Lucatelli's Pizzeria Opening Second Location In Newtown

NEWTOWN, PA — Lucatelli’s Pizzeria, which has built a reputation for quality food in the Doylestown area, is coming to Newtown.

The Doylestown pizzeria will be opening a second location this fall at the former site of Marco’s Pizza at the Village at Newtown South shopping center near Wendy’s.

Owner David Schiano said he’s excited to bring Lucatelli’s to another Bucks County community and is looking forward to becoming part of the Newtown community.

“We’re going to be doing some construction and light renovations. We’re hoping to open by the end of September or the beginning of October,” said Schiano.

Lucatelli's is known in Doylestown for its pizza, hot sandwiches, and vodka sauce.

The future home of Lucatelli's at the Village at Newtown South near Wendy's.

“Our goal is always to bring the freshest and best quality ingredients to our food as we strive to be that next-level pizzeria,” said Schiano. “While others are using frozen products, we’re giving you the best and freshest food daily.”

Schiano, who been making pizza since he was 11, uses family recipes from Italy to bring fresh and delicious pizza, stromboli, hot sandwiches and more to his pizzeria in Doylestown.

Schiano began making pizza at his dad's Maple Glen Pizza restaurant in Ambler. That's where he learned the pizza trade.

He opened his first pizza place, also named Lucatelli's, in Philadelphia. That dream ended abruptly when he was put out of business by COVID-19.

That dashed dream ended up being a blessing, leading him to Doylestown and to open up a new Lucatelli's at the former Il Melograno Ristorante at the Mercer Square Shopping Center where he has perfected his recipes and is now delivering the freshest, highest quality food to his customers.

Schiano recently renovated and expanded his Doylestown store after a good review by noted pizza critic Dave Portnoy brought long lines to his store and a need for more space.

Portnoy's "one bite" video pizza reviews, which are sent out to 2.9 million Twitter followers and another four million on Instagram, have been know to make or break local pizzerias. In Lucatelli's case, it was good news.

(Jeff Werner/Patch)

The roving pizza lover gave Lucatelli’s a 7.8, which is on the higher side for a Portnoy review.

In the weeks and months following his review, the already popular local pizzeria was swamped with customers, which made doing business challenging, said Schiano. A few times they ran out of pizza dough due to the high demand and lack of storage space.

"We were doing really well and steadily growing. Once Portnoy came in, he took us to another level," said Schiano. "It made me realize that we needed to expand. In less than two years, we had to take over the space next store to keep up with the demand.”

Lucatelli’s is known for its pizza, including its most popular pies - the Margherita, the Bova and its selection of Grandma Pizzas, including Drunken Grandma, Burrata Pepperoni, Grandma Capri and Grandma MVP.

Its sandwiches are also hot sellers, including its drunken chicken, Phillies Red Hot-Tober sandwich, Vodka Parm Sandwich, Roast Pork Sandwich and Hot Lucatelli Cutlet. And its cheesesteak sandwich won Best of Bucks in 2024.

“I’ve always loved Newtown and when this opportunity came up, it was perfect,” said Schiano. “Hopefully, one day we’ll start looking for a larger place and build out a full-size Lucatelli’s. We have 1600 square feet right now. It’s a good start. We just need to get our name out there and start building our customer base.”