The sign was hung up earlier this week in the Romeo Plaza on Summerhill Road in Spotswood. Rosamaria and Camillo Bonesse are hoping to open the second location of Maria's Pizza sometime during February.
Rosamaria and Camillo Bonesse are thrilled to be opening a second location of their popular Maria's Pizza in Spotswood. Maria's Pizza has been a staple in Milltown since the late 80s. Its second location is coming soon to the Romeo Plaza on Summerhill Road. Photo Credit: Dawn Miller
The sign was hung up earlier this week in the Romeo Plaza on Summerhill Road in Spotswood. Rosamaria and Camillo Bonesse are hoping to open the second location of Maria's Pizza sometime during February. Photo Credit: Dawn Miller
Rosamaria and Camillo Bonesse are thrilled to be opening a second location of their popular Maria's Pizza in Spotswood. Maria's Pizza has been a staple in Milltown since the late 80s. Its second location is coming soon to the Romeo Plaza on Summerhill Road. Photo Credit: Dawn Miller
PublishedFebruary 2, 2024 at 1:32 PM
SPOTSWOOD, NJ - Last week’s announcement that Milltown’s popular Maria’s Pizzeria and Italian Kitchen was opening another location in Spotswood was the talk of the borough. The new location will be in the Romeo Plaza on Summerhill Road where Tony’s Pizza and Restaurant was formerly located. Excitement is high as the borough and surrounding communities wait for Maria’s Pizza Spotswood to open its doors.
Rosamaria and Camillo Bonesse took over the family-owned business in Milltown six years ago when her mother retired. The pizzeria has been a fixture in Milltown since 1987.
“My dad opened Vinnie’s on Ryders Lane, and then they wanted to expand,” Rosamaria said. “They found Milltown. They figured it was close enough. Ultimately, they sold Vinnie’s and kept Maria’s.”
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Maria’s Pizza is named after Rosamaria’s mother. Camillo also comes from a pizza background with his family owning restaurants in Connecticut. When the couple took over the business after Rosamaria’s mom retired, they blended the Jersey and Connecticut pizza styles and many of the restaurant’s favorites were created.
“Her father is from the Trenton area and my dad was New Haven Pepe’s pizza,” Camillo said. “So, we tried to combine both styles together.”
“On the menu, we have a New Haven clam pizza styled after the area,” Rosamaria said. “We just added a tomato pie.”
One of the top-selling pizzas on the couple’s diverse menu, which includes classic, Sicilian, grandma and gourmet pizza, is Maria’s bar pie. This extra thin and well-done pie was featured in a Barstool Sports Pizza Review by Dave Portnoy in 2021. The couple’s unique foods, which also incorporate non-pizza options, came after Rosamaria’s mom retired.
“We revamped the menu, adding new items, catering, and delivery,” Rosamaria said. “We made it more modern.”
Everything on the menu except for the fries is homemade as well. The fries are the only pre-made item on the menu. Maria’s Pizza is one of the cornerstones of Milltown’s small business community. Their reputation was solidified during the pandemic when Maria’s $20 family special brought people from all over Middlesex County and beyond. The family special included a tray of chicken or eggplant Parmesan, penne pasta with tomato sauce, a garden salad and a loaf of bread.
“We used to do a hundred a day and cut it off because we couldn’t do anymore,” Camillo said of the pandemic family specials. “So, people would call to get on the list for the next day and the next day.”
“People supported us through tough times,” Camillo continued. “Now everyone knows us because of that. It was more popular than the Barstool.”
Milltown’s Maria’s Pizza is also a fixture in the community, supporting the schools as well as borough-wide events like the annual Fourth of July Parade. Two summers ago, Maria’s joined the jam-packed July Fourth schedule with a pizza-eating contest with the top slice eater winning a free pizza every week for a year. Pete Lewandowski won the contest the past two years and has earned the nickname Repeat Pete from Maria’s staff.
Since Milltown students also attend Spotswood High School, Maria’s Pizza was already a familiar name to many Spotswood and Helmetta residents.
“We were always involved with the high school with the football and donations, helping them raise money,” Camillo said. “Then, people started ordering from here.”
Since Friday and Saturday nights are always hopping at Maria’s, the wait for pizzas to be delivered to Spotswood and Helmetta was long. When the space previously occupied by Tony’s Pizza became available, Rosamaria and Camillo started to think about expanding and bringing Maria’s closer to patrons from Spotswood and Helmetta as well as parts of East Brunswick and South River. The couple is also excited about introducing Maria’s Pizza to other nearby communities like Jamesburg, Monroe and Old Bridge.
On Monday, the Maria’s Pizza sign was officially hung up in Romeo’s Plaza. Since the space was already home to a pizzeria, the majority of the renovations were cosmetic, but did include a brick pizza oven like the one Milltown Maria’s Pizza features. So, when will the second location be open?
“Sometime in February, we hope,” said Rosamaria.
Camillo was hoping to open up before Super Bowl Sunday, but with upcoming inspections being up and running by Sunday, February 11, doesn’t appear to be feasible. A more realistic timeline is three to four weeks.
The couple is excited though about the energy surrounding their new location in Spotswood. They’ve had a lot of people from Spotswood stopping by the Milltown location to try their food after seeing the announcement on Facebook. The social media comments, phone calls, and customers coming to Milltown Maria’s have been encouraging for the couple.
“It makes you feel good,” Camillo said of the support. “You are excited to be opening up, but you wonder if it’s going to work.”
All the enthusiasm is already making the couple feel as though they are already part of the Spotswood community. Being an active member of the Spotswood community like they are in Milltown is a goal of Rosamaria and Camillo's.
“We want to hire local kids,” Camillo said. “We have a couple training.”
As a way to introduce themselves to the community, Maria’s Pizza Spotswood will be hosting a week-long dine-to-donate when they first open their doors. Fifty percent of each receipt will be donated to the Spotswood School District’s high school, Memorial Middle School, Appleby and Schoenly Schools through the Spotswood PTA. Patrons ordering takeout, delivery, and in-person don't need to present a flyer or mention the dine-to-donate. The couple will be automatically donating half of each purchase to be split among the Spotswood schools.
Rosamaria has set up a Maria’s Pizza Spotswood Facebook page to go along with the Milltown one. Both restaurants will share the already established Instagram page. Updates will be posted on the Maria’s Pizza Spotswood page along with Maria’s holiday specials.
Each holiday the couple feature holiday pizza’s like their well-known heart-shaped pizza for Valentine’s Day. Holiday specials need to be ordered in advance and are always posted in advance on their Facebook pages.
While opening a second location is obviously filled with stress, the couple have experience running multiple pizzerias and have a game plan once the Spotswood location is up and running. The couple will most likely have a soft opening, but may decide to do a grand opening as the launch gets closer.
"It's exciting and fun," Rosamaria said of the couple's road to adding a second Maria's Pizza location.
Stay tuned to the Maria's Pizza Spotswood Facebook page for updates as well as posts about menu items to put on the to-try list when the restaurant opens its much anticipated doors to the public.