I have been meaning to update this for months now, but I'm sorry to say I have just gotten around to it! Â
We have been to Silvia's many times since they first opened, and I am happy to say they have worked out most of the technological glitches, and every pizza, pasta, and salad has been absolutely delicious. The roasted vegetable / roasted squash salad is seasonal (so it is almost always different), always uses incredibly fresh ingredients, and is easily my favorite salad in town. The pasta dishes also always use fresh vegetables as well (the gnocchi is wonderful!).
The service has been good about 90% of the time (we have had joe slow/inattentive service, but the servers are always kind and friendly, and more often than not, excellent).
Some room for improvement: they don't really have a dedicated host(ess) -- everyone is busy doing lots of jobs -- so you may need to wait a few minutes to be addressed. The wine list could also be expanded -- perhaps with some bottle-only selections. Otherwise, Sylvia's is an awesome place for a casual night out :)
This is a place that has creative dishes and more importantly the quality is always top notch. I've been here only a handful of times but can't ever complain. I'm pretty dead set on their meatball appetizer and chicken florentine ravioli. Yes they actually added more to the menu besides pizza. The ambience is nice and the fact that you can watch them in the kitchen is pretty fun. We don't have many great options for real Italian food here in town so I've been grateful that they have opened. You gotta check it out either way, just go early cause there isn't much of a parking area.
Review Source:The pizzas and pastas were all excellent. Â They had a real brick oven for cooking the pizzas, and all ingredients were fresh and of high quality. Â They even brought us a free extra pizza of the day when they put someone's order in wrong. Â Loved the homemade meatballs. The service was great and the atmosphere had a nice character to it. Â There was a grand piano in the dining area so perhaps they do live music sometimes.
Review Source:I went to Sylvia's today for the first time for lunch. It was the restaurant wasn't very busy and we were seated quickly. We ordered the garlic rolls for an appetizer and they were delicious! I had a margarita calzone and chicken vegetable soup. The soup was really good and the calzone was so big that I had to take half home with me. The pizzas and calzones don't have a traditional marinara sauce on them. The restaurant uses crushed tomatoes.
Review Source:We found this place in Lafayette, IN on our drive from Chicago back home to Cincinnati. Sylvia's has a genuine brick oven visible from the windows of the dining room looking into the kitchen. The restaurant is comprised of a series of store fronts that have been combined into a single unit.
Enough with the decor, on the the main event. The pizaa is served in a rustic style with an uneven shape and large chucnks of meat and vegetables. The pizza suace contains actual pieces of tomato pump. It was delicious from beginning to end!
One of my favorite places in town, and so far, the only brick oven pizza in town. It's the only taste of somewhat authentic pizza in the Greater Lafayette area. Fresh ingredients, many of them locally sourced. The tiramisu is made in house, and it's fantastic. Service is good and friendly. I always have the pizzas, so I can't comment on the pasta dishes. I think I had the ricotta gnocchi once, and it was not as good as the pizzas.
Review Source:We've been twice now and were very pleased both times, but the second time were extra pleased that some of the kinks in service seem to have been ironed out. Â Everything tastes very fresh and you can tell the ingredients are top shelf. Â I've had the gnocchi with brown butter sauce and the Jimmy's favorite (garlic, pesto and mozz) pizza, and both were excellent. Â The winter caprese salad (red and golden beets instead of tomatoes) is also very tasty, although most recently the beets were a little grittier than i'd have liked. Â I am hoping the "farmer's pasta" options (which vary) will return in the spring and summer months? Â It's a lively, gay-friendly place and the servers are sweet and earnest. Â A very nice addition to the area.
Review Source:Very nice decoration and ambient but the food wasn't anything special in my opinion. I was very excited when I found  out about this placed and was looking forward for some good brick oven pizza. Unfortunately the pizza I got was a little too bland for my taste. For the price the food should have been a little more exciting and out of the ordinary.
Review Source:We had a great night out here. The food was top notch and delicious and we had fast and friendly service.
We ordered the Garlic Knots, which were a tasty starter with garlic and dipping oil flavors, then had the Spaghetti and Meatballs and the Margherita Pizza. The Spaghetti and Meatballs were very succulent and flavorful and some of the best we have had. The pasta as well was very nicely paired with their tomato sauce. The pizza was delicious. It was apparent all the ingredients were very fresh, from the crushed tomato sauce, to the mozzarella and basil, all on a thin crispy tasty crust. We topped it off with the Tiramisu. I'm not an expert on tiramisu but it's definitely the best I have had in the area.
