A winter roundup of pizza in Israel's Shfela region

This year, I suggested to my family that we try our own pizza crawl, all without venturing more than a half-hour from our home in Yad Binyamin. They agreed.

By REUVEN SPOLTER FEBRUARY 23, 2025 17:38

Pizza Regina (photo credit: Reuven Spolter)

Sometime during the past year, a colleague in America told me that he couldn’t Zoom with me on a particular day, as he was traveling with his sons to New York City for a pizza crawl.

“A pizza crawl?” I asked. “What in the world is that?” 

He explained that they would be visiting a number of pizza stores to rate them for taste, crust, and other criteria, all for fun. Indeed, it really did sound like fun, and I filed the idea for some day in the future.

As many families do throughout the year, we too venture out from time to time.

We like nature – but not too much nature. Hikes are fine if they don’t include too much climbing, and you never know what the weather will be like during the winter rainy season. 

This year, I suggested to my family that we try our own pizza crawl, all without venturing more than a half-hour from our home in Yad Binyamin.

They agreed – not really knowing what they were agreeing to – and I prepared the “ratings” cards. 

The rules were simple:

• We would only rate the basic cheese pizza – no specialty pizzas (otherwise, there would be no way to have a fair comparison).
• We would only eat one slice of pizza at each store.
• Every family member would rate each pizza for a variety of factors on the card.
• No ordering ahead. We would order when we reached the store, forcing us to actually have family time (that was my rule).
• There was no “scale.” You could rate each pizza any way you wanted.

WE PLANNED to visit five amazing pizza establishments in the southern region of Israel over a single day – quite an ambitious plan.

They were:

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1. Pizza Kafrit in Moshav Berechya (Badatz)
2. Pizza Tuvia in Be’er Tuviya (regular kashrut) 
3. Esterica in Kiryat Malachi (Mehadrin)
4. Pizza Regina in Gedera (Beit Yosef)
5. Fabrica in Rehovot (we never made it there)

Armed with our ratings cards after a very light breakfast, we left Yad Binyamin and headed southeast, toward Ashkelon.

Pizza Kafrit (credit: Reuven Spolter)

Pizza Kafrit, Moshav Berechya

Probably the most challenging aspect of Pizza Kafrit is actually finding the restaurant. Waze leaves you in a dusty parking lot, and you need to walk around a bit to find the entrance, as there are no signs pointing you there. 

The restaurant is really a large, open area space (with covered areas as well for the rain) and offers a wide range of bread-like items baked in a large brick oven. We immediately broke our own rule and ordered both a large regular cheese pizza and a very fancy specialty pizza that cost significantly more. 

• Pros: All of the pizza crusts are stuffed with more cheese. In fact, I would say that Pizza Kafrit offered, by far, the cheesiest pizza of the day.
• Cons: The cheese is so heavy that it weighs down the slice (and falls over when you try to hold it up). The pizza was voted almost unanimously as too oily. 
• Overall vote: Despite the shortcomings, our family voted Pizza Kafrit as our favorite pizza store of the day. Strongly recommended. At the same time, the specialty pizza (Pizza Malkat Olam) was super expensive and didn’t justify the price. After finishing both pizzas, we left – a bit too full – for our second stop.

Pizza Tuvia (credit: Reuven Spolter)

Pizza Tuvia, Be’er Tuviya

Located in a small store in a strip mall in Be’er Tuviya (across from Kiryat Malachi), there was no space to park in front of the store, which was not full. So, like good Israelis, we found a spot on a side street, half-parked on the sidewalk, and made our way inside. 

Pizza Tuvia is the polar opposite of Pizza Kafrit. It’s a small store with a much louder vibe, which I guess young people like today. We explained our “pizza crawl” to the people at the counter, and they loved the idea. In fact, they loved it so much that they made us a free dessert. We were quite open about our willingness to be bribed for high ratings! In the end, no need.

• Pros: The pizza was light, and the crust was thin and crunchy. There were no gimmicks like cheese in the crust. The sauce had a sweetness to it and received high marks. We also liked the fact that they served water in real glasses – not like the plastic cups in the other stores. 
• Cons: Nothing stood out specifically. 
• Overall vote: The pizza was very good – our second favorite of the day. But it also didn’t stand out. In this case, past experience tells me that you should definitely try some of their specialty pizzas. I highly recommend the Caramelized Onion and Camembert Pizza, with arugula, Camembert cheese, pecans, and a sweetened sauce that’s surprisingly delicious!

BY THIS point, we were feeling kind of full, and it was already mid-afternoon. But the team heartily headed off to our next stop. It was during the ride that my wife informed me that the third stop would be our last of the day. 

She’d already had enough pizza, and we needed to make it home. I had to admit that I was also feeling a bit queasy and agreed that three pizza shops would suffice for a single day. 

Pizza Regina, Gedera

We knew that Regina was built outside a gas station across the main road from Gedera. Normally in Israel, that’s not a problem. Some of the greatest restaurants can be found in and around gas stations. Sadly, that wasn’t the case this time. When we entered, the girl at the counter would not take our order. You had to order at the machine at the entrance. It was a harbinger of things to come.

• Pros: There weren’t many, at least to our family. 
• Cons: While I didn’t mind the dough, one son marked down that the dough tasted like cardboard (ouch!). They were really stingy with the cheese. Also, you couldn’t sit inside but had to sit outside in the (ample) seating area. 
• Overall vote: Regina received the lowest ratings of the day, by far. While I rated the first two stores at 8.2 and 8.57, Regina scored 4.81. Another son rated the first two stores at 9.9 and 9.9, respectively. (When I asked him why, he said simply, “It’s pizza. It’s yummy. What could be bad?” Fair points.) When he rated Regina at a 9.8, I knew we wouldn’t be returning.

Esterica, Kiryat Malachi

Although we skipped Esterica during the actual pizza crawl (as we enjoy their wares on a regular basis on non-pizza-crawl days), in the interest of science and accuracy, I returned with my wife to conduct a fair comparison. I found myself a bit surprised.

• Pros: Dough was a definite plus. Their dough crispiness earned a solid 10, and the dough’s taste a 9. 
• Cons: We found the regular sauce a bit salty, and the rest of the ratings were only average.
• Overall vote: However, I strongly recommend their specialty pizzas. I often enjoy the Pizza Alfredo, and my family usually orders the Pizza Antipasti (I don’t do eggplant).

AS DUSK settled in the country, my wife announced to the family that Regina would be our last stop, and there were no complaints. Filled with great food, a wonderful time was had by all. But we also concluded the day excited that we had hopefully started a new family outing tradition. 

After all, we never made it to Fabrica in Rehovot, and we ended our pizza crawl looking forward to many more pizza – and other – crawls in our future. 

When he’s not crawling for pizza with his family, Reuven Spolter creates professional development and educational materials for Jewish schools around the world as part of the Herzog Global team at Herzog College. He also teaches Mishnah via YouTube at Mishnah.co. He’ll be happy to send you his Pizza Crawl rating cards if you contact him at rspolter@gmail.com.