Housed in a former post office from the late 19th century, this Pacci’s Trattoria is located in Silver Spring’s Capital View Historic District.1 Ironically, the President can blithely demolish the White House, but would have to submit plans to Silver Spring’s historic preservation committee before touching an exterior brick of Pacci’s. That said, patrons have long bemoaned Pacci’s lack of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom.
This charming neighborhood stalwart features a rabbit warren of small rooms and rustic wood details. Black-clad servers operate with cheerful efficiency, enhancing the restaurant’s classy yet casual vibe.
Pacci’s offers a classic trattoria menu featuring Neapolitan wood-fired pizza, homemade pastas, regional seafood, meat dishes, and a selection of nice salads. Unsurprisingly, DishingPizza came for the pizza.
Before jumping into the pizza, a few words about wood-fired pizza ovens. Without going into excruciating detail, several variables are at play when baking Neapolitan pizzas in 800-900°F wood-burning ovens. Screwing up something, which is incredibly easy, will affect the pizza’s integrity.2
Should pizza be judged, like gymnastics, based on the degree of difficulty? If so, a mediocre wood-fired pizza might rank as highly as a good pizza from a steel deck oven, where there’s much less to go wrong. DishingPizza takes a more outcome-based viewpoint – life is too short for middling wood-fired pizza, even if it’s very hard to perfect.
While there’s nothing terribly wrong with Pacci’s pizza, there’s also nothing terribly right with it. The crust lacks distinction – it’s thin, not especially chewy or tangy, and soggy in the middle — likely a casualty of the aforementioned wood-burning oven mistakes. The sauce is adequate, and the somewhat salty cheese3 is acceptable.
The old pizza cliché applies here: Sex is like pizza — even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. Pacci’s pizza isn’t bad, but it’s just not worth a special trip to this off-the-beaten-path location.
1 Pacci’s also has a second, newer Capitol Hill location.
2 For the record, DishingPizza believes all pizza has strong moral principles, but the structural integrity of wood-fired pizza crusts is often compromised by oven or dough mistakes.
3 DishingPizza intentionally ordered the lowest-end Margarita pizza with standard mozzarella for $14.75 ($0.13 per square inch) instead of the $16.75 ($0.15 per square inch) La Verace with mozzarella di Bufala. DishingPizza prefers the fancier cheese but has a professional obligation to try the lowest-end pizza. That said, DishingPizza also believes that a cheese upgrade shouldn’t be necessary if the pizza fundamentals are strong.
Pacci’s Trattoria
6 Post Office Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
106 13th St SE, Washington, DC 20003
Pizza quality: 🍕🍕
Overall experience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pie (12″): $14.75
Pie price per square inch: $0.13