Review: Di Fara Frozen Pizza Delivers New York Taste Straight From The Freezer

There are few arguments more American than a debate over the best regional pizza style. Like a thick, doughy block with caramelized cheese on the sides and sauce on top? Sink your teeth into a slice of Detroit-style pizza. If a deep-dish pie with heaps of toppings swimming in a pool of sauce and cheese is more your speed, then you're looking for Chicago-style. And if you're too busy to even sit down and enjoy your meal, a crispy, flat-crusted New York-style slice is exactly what you need. Of course, unless you live in one of those locales, finding the perfect pizza to suit your preference isn't always easy, but one Brooklyn-based pizzeria just made it a whole lot easier to get your hands on its famous pies.

Di Fara Pizza has been serving up slices since 1965, and starting March 1, you can snag four of its most popular flavors in the freezer section at Target stores nationwide. Available in Classic, Vodka Sauce, Pepperoni, and Three Meat, these 12-inch frozen pizzas promise to transport your taste buds to Brooklyn. Di Fara Pizza sent me three of the flavors — the Three Meat is unfortunately not yet available in my area — to test. Read on to find out if Di Fara's is worthy of a spot in your cart, or if they're just another in a long line of frozen pizza options.

Di Fara reached out to me and offered to send samples of the pizzas before they hit Target shelves. The three flavors available locally — Classic, Vodka Sauce, and Pepperoni — were sent to me via Instacart. I cooked all three pizzas at the same time, according to the packaging instructions. After removing them from the oven, I snapped a few photos of each and dug in. My evaluation was based on taste, texture, aroma, value, and overall quality. Some recommendations are based on first-hand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer/distributor/etc.

While a nationwide release is set for March 1, Di Fara launched in 1,100 Target stores at the beginning of February. All four pizzas will be priced at $9.99 and come in a single, standard 12-inch size.

The Vodka Sauce pizza contains 280 calories per serving, which is defined as one-quarter of a pizza. You'll also find 9 grams of fat, 12 grams of protein, and 650 milligrams of sodium per serving. The Classic pizza is a little higher across the board, sitting at 300 calories, 14 grams of fat, 13 grams of protein, and 920 milligrams of sodium. Finally, there's the Pepperoni pie, which has a different serving size: one-third of a pizza, up slightly from one-quarter. A serving contains 370 calories, 12 grams of fat, 17 grams of protein, and 900 milligrams of sodium.

The intersection of perception and reality is especially important in the world of frozen pizzas. Even the lowest-rated options promise plenty of flavor, while other, more highly-regarded brands claim you'll confuse their product for delivery. In truth, most pizza-loving people know a frozen pizza when they taste it, regardless of the style.

For its part, Di Fara at least makes a frozen pizza that could definitely pass for restaurant-quality, even if they are a little smaller than advertised. I measured all three pies before baking them and found that most came in around 11 inches in diameter, with one stretching to 11 and a half. While it's not a major issue, the pizzas do look rather small, so if you're hosting a group of hungry people, you may want to snag an extra.

The Classic Pizza features mozzarella, parmesan cheese, extra virgin olive oil, basil, and Di Fara's secret Sunday sauce atop a crispy, golden crust. The sauce-to-cheese ratio is solid, with no naked spots. The basil adds a fresh element you don't often find in frozen pizzas and helps distinguish this pizza from a classic cheese pizza. The crust is crispy and foldable — a New York requirement — but this is still a very minimalistic pizza. Even the "secret Sunday sauce" is good but not great, leaving this pizza without much personality. If I'm tossing a frozen pizza on the top rack, I want something to get excited about, and Di Fara's Classic pizza just isn't doing it for me.

Di Fara uses cubed cheese on its frozen pizzas. The result is a sometimes-splotchy cheese pattern that ends up anything but even. While the Classic mostly worked itself out, the Vodka Sauce pie had several cheese-free patches next to cheese-filled pockets. The basil, too, is hard to evenly distribute. Some pieces can be moved before baking, but others are frozen into the sauce, which is why my Vodka pizza has a basil trail more resembling a road on a board game than a topping everyone is going to get to enjoy.

Distribution issues aside, the Vodka Sauce is a wonderful frozen pizza revelation. Di Fara's website claims this is the "first vodka sauce pizza in stores." If that's true, then it won't be alone for long. The pizza — sporting the same two cheeses and basil as the Classic — owes its entire personality to that creamy sauce. In many ways, this is just another dressed-up cheese pizza, and while the basil alone is tasty, paired with the silky, well-balanced vodka sauce, this is the plain Di Fara pizza you want to try.

The number one pizza style in the United States is New York-style pizza, and the number one topping is pepperoni. So, is it any real surprise that Di Fara's Pepperoni Pizza was my favorite of the three flavors I sampled?

Like the others, the crust on this pizza is perfectly imperfect. Is it an even circle all the way across? No, it is not. Nor is it precooked exactly the same on every side. (In fact, the crusts of all three pizzas had unique coloring, reminiscent of something you'd see in an actual restaurant.) I prefer a crust with a bit more body, but Di Fara does deliver on the promise of a New York slice: the undercarriage is crispy, but still foldable, and the outer crust is equal parts crunchy and chewy.

This is essentially the same pizza as the Classic, but the pepperoni is a game-changer. All of the many pieces had shifted in the freezer, but after rehoming them all, I was excited to see the little circles curl up into cups that were filled with delicious, flavorful grease. This is the note that the first two pizzas were missing and one that elevates this pie into pristine territory. As soon as the Three Meat variety becomes available in my area, I'm going to give it a try, because Di Fara clearly knows how to make a meat pizza.

Di Fara does what it does well, which is to say it delivers on the promise of a frozen New York-style pizza that feels homemade. The pepperoni shines across some otherwise very simple pizzas, but in lieu of tons of toppings and additional flair, Di Fara excels at the basics. The crust is crispy where it needs to be and chewy elsewhere, while the classic sauce gets the job done. Still, the Vodka sauce proves that even the simplest pizza can benefit from a little extra something, and the creamy, smooth sauce — unique to the freezer aisle — elevates an otherwise good, but not great cheese pizza. The same can be said for fresh basil, which is a standout if only because when's the last time you saw a frozen pizza that relied on herbs for taste? 

At $9.99 per pie, Di Fara is not the best choice for feeding a full party, but for a few people, it's most definitely worth a purchase. I suggest leaning into the meat options, not only for taste, but for value, since they're priced the same as the more simplistic pies.