Pizza Marvin’s Shellfish Tower is Cheesy on Top

Photography by Maurisa Mackey, courtesy of Pizza Marvin.

Who would ever think of serving a shellfish tower with a cheese pizza on top? Pizza Marvin would. The restaurant — a mashup of the two owners’ grandfathers’ names, Marco and Melvin — has earned quite a bit of national attention over the last few years. In 2023, chef-owner Robert Andreozzi was recognized as a semifinalist for the prestigious James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast. Around that same time, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy highlighted Pizza Marvin in his “One Bite Reviews,” giving the slightly charred-edge pizza debatably described as New Haven-inspired a rating of 8.2. Andreozzi co-owns the nostalgia-themed restaurant with renowned cocktail creator Jesse Hedberg. The counter-service eatery is decked out with red-and-white gingham tables and funky wallpaper studded with Game Boys, boomboxes, sailboats, ice cream cones and more, each incorporated with a strategically placed pizza slice. Pizza Marvin is also known for curating a locally harvested raw bar and for clam and seafood appetizers that tie in the Ocean State’s bounty. Once a month, the restaurant offers a giant seafood tower called “The Crustacean” loaded with local oysters, littlenecks, rock crab, lobster salad, and tuna tartare with all the fixings, with a classic cheese pizza on top serving as the crown. Guests can add on osetra caviar for even more of a bougie move. For dessert, there’s soft-serve ice cream in unusual rotating sweet and savory flavors like elderflower and beach rose and summer corn and Grape-Nuts, often mixed with seasonal sorbets. 468 Wickenden St., Providence, 262-3336, pizzamarvin.com