The only issue we had was that our server hovered around our table quite a bit too much at the start of our meal but then later was a bit slow to bring a box for our leftovers. Also we were not huge fans of the server using their phone to take our order and for us to pay with, having us sign with our finger. The app only had a few preset options for tip amount, which was inconvenient.
Overall we really loved the food and will definitely be coming back soon. Best authentic style pizza I've had in a long time!
I've been here twice now and both times the food arrived quickly and the servers were friendly and helpful. The first time we had the meatballs, garlic knots, and Jimmy's favorite pizza. The meatballs were ordinary, but the garlic knots were tasty if you like garlic. I got Jimmy's pizza because I like carmelized onions, but the pizza itself didn't have much flavor. On the second visit, we had the Funghi pizza (mushrooms with basil pesto) and the Penne with vodka sauce. The Penne with vodka sauce and pancetta had a very nice flavor. The funghi pizza was also good. Their thin crust is very good and next time I will create a Personalized pizza. Many of their ingredients are house made and seem to be high quality, but I would like to see more items with stronger flavors such as spicy pizza toppings and a spicier pasta dish on the menu.
I like the fact that when you pay with a credit card, they bring the machine to you rather than taking your card away out of sight.
When i first walked in i knew it was going to be good. The staff was very friendly. I ordered 2 pizzas to go and had a beer while i waited. The pizzas came out very quick and smelled delicious; I had to put them in the back seat do i didn't eat them on the way home. Â
The pizzas cost a little more than i was planning on spending but well worth it. I really like that all of the ingredients are sourced from local vendors and farmers as much as possible.
I will certainly be back soon!
What a lovely addition to the Lafayette dining scene. I have been wanting to try this new restaurant and took a group last night and it was great. Â The restaurant itself is very comfortable and attractive. Â The service was excellent and timely. Â We had appetizers and pizza and wine. Â I'm a Boston girl and I'm fussy about pizza...I prefer thin crust East Coast style pizza. It was very good. Â The crust was delicious, the sauce and cheese tasted fresh, Â the pepperoni was yummy. My only downside was that the mushroom on my pizza tasted like it came from a jar, not fresh. Â Friends had a seasonal pasta dish which I tried as well and it was very good. Â The pasta was al dente, which is somewhat unusual in American Italian restaurants. Â Our server was friendly, helpful and accomodating. Â The place was busy on a Tuesday night, which is a good sign. Â Looking forward to going back!
Review Source:Everything is relative. That being said, I gave Sylvia's the top rating, because, here in Lafayette, it is hands down the best pizza that can be had. Â (Move it north to Chicago's little Italy and it's still good, but maybe not five stars)
The pizza is authentic Neapolitan style, made behind the glass for the whole dining room to see. Had the signature sausage pizza with home made sausage and big chunks of homemade mozzarella. Â Also had some of the meatballs which are actually some of the best that I've ever had. (Don't tell my wife). We finished off with the biggest surprise of the night...the cannoli, which could probably stand toe to toe with any that I've had. Â We will definitely be making regular stops here.
The lone negative note... they are not particularly kid friendly. No booster seats, no kids menus. Â Staff was pleasant and worked with us getting our kids fed, but had to do a little free-styling and the kids ate while kneeling on their chairs. Â They've only been open for a couple of months, so maybe their working on that. Â Then again, maybe it's something they are trying to discourage. Â Time will tell, but I can't imagine a pizza place that you can't take your kids to.
Well, having left the Hoosier State, this will likely be my last Indiana restaurant review in a good while. Â On moving day we decided, in time-honored tradition, to go out for pizza. Â Sylvia's had been open for a month or so, and the chef was a frequent customer of the farmers' market booth my wife worked at, so we knew the produce's provenance, at least.
It's an airy and comfortable space with a professional waitstaff, cloth napkins,and classic/kitschy red-checked tablecloths. Â And a jukebox? Â Anyway, we started with garlic knots (simply couldn't resist garlicky fried dough!) and the caprese salad, and ordered the Jimmy's Favorite for our pizza. Â The knots were great, and the salad was fresh and lively -- I counted five different tomato varietals, including an heirloom green zebra. Â The mozzarella was not only fresh, but made in-house.
