This New Jersey Restaurant Makes Choosing Between Pizza And Pasta Nearly Impossible

Pizza or pasta? Ah, the kind of difficult decision we can happily live with.

This New Jersey restaurant gives hungry diners plenty of Italian-American comfort food to debate over.

Pizza shares the menu with heroes, pasta dishes, chicken entrées, seafood, calzones, and hearty lunch choices, so showing up without a plan may actually be the better strategy.

A classic cheese pie keeps things simple, while options like chicken parm, eggplant parm, shrimp scampi, and cheesesteak calzones give you plenty of room to change direction.

And dessert is waiting to complicate matters further.

Ah, so much for making this a quick meal.

Sometimes you do not need dinner to reinvent anything. You just want familiar food, generous choices, and a menu where finding something comforting is almost ridiculously easy.

A Family Kitchen With Decades Behind It

Some restaurants feel like they were built yesterday. Franco’s Metro is not one of them.

The same family has owned and run this kitchen since 1972, which explains a lot about the way the place moves. Recipes stay put, cooking is done from scratch, and nobody seems interested in chasing trends for the sake of it.

That kind of longevity changes the mood of a dining room. Regulars walk in already knowing what they want, while first-timers get a little extra help figuring things out.

What struck me most is how unfussy it all is. Nothing about the space announces its history, and yet you sense it in the consistency of the food and the ease of the service.

Fort Lee has plenty of Italian options, but few with this much staying power in one location. Half a century of feeding the same neighborhood builds a certain trust, and that trust shows up on the plate long before anyone mentions how long they’ve been around.

Two Doors, Two Very Different Moods

Here’s the quirk that catches newcomers off guard. Step inside and you have to pick a direction.

To the right sits the pizzeria, quick and casual, built for slices and takeout orders. To the left opens the restaurant side, with set tables, softer lighting, and a proper sit-down rhythm.

Same kitchen philosophy, two totally different experiences. It’s honestly a smart setup, because your mood on a Tuesday afternoon rarely matches your mood on a Friday night.

Grabbing something fast? The counter side handles that without any fuss.

Celebrating a birthday with a table of fourteen? The dining room has hosted plenty of those.

I like that the choice is yours and nobody pushes you one way or the other. The vibe lands somewhere between a lively diner and a relaxed Italian bistro, which sounds like it shouldn’t work but somehow does.

Knowing about the split before you arrive saves a few seconds of confused shuffling in the entryway. Consider that a small insider tip.

New York Style Pies That Hold Their Shape

Thin crust gets thrown around a lot, but not all of it earns the title. Here the base stays slim while still holding up under a serious pile of toppings.

No sad floppy triangle sliding off your plate. The crust has enough backbone to carry weight and enough crispness to make a sound when you bite it.

A plain cheese pie is the honest test of any pizzeria, and it’s where I’d start if you’ve never been. Once that box is checked, the build-your-own route opens up.

Classic combinations fill out the traditional list. Margherita with its simple balance, the Bianca white pie layered with mozzarella and ricotta, and a three-meat version stacked with meatball, sausage, and pepperoni.

There’s also sausage with peppers and onions, pineapple with ham for the sweet-savory crowd, and a tomato, basil, and garlic pie that leans bright and fresh.

Pies come out of a brick oven, which gives the edges that mottled char pizza people quietly look for.

Specialty Pizzas For The Adventurous Orderer

If you enjoy ordering the thing you’ve never heard of, this section will slow you right down. The specialty list runs longer than most.

Honey glazed chicken shows up on one pie, sweet against the cheese in a way that sounds odd and tastes right. A cheesesteak version brings a whole different food tradition onto a pizza crust.

Chicken, bacon, and ranch covers the crowd-pleaser slot. Southwest chicken adds a bit of attitude.

Then there’s the mortadella, pistachio, and ricotta combination, which feels like something you’d find in a modern Italian deli. Shrimp with onion and garlic rounds out the seafood side.

Franco’s Flatbread Pizza is the one I’d point a friend toward first, topped with fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes, and basil. Simple ingredients, but the cherry tomatoes burst and change the whole texture.

My honest advice? Order one familiar pie and one wild card, then split both.

That’s the only way to get through a list this long without regret creeping in halfway through dinner.

The Squares And The Nonna Pie

Round pies get all the attention, but the square section deserves a look. They call it The Squares, and it’s a different animal entirely.

The Nonna Pie leads the group, flat and square with mozzarella, marinara, parmesan, and basil layered on top. Thicker edges, more chew, and corners that everybody fights over.

There’s also a Drunken Nonna Pie built around a creamy vodka sauce instead of straight marinara. Richer, softer, and a fun swap if you already know you love vodka sauce on pasta.

Square pies are great for sharing because the pieces are easy to divide and nobody ends up with the runt slice. They also travel well, which matters if you’re taking food home.

