
As all the past Porta reviews will point out, this is a fun, lively and hip place (a bit loud at times) in a “cool” revitalized warehouse a block from the ocean with two beautiful wood fired authentic Neopolitan pizza ovens that add a special feel to the atmosphere. (Watch the video of ovens in action)
With all that, we (me and the diners around me) all agree, “These Pizzas were not worthy of the calories” or in my case the carbs. The slightly sweet San Marzano tomatoes, fresh made mozzarella, ricotta cheeses and all those other great locally sourced ingredients, can and should add up, but not here, and not at this moment do they make for a good Pizza.
Check these photos taken over a several trips over the last month. Porta’s Pizza can visually show an air of beauty, but take a closer look.
Starting, The Margarita pizza was under-cooked, uneven and as a few others (eating on their own) at the bar next to me would say “My pizza was nondescript, not interesting and just not that good”. This group was still looking for the cheese which was randomly dispersed leaving much of each slice to be just wet, doughy and inconsistent at best.
On another day (Sat. lunch) I ordered the 14 1/2 Pizza. This is a great looking pie and this time the crust was much improved and well cooked, actual time from order to 1st bite was under 8 min. This pizza included a tasty, albeit oily, hot soppressata which covered a nice portion of the pie, beautiful and certainly the tastiest pie I had during my multiple trips, but not sure why anyone would need the added extra virgin olive oil on top of the soppressata?
As much as I enjoy having a variation of taste that a good a slice provides from tip to pizza-bone “crust rim”, this was too unbalanced. The fresh ingredients, mozzarella, ricotta, chiles, oregano were random and at one point I was found myself scraping the tomato and cheese off the crust so I could appreciate those qualities which were destroyed by the moist and near soggy dough.
Something must be amiss?
So, going back this week and hoping “3rd times a charm” and ordering a Meatball pie in hopes of finding the answer, I was taken back again. (and only partially by the hipster wine glass). Siting with my new friend “Fran” we tried but couldn’t get past the abundant salt, doughy bread texture of the crust and at best average meatballs. Fran and her partner also had the Cream Creema pie and both say it was delicious but also doughy in texture.
Porta continues to be a Asbury Park hot spot that many (as I have witnessed) enjoy. I’m hopeful this is just a lapsing moment and all will be righted soon. We certainly need more places at the Jersey Shore like Porta was or “can be again”. We certainly don’t need another tourist spot, kids hang-out or another go-to average birthday party place.
We are all looking forward to seeing the real potential of the future Asbury Park as it grows and as it grows we are rooting that so should Porta.
In Search of the Best.... PIZZA 
