Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on February 9, 2023.
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Anyone who has spent some time in Pittsburgh knows of the raging debate between Mineo's and Aiello's pizza in Squirrel Hill. Both have die hard followings behind them, and are the kind of places you hear coming up in favorite pizza shop lists time and time again.
We ordered Mineo's with great excitement (after a very long gap since our last visit when we lived in Squirrel Hill), and we've got to say, we were really let down.
Mineo's Pies Are Adequate at Best
During our visit to Mineo's we got a full pepperoni pizza, a slice of Sicilian with hot peppers, tomatoes, and bacon, as well as a side of wings with mango habanero sauce.
The first thing you'll notice when eating at Mineo's is that the pies are stacked inverted from what is the more conventional setup- toppings are put on first and then the cheese. This made for a very interesting dynamic as every piece we picked up the toppings promptly fell right off.
When we re-assembled our piece to try it, the flavors were mostly flat. In fact, the only thing that really jumped out to us one way or another was the pepperoni in that it was a thicker cut than you'd expect on most pizzas. But beyond this, the pies were inline with a fairly conventional neighborhood shop you find throughout the city.
The Sicilian at Mineo's was marginally better than the full pie, and offered up a fairly thick crust with a robust amount of toppings- again with the cheese placed on top of our additional ingredients (which promptly fell off when being picked up).
While it lacked a solid crunch, the ample amount of toppings made this one a bit more enjoyable- if only slightly.
Throw in some rather inattentive service we received when picking up our pizzas, and you have the makings of a rather flat meal all-around.
Decent Wings at Mineo's
Our favorite thing about our meal at Mineo's wasn't the pizza at all, but was, in fact, the wings.
We added on six of their mango habanero wings and were impressed with the light fry and decent crunch, as well as a nicely balanced sauce that was perhaps more on the sweeter side than spicy (which, for mango habanero, we can totally appreciate).
Overall, we were fairly let down by Mineo's if only because with the great debate in the city between the two iconic Squirrel Hill pizza shops we'd thought they'd be much closer. But to be honest, this one is no contest.
Mineo's has two locations in the city. The Squirrel Hill location is 2128 Murray Avenue. They have a second location in Mt. Lebanon at 713A Washington Road and a third at 2684 Wildwood Road in Allison Park.
Looking for more pizza in Pittsburgh? Click the previous link to read about some of our favorite spots!
