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Anthony's North Fort Lauderdale Rear Entrance

Anthony's Coal Fire Pizza

1580 N Federal Highway
Fort Laudedale FL, 33304
954 563-2625
Overall Rating
2.7
Food
Service
Ambiance
Value
Last Review
12/15/2015

Details

Hours: 7 Days 11:30-10pm Open til 11pm on Fri and Sat
Parking: Private Lot
CC: Yes
Alcohol: Wine and Beer
Outside Dining: Yes

Pros

Coal Fired Oven
Cute Chick Servers

Cons

Unimpressive Space with too much Direct Sunlight
Lazy Presentation
Not Really Tomato Sauce

Critic's Review

Anthony Bruno has opened another Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza. The difference is that this one is in Fort Lauderdale; a few miles down Federal Highway from their original location. I just happened to be checking yesterday to see if there was new news, and found that they were opening today. With a shortage of places I want to go for lunch, I thought I'd grab some eggplant.

Anthony's is conveniently located in the same center as the new Trader Joe's; he must have some deal with a developer as the Boca location is also right next to Trader Joe's there.

Anthonys north open

They have 2 spots allocated for Take Out.

On opening day you get greeters opening the doors for you. They have lots of extra staff the first few days a restaurant is open. You can count on lots of people standing around. The first thing I noticed was the glare; I hate these storefront restaurants (think Mellow Mushroom).

Anthony's Fort Lauderdale North Kitchen Area

This restaurant has no tables lining the windows, just a big round table for 8 or so. So I had to sit in the middle of the room. I ordered the eggplant, which is not a lunch special. It comes in at 10.99, just 24 cents more than I paid a few years ago.

I asked for tea with lemon, and instead of unsweetened tea with lemon, he brought me sweetened lemon tea. My server was clearly not experienced, but I'm not going to kill anyone on the first day open

Anthonysnorth tea

I didn't at first realize that it was sweetened, so my first sip was a bit of a shock.

One special thing about coming on opening day is that the owner is in the place, was well as Dan Marino, who is a big investor in the chain. You can see them posing for a picture behind the bar.

Anthonysnorth inside

There are TVs here, but it's no sports bar. They play good music; no Frank today: Elton John, Billy Joel, Tom Petty. Good stuff from back in the day.

The eggplant came out in 8 minutes.

Anthonysnorth eggplant

I think the more and more of these that they open, they less attention to detail they seem to make. Who puts cheese ON the basil? It's like a robot made this and his program had a bug. Just thrown together by someone who doesn't understand the food or the presentation. It doesn't change the taste much, but it is a commentary on what's happened to Anthony's.

The eggplant is super thin here; they claim to use Romano cheese, but sawdust all tastes the same to me. It could have been anything. Anthony's doesn't put a big glob of mozzarella on it. The eggplant itself is a good version.

Anthonys eggplant cut

My server was intent on bringing me extra sauce. I figured he'd bring me a little cup, but he brought out a big gravy bowl full.

Anthonys sauce

No spoon and this stuff doesn't really pour. I think I mentioned that my server was a bit raw. Anthony's doesn't really have tomato sauce; it's more like they just scoop it out of a can of crushed tomatoes. I've softened on the place, knowing how bad some other places are, but I don't see how he's selling this stuff on Long Island. Although there's plenty of bad Italian food on Long Island also.

I'm going to like this a lot better with some fresh linguine and a glob of Motz, so I decided to take half of it home.

Anthony's Eggplant

I didn't meet Bruno or Marino. No interest. I was afraid he'd remember my first review, when I referred to his pizza as flash cooked stuff. What's interesting is that nobody was eating pizza. Salads, meatballs. I didn't see 1 pizza.

Conclusion

I didn't like this store at all. It's an awkward, square room with too many windows and too much glare. It really doesn't feel like a restaurant. One thing about Anthony's original place is that it was a lot nicer than eating in a pizzeria. This place is about the same.

The bread wasn't very good; dry. They don't brush it with oil and there's no dipping oil. This place really feels like a chain. Which of course is exactly what it now is.

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Lucy
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I don't like this location. It doesn't have the feel of the original Anthony's. I think they've become too much of a cookie cutter chain.

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