Worth knowing: gluten-free and whole wheat crust options exist across the pizza menu, so dietary needs don’t mean skipping the main event.

I’d call the Nonna Pie the sleeper pick of the whole menu. It’s the kind of thing people order once and then keep requesting.

Pasta Classics Done Without Shortcuts

Spaghetti and meatballs sounds basic until you eat a version made properly. That’s the situation on the pasta side here.

Fettuccine Alfredo, penne vodka, homemade meat lasagna, and baked ziti all hold spots on the list. The ziti can be ordered with marinara or vodka sauce, which is a small choice that changes the dish completely.

Ravioli follows the same pattern with either sauce. Rigatoni Bolognese leans into a slow, meaty richness.

Portions are generous enough that a side of pasta can function as a full meal on its own. Leftovers are less a possibility than a near certainty.

Warm bread arrives at the table, and refills are part of the deal if you ask. Fair warning, that bread has ended many a pasta plan before it began.

Whole wheat spaghetti, whole wheat penne, and gluten-free penne can be substituted in many dishes. Flexibility like that makes group dinners far less complicated than they usually are.

Where The Pasta Menu Gets Genuinely Interesting

Anyone can put Alfredo on a menu. Fewer places commit to a lineup this deep.

Gnocchi arrives in a creamy pesto, soft little pillows in a sauce with real herb punch. The Wild Mushroom Purse Pasta comes with a choice of creamy gorgonzola or truffle sauce, and both lean toward the indulgent end.

Linguini Marechiara brings shrimp and clams together in a light red sauce. Seafood fans also get a white clam sauce linguini and a spaghetti crab carbonara.

Pasta Perfecto piles spaghetti with bacon, chicken, onions, diced tomatoes, and creamy vodka sauce into one bowl. It’s a lot, in the best way.

Other picks include Penne Franco, cavatelli with chicken and broccoli, spaghetti carbonara, spicy rigatoni vodka, and ziti with broccoli rabe, white bean, and sausage.

Reading through it all is exactly where the pizza-versus-pasta struggle begins. My workaround is ordering one pasta for the table alongside a pie, which quietly solves the whole dilemma.

Appetizers Worth Arriving Hungry For

Garlic knots get mentioned around here more than almost anything else, and after seeing a basket land on a table, I understand why. They’re the opening act that occasionally steals the show.

Arancini bring crisp shells around soft rice centers. Fried calamari arrives in a proper heap, and mozzarella sticks handle the kid-friendly requests without complaint.

Eggplant rollatini sits on the heartier end, rolled and baked and deeply comforting.

Here’s my practical warning. Between the bread, the appetizers, and the size of the main portions, it is genuinely easy to fill up before your pizza or pasta shows up.

Pace yourself or plan for takeout containers. Both are valid strategies.

Salads also fill out a section of the menu if you want something lighter before the heavy hitters arrive. Ordering one to share with an appetizer keeps the table balanced.

Calzones sit nearby on the menu too, quietly waiting to complicate your decision even further. This place really does not make choosing easy.

Beyond The Obvious, Entrees And Desserts

Not everyone at the table wants carbs, and that’s fine. The entree section handles those people well.

Chicken Parmigiana is the anchor, breaded and layered with sauce and cheese the way it should be. Salmon preparations offer a lighter route, and steaks cover the heartier appetites.

Lunch and dinner both have their own entree options, so midday visits aren’t limited to slices and salads.

Desserts close things out, though I’ll be honest, reaching them takes discipline. Plenty of diners never make it that far.

What I appreciate is that the variety means one group can order in five different directions and everyone still ends up happy. Pizza for one person, pasta for another, salmon for a third, no negotiation required.

That flexibility is part of why the restaurant works for family gatherings and casual weeknight dinners alike. Kids, grandparents, and picky eaters all find something.

It also means the pizza-or-pasta debate technically has a third and fourth option. Good luck with that.

Easy Parking, Unhurried Meals, No Pressure

Free parking might not sound romantic, but in this part of New Jersey it counts as a legitimate perk. There’s plenty of it, which removes the usual pre-dinner circling ritual.

Inside, meals move at your pace. Nobody hovers with the check or nudges you toward the door, and that alone changes how a dinner feels.

Service runs friendly and attentive, the sort where water glasses get filled before you notice they’re empty. The room stays cozy and a little lively at the same time.

Friday and Saturday evenings tend to fill up, so a reservation is a smart move if you’re bringing a group. Doors open at eleven every day, with slightly later closings midweek through Saturday.

Dine-in, carryout, delivery, catering, and in-house parties are all part of the operation, which gives you options depending on the occasion.

You’ll find Franco’s Metro Restaurant, Bar & Pizza of Fort Lee, NJ at 1475 Bergen Blvd, Fort Lee, NJ 07024. Bring an appetite and an open mind about your order.