Arinell Pizza
A thin New York slice you fold in half, off the same Shattuck counter since 1975. Ron Demirdjian learned the style from an Italian pizza maker in upper Manhattan and brought it west.
Why go
The shop states its own rules on the front page: Fold it in half. No trends. No reinvention. The fewer toppings, the better.
2 That is the whole proposition, and fifty years at one address suggests it works.
There were two Arinells for a long time. The San Francisco shop on Valencia Street closed in 2022 after 33 years, which the Chronicle put down to staff shortages and a slump.1 Rumors then went around that Berkeley was next, and in August 2023 Demirdjian told the paper it was absolutely not closing.
He said he was determined to quash the rumors and that his doors remain open.1 This entry is the Berkeley door, downtown on Shattuck at Kala Bagai Way, steps from BART.2
Order this / avoid
- Order: a plain slice first. If you want a whole pie, the sizes run from a 10-inch personal to an 18-inch extra large, and there is a Sicilian sold whole.2
- Avoid: a pile of toppings. The counter's own advice is fewer.
What locals & experts say
- San Francisco Chronicle, Laya Neelakandan, 5 August 2023: on the rumors, owner Ron Demirdjian said the Berkeley location is
absolutely not closing
and will keep bringingits classic New York-style slices to the East Bay.
1
Good to know
- Booking: none. It is a counter.
- Vegan: there is a vegan option on the menu.2
- Getting there: Shattuck at Kala Bagai Way, downtown, steps from the BART entrance.2
Verdict
could-visit — The Chronicle put Ron Demirdjian on the record, which settles two things a slice counter usually cannot prove: that he learned the style from a named source in Manhattan, and that the Berkeley door is trading whatever the rumors say. That is unusually firm ground for a place with no reviews. It is also the ceiling. The piece is breaking news about a closure that did not happen, not criticism, so I have nothing to tell you about how the crust eats. Fifty years of custom is the argument the rung actually rests on.