Vic’s Italian Restaurant

Tucked away in the unassuming little town of Bradley Beach is another New Jersey pizza mecca, Vic’s. Family owned- and operated since 1947, this capacious Italian restaurant offers up the basement-paneled, old-school paisan vibe that NYC places like Carbone strive for.

For decades, Vic’s has been the place you take the whole family out to for pizza. The slightly dated décor proves it, but you can’t hold it against them. The place is welcoming, if a little rough around the edges, and they have the same pearlized Art Deco kitchen tables that your grandma had. The photos adorning the walls attest to the fact that this family has been running things smoothly for years.

According to their website, Vic Giunco and his wife Carmella immigrated to America from Genoa, settling in Bradley Beach in the 1910’s. After the repeal of Prohibition, Vic opened a small bar; in 1940, he bought a large piece of property in the south end and moved to their current location.

On March 17, 1947, Vic and his son John opened Vic’s Bar & Restaurant. When pater passed in 1967, John Giunco carried on with his son Vic and son-in-law Ed. When John died in 2001, he passed his traditions and restaurant on to his daughter and son-in-law Edward and Ava Dollive; their kids now manage a business that is one of the more popular Italian restaurants at the Jersey Shore.

And the waitstaff couldn’t be nicer. On a recent visit, we were seated quickly despite a good number of people waiting in the front vestibule. Our server was chipper, super polite, and quick with our cocktail order—always a great sign of things to come.

Vic’s has a more thorough beer and wine list than they need to, featuring everything from Lambrusco to Riesling to a rotating selection of craft beers. Appetizers are about what you’d expect, featuring a Chopped Antipasto salad for about $17, which four of us attacked, and still couldn’t best. There are several other salads plus a wide assortment of fried items, from ravioli and mozzarella sticks to calamari and onion rings. There are also mussels and shrimp, marinara or scampi style. Scampi: such a great word, right?

I was nonplussed (or is it plussed—I never can remember) over their extensive offerings of soup, being that it’s an Italian restaurant. But what do I know? Maybe some people enjoy eating hot soup at the beach.

The menu also features a Pasta section, with 13 dishes from Aglio e Olio to Alfredo, all available with four different types of pasta: spaghetti, linguini, penne, or shells. The possibilities of mixing and matching to your personal tastes are infinite. Well, probably not infinite. I’m poorly at math.

Vic’s Italian Specialties include meat and cheese ravioli, lasagna, eggplant or chicken parm, and baked penne. We ordered the chicken parm, and though it featured two very substantial breaded cutlets draped with mozzarella plus a side of spaghetti, it was still underwhelming. The tomato sauce was a bit blah, and the parm didn’t have that jazzy crunch like mom’s does.

But no matter: at Vic’s, the whole thing is all about their thin-crust pizzas. It’s what the place is known for, and what they do best. All their sauce and dough is homemade, and it’s rolled out to cracker-thin proportions featuring bubbly brown crusts. They even offer homemade whole wheat or gluten-free crust options, for you hippies.

And Vic’s doesn’t force you to toe the line. There aren’t any ‘specialty’ pizzas, per se. The options for toppings include peppers, onions, garlic, pimentos, meatballs, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, anchovies, olives, tomato, broccoli, spinach, and eggplant. You decide how much of which thing goes on what pie.

Still, that didn’t stop Cousin Ricky from ordering what he called, “one with everything.” Apparently, he started taking his now-grown kids to Vic’s when they were just rugrats and ordering the ‘everything’ option for them. The waitress was game to put in the order, but because I didn’t want to see what happens when broccoli and anchovies mingle, I quickly amended the “everything” order to more of a “Pizza Hut Everything”: sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, and peppers. Then Ricky ordered a second pie with sausage, peppers, and onions. We’ll call that one the Heartburn Special (note: it’s not listed on the menu as such).

Both pies arrived with a quickness, complete with a nice ratio of cheese and sauce hemmed in by a charred, bubbly crust. Each bite gave a cracker crunch that was a bit too thin-crusted for my own personal preference, but done to thin crust perfection nonetheless. We liked the ease with which our server double-stacked the pies on our table and we pushed aside the chicken parm with its slightly watery side of pasta to focus on this, the star of the show.

Few can argue that Vic’s does pizza very well, and its staying power in Bradley Beach only confirms it. New Jersey takes their pies very seriously, and Vic’s is a heavy hitter in the game. Stop by the merch counter on your way out to the parking lot and pick up a commemorative T-shirt or beer mug to remember your visit. Better yet—bring your own Cousin Ricky in for another flight of their crispy, thin crust pizzas.

Vic’s Italian Restaurant
60 Main Street, Bradley Beach
732-774-8225
https://www.vicspizza.com
Open Tuesday-Thursday 11:30 am-9 pm
Friday-Saturday 11:30 am-10 pm
Sunday 12 pm-9 pm

Save a Few Clams

Vic’s offers free parking in the large lot behind the restaurant, which can be a real boon in the busy summer months.