Grotto Pizza

Grotto Pizza's main product is pizza, which is made with a swirl of sauce atop the cheese.^[2] The pizzas come with a variety of toppings along with specialty pizzas. In addition to pizza, Grotto Pizza also serves calzones, strombolis, appetizers, soup, salad, submarine sandwiches, cheesesteaks, burgers, pasta, Buffalo wings, and dessert options including gelato.^[3]

As of 2026, Delaware Grotto Pizza has 19 locations in Delaware and Maryland. In Delaware, Grotto Pizza has several locations in the Delaware Beaches area, in addition to locations in Millsboro, Seaford, Milford, Camden, Dover, Middletown, Newark, and two locations in Wilmington. The chain also has two locations in Maryland: Ocean City and Columbia.^[1]

The Northeastern Pennsylvania Grotto Pizza operates in Harvey's Lake, Edwardsville, and Wilkes-Barre. ^[4]

Before Pizza

In Harvey’s Lake Pennsylvania a restaurant named Grotto Cote D’Asur was opened in mid-June 1922.  The restaurant likely did not serve pizza and had a general menu in the 100-seat building.  In 1924, one of the partners left the restaurant and a new location was established which was known as the New Grotto.  The restaurant was located on the west side of the lake near an area called Sunset.  The stonework and grotto like appearance around the site gave the restaurant its name^[5].

Joe’s Pizza Shop

Joseph Paglianite was the son of Italian immigrants, born in 1925, and graduated from Wyoming Memorial High School, Pennsylvania, in 1943.  He was inspired by his uncle, Dominick Paglianete, who was the owner of Fort Café in Forty Fort Pennsylvania.  Fort Café was the first Wyoming Valley Restaurant specializing in pizza that was baked to order.  After working at Fort Café, he worked for several bars in the area including the Octagon Bar in Plymouth Pennsylvania.  In 1951, Joe opened his own pizza shop which he called Joe’s Pizza Shop on Main Street in Plymouth.^[6]

In 1967, he sold the Plymouth Shop to Arnold Mascioli, a nephew, and the shop continued in operation in Plymouth as Arnold’s Pizza using the same recipe.  The Plymouth shop operated until after Arnold’s passing in 1995 and was closed a few years later.       

Expansion to Harvey’s Lake

The New Grotto Restaurant in Harvey’s Lake went through several owners and operators until Joseph Stuccio acquired the property in 1947.  Stuccio was a pizza baker from Nanticoke and he operated a pizza shop and bar at the location for several years until selling it in 1951.

In 1953, Joe Paglianite acquired the New Grotto and opened his second pizza shop in this location using the same brick oven that was left by Stuccio.  During this period the business was known as Joe’s Pizza Shop with the Grotto bar located next door.  Joe’s Pizza Shop became synonymous with Grotto which later officially became Joe’s Grotto Pizza in 1963.  Later in 1974, Paglianite registered the name Grotto Pizza with the state at which time was the name the business was generally known.     ^[7]

Expansion to Delaware and Beyond

Grotto Pizza was founded in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware in 1960 by Dominick Pulieri and his brother-in-law Joseph Paglianite and his sister Mary Jean Paglianite.^[2] Pulieri was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from King's College with a degree in Biology. While living in Pennsylvania, he worked at his brother-in-law's pizza place, Joe's Pizza, in Harveys Lake.^[8] The first Grotto Pizza location in Delaware was a take-out stand located along Rehoboth Avenue.^[8] In order to attract customers, Pulieri and his sister gave out free samples, and eventually the restaurant attracted both local Sussex County residents and tourists as regular customers.^[8]

Grotto Pizza opened a second location in Rehoboth Beach on the boardwalk in 1963, and the Rehoboth Avenue restaurant moved to a larger location in 1967. The restaurant was originally a seasonal business only open during the summer months but became year-round in 1974. Grotto Pizza has grown to include locations throughout Delaware and Maryland.^[8] In 2026, the Delaware Grotton Pizza announced plans to expand to Lancaster, PA. Grotto Pizza has become a cultural icon in Delaware, particularly at the beach.^[2] In 2015, Grotto Pizza was inducted into the Pizza Hall of Fame.^[9]

In 2015, Grotto Pizza opened a restaurant in Gambrills, Maryland (now closed). This marked the beginning of a plan to expand into the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, where a lot of the summertime customers at the locations at the Delaware and Maryland beaches come from.^[10] A location in Columbia, Maryland opened in 2016.^[11]

In 2021, Grotto Pizza opened a production kitchen site in Dover, Delaware that centralizes dough production and handles dry storage and food distribution.^[12]

In December 2025, the Delaware Grotto Pizza was sold to four longtime employees following a transition process that began in 2024 and was finalized in early 2025. President Jeff Gosnear, who joined the company in 2002 and became president in 2023, became the majority owner, with Chief Operating Officer Adam Webster as the other principal investor. Two additional minority owners have roughly five decades of combined experience with the company. Founder Dominick Pulieri chose to transfer ownership to trusted employees after having no family successors. Company leadership stated that operations and the menu would remain unchanged, including the chain’s signature pizza swirl.^[13]

Northeastern Pennsylvania Grotto Pizza

Grotto Pizza continues to operate at it's original location in Harvey's Lake, Pennsylvania. In 1988, the original restaurant was destroyed by fire^[14] and a new restaurant was built at the same location. In the 1990's, Grotto Pizza expanded to the Gateway Shopping Center in Edwardsville (1994) and outside the Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre (1996)^[15]. The Northeastern Pennsylvania Grotto Pizza did not change ownership when the Delaware branch was sold in 2025 and is owned by Armand Mascioli and co-owner^[16].

• List of pizza chains