Julianna's Open For Business from Karl Junkersfeld on Vimeo.

Karl Visits Julianna’s

By on December 15, 2012 10:04 pm in Food, Video

When I lived across the great water, on that island to our west, there were pizza places called Ray’s, Original Ray’s, Real Ray’s, Honest-to-God Ray’s, etc. Here in Brooklyn Patsy Grimaldi had Patsy’s, then Grimaldi’s, and now Julianna’s, named for Patsy’s mom. Julianna’s occupies the former Grimaldi’s space on Old Fulton Street in the Fulton Ferry Historic District and a new Grimaldi’s (Patsy sold the name) is at the corner of Front and Old Fulton streets, that once was a bank, then an upscale restaurant, then a Latin themed night club. Mr, J. was at Julianna’s with his cam, saw Patsy and his wife, and got video of them teaching some tourists how to eat pizza the Brooklyn way.

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  • PBL

    Annnnnnnddddd? … How was the pizza?

  • Matthew Parker

    Was just there today. Unfortunately, you can’t go home again. The pizza is good, but not great. Not like I remembered.

    Crust beats Grimald’s but the sauce is too heavy with oregano, and the cheese is better at Grimaldi’s. Service was atrocious, but I’ll chalk that up to second day jitters.

    I’ll try Juliana’s again in a few weeks before pronouncing final judgement.

  • Steve R.

    Just a slight correction: Juliana’s does not occupy the corner space, Grimaldi’s does. Juliana is a couple of doors down, where Grimaldi’s was before.

  • lois

    Glad to see you back on the job, Karl. Always like your videos and reviews.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    I generally try not to review food establishments because I don’t want anyone to presume my opinions are the result of dining expertise. Peter Wells I am not. I just hold a camera and rarely meet up with a slice of pizza I don’t devour. That said, I thought the pizza was mediocre and prefer Lucali’s and Table 87 on Atlantic. The service was comical but I’ll give them a break for the first month. Thanks lois for the acknowledgement. I’ll try to contribute here and there when inspired.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    Steve R. : Thanks; I’ve made the correction.

  • elemengee

    I never understood why people waited on the long lines to get into Grimaldi’s pizza place. It must have been written up in the tourist guides because most of the people were not local and the pizzas were not that great. So now mama is competing with her son. Nice. No matter whose name is up on the sign, it’s still just average pizza.

  • Big Dave

    “Average?” “Mediocre?”
    Opinions, like onions
    Spring up everywhere
    But it all looks good to me.

  • resident

    @elemengee: It’s not mama competing with her son, it’s the founders competing with the guy who bought the place.

    I think anyone that says either place is “not good” is full of themselves and simply turning their nose up at the tourist crowd. I would agree it’s not worth waiting in line for an hour for, but if you can walk up, get a table in 15 minutes, or place an immediate order, it’s a pretty solid pizza option. Certainly better than anything in the neighborhood (assuming you don’t count Sam’s and Lucali).

  • Heightsman

    I went the second day. The reviews above nailed it. All true. I do like the new space at Juliana’s. Very nice remodel. The service was truly laughable but again it was day two. In the end both places make good pizza but not amazing. I have become very fond of Dellarocco’s pizza. Yes more expensive but…

    I really got to try Sam’s and/or Table 87. We all know Lucali is great.

  • Princess

    I had Table 87 pizza (prosciutto) for the first time a few months ago at a friend’s house and was pretty much blown away.

  • Dad in the Heights

    Yes Table 87 was an unexpected Sunday night hit. I preferred the crust to that of Dellarocco’s.

  • DrewB

    Table 87 is where it’s at. As someone said, Grilmaldis is good pizza, but why wait an hour for it when you can get equally good, if not better, at Table 87, or Sam’s.