Derek Gaughan
Today, I’m testing the Pizza Party Emozione – the big cousin to the Ardore pizza oven I reviewed a couple months ago.
And this isn’t one of those BS reviews that just transforms the spec list into 8 paragraphs. I’m really using it; but more than that, I’m comparing it to all of the Ooni’s and Gozney’s I’ve already tested.
Let’s unbox this beast and see how it performs.
VIDEO: Pizza Party Emozione pizza oven review
Recommendation: Buy it. With the 10% off code below, you get a massive 28″ cooking surface, huge 38K BTU burner, and 1″ thick Biscotto clay stones. All for under a grand. Amazing stuff.
Use the link below and add coupon code PALAPIZZA10
Unboxing & Design
Because of the size, FedEx delivered this through freight, which includes a pallet. I’ll tell you what – on one hand, with how many pizza ovens I test throughout the year, I hate seeing it come on a pallet. I have enough boxes to recycle as is, let alone with finding a new home for a pallet. But on the other, I appreciate the extra care taken to protect the fragile Biscotto stones.
The oven itself is really not that heavy compared to other ovens of this size. I was able to lift it out of the box myself – and that’s not a flex. The heavy Biscotto clay stones are packaged under the oven, along with the metal legs which need to be installed.
Setup
Make sure you put a piece of cardboard down when flipping the oven over to install the legs. And avoid taking off the protective film until you’re done. Apart from this, the only other thing we need to do is put the stones in.
…which was surprisingly difficult; it seemed like the stones were too big to fit, so I banged them up quite a bit from taking them in and out so many times. Then I realized there’s a method to doing it right.
You have to angle the stones up (see photo), and then carefully press down. It can be tough to do without an extra set of hands. Pizza Party’s installation video suggests to use a screw driver to hold the stone up in the air, and this helped a lot when doing it by yourself.
Design
With a cooking surface of nearly 28” wide, it’s amazing how the total oven width is only 30”. For how big it is, it doesn’t seem that big – if that makes sense.
The overall look is exactly the same as the smaller Ardore oven. A sleek curved dome keeps the design simple and practical. A Florence, Italy cutout in the metal legs looks really cool… but not as cool as the massive 38,000 BTU gas burner.
The burner is really intense, pushing a tight blue flame. As you approach 900 degrees, a taller orange flame starts to appear. It does a nice job of evenly heating the stone, since the flame rolls along the top of the dome.
Lighting it up can be a bit awkward since the gas dial is in the back and you need to use a lighter. But the burner pushes out a ton of gas, so it’s really easy to ignite.
Performance
Preheat Test
I tested the temperature in 5 minute intervals on a sunny 71 degree Fahrenheit day. For the size of this oven and how thick the stones are, I’m amazed by the results. I really thought it would struggle a bit to heat up this large of a space. It seemed to preheat just as fast as an Ooni or Gozney, and those have thinner cordierite stones which makes it that much more impressive.
I included an overlay of the temps from the smaller Ardore oven – but this isn’t a direct comparison since this oven was tested on a much colder day.
Now that we’re heated up, let’s see how it performs.
Neapolitan Test #1
By the time I prepped my first pizza using buffalo mozzarella and San Marzano’s, the oven creeped past 1,000 degrees in the center.
As soon as I launched, the burner flame kicked up quite a bit, intensifying the top down heat. I had a tough time maneuvering this one because I set my camera up in a terrible spot, but I was shocked how fast this pizza cooked. I pulled it after just 45 seconds. Unbelievable.
Check out this pizza. And a great cheese melt without overcooking it. The bottom is cooked without overscorching, but still on the light side.
Neapolitan Test #2
So for the next one I’ll lower the flame just a hair. That should get me closer to a 55 second bake, allowing more time for the bottom crust. Once again, the stone temp still read over 1,000F, so it didn’t drop between pizzas.
This one clocked in at 53 seconds. Once again, an effortlessly beautiful crust and cheese melt. And this time, the bottom is exactly where I wanted it.
Neapolitan Test #3
This oven is just incredible. I always talk about balance when it comes to pizza oven performance. The max temperature itself is meaningless if there isn’t a strong top flame to balance out the stone temp. And this has it. You can churn out sub-60 second pizzas all day long on this. Here’s my third pizza (yes I did a very non-authentic thing by adding pepperoni)!
Cooking Two Pizzas at the Same Time
And the cooking space is enormous. So big, that you can actually bake two Neapolitans at the same time. The best way to do this, is to launch the first one on the right-side towards the oven opening. And then immediately launch another in the back left. Starting the first one further away from the burner will help even out the cooking times. But I’ll be honest, doing this takes a lot of practice. I couldn’t guess how many pizzas I’ve made while testing ovens, so I have a lot of experience – but little to no experience cooking two at once.
This is the king of authentic Neapolitan-style. You know I love my Gozney’s and Ooni’s, but if I were looking for an oven only to cook Neapolitans, this can’t be beat. And the price seems incredible to me. A 28” pizza oven with a massive gas burner and inch-thick Biscotto clay stones… for under a grand – if you use the coupon and link below. Sign me up.
Pizza Party Coupon Code
Use this link and code “palapizza10” to get 10% off the Emozione. The link is also tied to my affiliate, so it will give me a small commission which helps me test more pizza ovens.
