Serra’s Pizza: 
Old School Pizza In The New Age

For a family-run pizza place that takes you back in time and percolates pizza and memories, go to Serra's. The restaurant is about history, community, and family. Literally their entire family works at the restaurant, which is becoming very rare. On a Friday or Saturday night you will see three or four generations of family working: the owner Onofrio Serra supervising at his corner table, his son baking the pizzas in the kitchen, and daughter waiting tables. When you walk in, a sign outside says "We serve beer on Sundays." A 1980's Donkey Kong Machine and old-fashioned jukebox line the entryway. Serra's Pizza has served customers St. Louis-style pizza since 1970 and seems frozen in time. One thing is for sure: this old school pizza still tastes good in the new age!

Stlpizzaguy's sister Krista, the inspiration behind the "P" of Approval, stands outside Serra's Pizza, in anticipation of some great St. Louis-style pizza.

Pepperoni Pizza: the favorite of stlpizzaguy

Deluxe Pizza

"When people ask me this question, most frequently by Dr. George Jerkovich of Salina, Kansas, where do you get the BEST St. Louis-style pizza? The answer is Serra’s Pizza. It is textbook St. Louis-style."

Don’t Judge a book by it’s cover—hidden gem

But it wasn’t until a celebrity told my father about Serra's that I ate there after 12 years of living near Maryland Heights. Serra’s is located in a little shopping center with Tony’s Donuts and across the street from 7-11 on St. Charles Rock Rd.  Although our family frequently drove by Serra’s, we probably never entered because of the bland appearance of the restaurant tucked in a little corner strip mall. It took Kurt Warner to recommend Serra's to my dad as a GREAT place that we must try. Before he was a Superbowl winner, Kurt Warner lived near Mckelvey Elementary school and frequented Serra’s Pizza often. Of course after that conversation, we tried and loved Serra's Pizza ever since.

This brings me to remark that we should never judge a book by it cover, a restaurant by their exterior, or we will be missing out. Thanks to restaurant review companies like Yelp and my pizza blog, hole-in-the wall restaurants are easy to find if their food quality is good. But what if their customers aren’t the type of people log on to Yelp, or urban spoon like many of the trendier restaurants or to influence the Riverfront Times to write an article about them? Serra’s strength lies in old-fashioned word-of-mouth and occasionally even bakes pizza for the bands who play at the nearby Hollywood Casino amphitheater

Serra’s proudly makes their pizzas with Provel cheese, giving the pizza have a slightly creamier texture than mozzarella. The sauce is sweet but not overly sweet, and Serra’s claims, “the unique sweetness of our sauce has its origins from the kitchens of  Italy.” The crust is on the thicker spectrum of thin-crust pizza, with ¼ to ½ inch of crust on the edges. Their pizza is cooked in brick ovens to a medium amount, not overly crispy, and not too chewy either.

The Block siblings and their significant others give Serra's Pizza the "P" of Approval. From left to right: Patrick, Krista, Evan (too cool for the "P" of Approval), Adria (the inspiration behind the name of the blog stlpizzaguy), and stlpizzaguy.

Serra’s is especially a favorite of my brother Evan, who gets carry out, or visits with his friends from Parkway North High School to show them this hidden gem.