Bayside’s Jack’s Pizza Plans Return To Queens, Moves To UWS

BAYSIDE, QUEENS – Jack’s Pizza, formerly located in Bayside, set up shop in Manhattan after a dispute with the owners of the Bay Terrace Shopping Center in late 2021.

Still, the owners of the 50-year-old pizzeria are planning on returning to Bayside.

Anna Sapienza, one of the owner’s of Jack’s Pizza, said she plans to come back to Bayside as she negotiates with the owner of a location near the Bay Terrace Shopping Center.

“The minute we go back, we’ll have a line out the door,” Sapienza told Patch.

Sapienza bought a La Vera Pizzeria location in the Upper West Side and officially opened up shop in April 2022. Although she and her husband still own the pizzeria, customers shouldn’t expect the same pizza as their days at Bayside.

“It’s not exactly Jack’s because of the ovens,” said Sapienza. The ovens from the original location, which were seasoned for 50 years, are stored in Syosset. “I haven’t installed the ovens because I’m hoping to come back to Bayside, which is where we belong.”

The pizzeria in Manhattan kept the name La Vera because Sapienza did not “want to go through the paperwork.”

Amid the pandemic’s economic toll, Sapienza said the company allowed Jack’s Pizza to “pay what it can” for rent. However, Cord Meyer told Patch last year that the decision not to renew Jack's lease came after the pizza place "refused to meet its financial obligations.”