Motorino Pizza Bids PH Goodbye, Here's Why It Hurts a Little

(SPOT.ph) Pizza's always been popular in these parts, but our knowledge of the subject (and what defines its different styles) has undoubtedly become more sophisticated in around the past decade. In 2014, we Manileños were blessed with the arrival of Motorino—the pizzeria from New York once praised by the New York Times' Sam Sifton for having the "city's best pizza."

It's been close to a decade since—and sadly it looks like their story has come to a finish. Motorino's local leg has announced that they've "reached the end" of their journey as they've closed their stores in the Philippines.

Also read: 
10 Restaurants That Closed Their Doors in 2023

Here's what we know about the closure of Motorino Philippines:

Motorino "served their last pizza" on December 31, 2023—silently, it seems, as there was no announcement given prior to their closure. "As of... January 1, 2024, we close our doors with deep gratitude for your patronage," the restaurant writes in a Facebook post published just yesterday, the first day of the year. "Grazie for being an integral part of our journey." 

SPOT.ph reached out to owner Eugene Lorenzana (who is from the same family as the one that brought us the highly successful Wildflour) to ask what the reasons are for the closure. "There's nothing to say, aside from we decided to close it," he told us. In a later message, Lorenzana says: "We just decided to close Motorino simply due to the different taste and preference of the market in the Philippines."

With its first branch in Greenbelt 3, Motorino shone the spotlight on the Neapolitan pizza style cooked in a wood-fired oven from Italy. As the style was then relatively hard to find in the Makati area, the store sated the appetites of those looking for the charred cornicione, thin crust, and simple topping combos characteristic of Neapolitan pies. In the years that followed, Motorino opened in four more Philippine locations: The Podium, Estancia, Alabang Town Center, and Ayala Malls Manila Bay.

The pizzerias rightfully had its share of fans, even among Manila's gourmand circle. In an exchange with SPOT.ph, restaurateur Elbert Cuenca, who continues to serve Neapolitan style pizza at his Elbert's Collective, shares his sadness about the closure. "Having Motorino around," he says, "meant having an ally to help popularize the appeal of Neapolitan pizzas with Filipinos." Food writer Cyrene de la Rosa commends Motorino's "good" pies while acknowledging they're really the type best enjoyed in-store. And says Makatizen and Content Strategist Tammy David, who loved their pastas and salad, "As a Greenbelt regular, it was a great alternative to Italianni's." The former media strategist was a Motorino's regular until Gino's Pizza opened a store closer to her place of work. 

The original Motorino was founded by Belgian Chef Mathieu Palombino in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2008.

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