And the pizza -- currently the best in Lafayette/West Lafayette. Â I've been a fan of Puccini's for the nonce, but there's new competition in town, and it's all good. Â Sylvia's wood-fired crust can be unpredictable at times, but it's generally a good thin Neapolitan-style base, and the toppings are unbelievably scrumptiously tasty. Â (And if their pastas are even close to this level, then La Scala had better up their own game.)
No time or space for dessert, but the bar features a good selection of local brews including Peoples' seasonals. Â I'm kind of sad -- Lafayette appears to be starting a bit of a food renaissance downtown, and just when I'm leaving town. Â I wish them all the best!
Thank you all for your reviews of our new restaurant! It's great to get some wonderful feedback from our community. I wanted to take a few minutes to address some of your concerns with your recent visits.
We are excited to be one of the first restaurants in Indiana to have the operating system that we have (POS) with that comes a lot of challenges that are met with some pretty high levels of panic at times. We are happy to report these issues have been solved and seem to be running smoothly now. We are also offering two featured desserts. The reason we did not open with these items was that we could not get consistency where we wanted it to be.
We are very much aware that we are in need of some art work on our walls, but we also feel that less is more. What's more exciting is that we will be receiving many pieces of art from local artists; this is just what we have been waiting for. Watch us on facebook to get up to date information on who will be our featured artists.
Our cheese is handmade each day and cut for service every morning. By doing this we believe that we are able to offer a better product and not be compared to the "cookie cutter" pizza places in the area. Our pizza is made fresh with every ingredient coming from a local farm or distributor.
When our guests are placed on a wait list it's hard to be completely accurate as to when you will actually be seated. As with any restaurant we cannot control how long seated guests will stay to enjoy their meal. Our bar is a very small area and can only accommodate 20-25 guests at one time, so when we are forced to go on a wait list it's very challenging to give 50 - 60 guests that are trying to squeeze into a small area the same service. This is why we have many seats in our lobby area to accommodate those guests wishing to wait to be seated.
With our Caprese salad issue, we would have been more than happy to not place balsamic vinegar on your salad. I do know that our menu states that it is made this way, so please let us do what you are expecting as our Chef is very accommodating to what our guests would like to experience. We are very apologetic that we did not meet or exceed your expectation with our cheese, but we are very proud of the cheese that we have been able to prepare for our dishes and we are also proud that we are the only pizza restaurant in the area that actually take the time to make our own cheese daily.
We hope that we have cleared any questions or comments to everyone, if not I invite you to e mail us at <a href="mailto:sylviasbrickoven@gmail.com">sylviasbrickoven@gmail.c…</a>  we look forward to your return visit!
I ate here for lunch today! I was impressed. Let me start by saying that I didn't try the pizza, but it did look really good when I saw it on other tables. The dining area is bright, clean, and relaxed. You can see into the kitchen where the pizzas are being made, which is fun. There is also a full bar with a few pub tables and a jukebox. I got a salad and my boyfriend got a sandwich. Both were delicious- ingredients were fresh (they even have a farmer's market salad on the menu) and everything was expertly prepared. I will say that the price point might have been just a tiny bit high for lunch, and they did not have any weekday specials. The servers were friendly and use mobile POS systems which was slightly cumbersome but also very convenient in that you can swipe your card at your table without waiting on your server to run it. Overall, I think that this restaurant is an excellent addition to the downtown Lafayette and I am excited to come back to try the pizza (and cocktails).
Review Source:I stopped here with my husband after work to give this place a try. I had driven past it recently and a co-worker mentioned he knew the owners, so I was looking forward to trying it. Â The interior is very fresh-looking. The floors are still a bit...industrial, but it was overall a pleasant environment. Â The red and white checkered tablecloths seemed a bit out of place though. Â
We got two house salads to start with - I'm not much of a salad person, but I didn't have any complaints. Â Watch their Facebook page because they seem to have occasional promotions - by printing a post, we were able to get two salads for free. We ordered the Garlic Knots as an appetizer. They were good, but I think I was still tasting the garlic the next day. Â
We had a personalized pizza with wood roasted mushroom and spinach. It was good, but I think the pizza could have used more cheese. I do really enjoy that they feature fresh ingredients from the Farmers Market, and this seems to be prominent in many of their dishes. Â
I would have liked to see a dessert menu though! I don't think they have one although I didn't ask. Â There wasn't anything mentioned on the main menu.