Making pizzas, friends in Wiscasset

Wiscasset House of Pizza opens
Wed, 05/09/2018 - 9:45am

Story Location:
74 Flood Avenue
Wiscasset, ME 04578
United States

The Wiscasset House of Pizza along Route 1 at 74 Flood Ave. opened Saturday.

Jeff Soldatos owns the business with wife Maria. He makes the daily trek from their home in Rockport. Soldatos has produced a lot of pizzas in his 45 years in the business.

“Uncle Jeff” Soldatos got his start in the pizza industry in New York City as a teen. “You’ve got to start somewhere,” he said. He opened a pizzeria in New York before moving to Maine about 26 years ago.

The couple opened the Waldoboro House of Pizza shortly after moving to the area, and sold it six years later and opened the Camden House of Pizza on Mechanic Street. It was sold two years ago after going strong for 18 years.

After a two-year hiatus, Soldatos said he was itching to get back to doing what he does best. “I needed a break after working 24 years straight, seven days a week. You’ve got to take a break in life, so I did, for a couple years.”

They started looking around the Midcoast and found the spot for the new business in Wiscasset. The space has been through a few changes over the years. Most recently, it was a fish market, and before that a wine outlet.

The Soldatos are renting the space. They have made a few upgrades to the interior, with some attractive, light blue upholstered seating and new tables.

Soldatos is Greek. He specializes in fresh-made dough, thin crust pizza with pretty much any combination desired, but he said one of his specialties is a Greek pizza with feta cheese and spinach. Besides pizza, the restaurant carries burgers, subs and salads. Asked if pizza was the best item on the menu, Soldato replied, “Everything is the best here.”

The Soldatos’ children will be pitching in when needed, and Sodato is on the lookout for more help. “We just need to find the right person,” he said. Meanwhile he said they’ll do “what they’ve “gotta do.”

Soldatos said he’s pretty well known throughout Midcoast Maine. “People came to the Waldoboro place from all over, and then to Camden.” On Monday, a man walked into the new business. “Hello my friend, I’m Uncle Jeff,” Soldato said. They had never met. Soldato knows how to treat customers and make new friends.

The pizzeria will be open most days from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays, it will be open from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Call 882-7333 to order ahead, or stop in and say hi, order a pizza, and make a new friend, Uncle Jeff.