If you’ve not heard by now there’s a new pizzeria in town. It’s called Pizza Please and is located at Shop #3 Village Plaza, Half-Way-Tree.

To say that the response has been overwhelming would be putting it mildly.

Thursday Life arrived last week Friday evening, 24 hours after the official opening, and the doors were shuttered… the pizza was finished. We, however, returned on Saturday.

Owner Pietro Giuliani, no stranger to Jamaica, has been visiting the island for a decade. Now settled, complete with a Jamaican wife, he has realised his dream of opening an authentic pizzeria. “Pizza is street food in Italy and I wanted that kind of concept where all can afford to enjoy it.” And that he has managed to do at the $280 per slice price point — for by Saturday when we returned the head count since the Thursday opening was over 700. Not bad considering Giuliani was merely gauging the response to his fresh artisanal pizzas.

In the kitchen, which is helmed by Italian chef Ezechiele Onis — himself a mentor to two assistants — the pizzas are drizzled with extra virgin olive oil (no nut oil, so no allergy issues) and the roll-out is fast and furious. Crowd favourites are the chicken calzone, BBQ chicken pizza and callaloo pizza for the vegetarians. Slices of pizza are served on wooden boards for customers who choose to dine in. There’s also an option to ‘build a box’ with a variety of slices. “We’re from Rome; we do Italian pizzas,” Giuliani explained to a customer. Indeed, the Irish — Irish potatoes, mozzarella and rosemary— is as traditional as it gets while the ackee and salt fish and the jerk cabbage are delicious interpretations of local comfort foods. “We’re still a work in progress,” stated Giuliani. “we add more options each day and listen to the customers and improve. We’re adding a mural of the Rome skyline in a few weeks, for our taste of Italy.”

Pizza Please is open Mondays to Thursdays from 11:00 am- 7:00 pm; Friday’s closing time is 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm on Saturdays). For more information, find Pizza Please on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook @pizzapleaseja.