Amici Pizza
Audio By Carbonatix
Amici Pizza – the Mesa Italian spot that’s become known worldwide via TikTok with 23.1 million video likes – opened its second location, in Queen Creek, on Tuesday.
Unlike the original restaurant, the new spot is take-out only, and it will not have online ordering or delivery available “until next week.” For its opening day, balloons in the green, white and red of the Italian flag arched across the storefront located on the northeast corner of Ocotillo and Signal Butte roads.
Amici’s TikTok-famous pizza, Italian dishes and Shirley Temples got the attention of viral critic Dave Portnoy, who visited for a review and gave it a favorable 7.7 rating, saying it’s “really good” pizza. The excessive crowds, however, may be more about social media than the pizza itself.
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The review only increased Amici’s popularity even further, which leads us to the expansion era that the company is in now.
In addition to the telegenic Shirley Temple and mozzarella sticks, customers come for the baked rigatoni, Bechamel lasagna, hot and cold subs and brulee-style New York cheesecake. And of course there are the pizza offerings, which include New York-style, Sicilian and specialty pies, with the option to “get it drunk” by substituting their mega-popular vodka sauce.
“But for real, when are you going to bottle your vodka sauce so we can all drink it like we want to?! lol,” a fan commented on the Facebook post announcing the new location.
The owners of Amici Pizza have seen their business go viral organically, thanks to videos Kateri Cusumano (right) and her customers have shared.
Amici Pizza
Amici, which means “friends” in Italian, opened in Mesa in 2019 after Kateri Cusumano and Vinny Pante, purchased the location that previously belonged to Buono’s Pizza. That spot was owned by Pante’s father, Jimmy, from 1989 through the early 2000s.
The name Amici “a reference to how Amici Pizza is a place where friends and family alike can gather together (and make new friends), while indulging in the best New York-style pizza and Italian food that the valley has to offer,” its website explains.
The Queen Creek location is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays.
Amici Pizza
Now Open: 22480 E. Ocotillo Road, Suite C101, Queen Creek
2023 W. Guadalupe Road, Mesa