Slice House pizza restaurant opens in Millbrae

“It’s definitely a family-owned restaurant,” Dilan Yuksel Valenzuela, one of the owners, said. “We definitely tag-team running the businesses, we still operate as a family.”

Patrons can pick from a wide array of crust options, including New York, Grandma — which is a focaccia-style bread — Detroit and Sicilian. Slice House also offers popular pasta, wings, garlic bread and meatballs. Among the bevy of options, the Hot Ron, a by-the-slice pizza with mozzarella, hot honey sausage, ricotta and pepperonata designed for the new location, has been a standout.

Ron Yuksel, after whom the Hot Ron slice is named, handles the majority of the front-facing operations at the family’s restaurants. He said the secret to their success is simple — hard work and a desire to get it right.

“We just work really hard. That’s all it really is,” he said. “We’re kind of perfectionists. We’ve got to make sure everything is perfect, or else we’re going to stress out about that. So that’s how we operate.”

Slice House’s ultimate goal is to provide a wide variety of options that anyone can enjoy, Yuksel Valenzuela said.

“We have so many different pizza options. You can get any of the pizzas on any of the different crusts,” she said. “It’s a little something for everyone.”

The quality of pizza and the food in general is, naturally, a major driver of the Slice House franchise’s rapid expansion throughout the United States, Yuksel Valenzuela said, though she also cited the community-focused atmosphere the restaurants tend to curate.

“The food is super important. Tony really did his part there. He created these amazing recipes and pizza styles to accommodate everyone. That’s why people come to us, is the quality of the pizza,” she said. “Community is everything to us and to these businesses.”

At the Yuksel family’s other Slice House locations, it’s common for the family and their employees to know the regulars’ orders by heart, an atmosphere that they hope to curate at the Millbrae location as well.

Learning how to make the pizzas from Tony himself was an incredible learning experience, Yuksel said, and one he carries into ensuring the authenticity of the Gemignani recipes at each location.

“Being able to learn hands-on with him was the best experience I could ever have,” he said. “I’m stretching pizzas with him. I’m putting sauce on pizzas, making dough with him.”

He concurred with his sister, Dilan, that Tony’s brand is what keeps customers coming back.

“It all comes from the top and the top is him — his craftsmanship, his uniqueness, his hard work ethic, he brings that down,” Yuksel said. “Anybody that works in the store admires what he does.”

The Feb. 21 grand opening was a success, Yuksel Valenzuela said, with the first 50 customers receiving free hats and an opportunity to win free pizza for the year. Thus far, Slice House has been embraced by Millbrae residents and neighboring businesses alike, she said.

“We had such exciting feedback from the community,” Yuksel Valenzuela said. “Everyone was really eager for us to open, which was really, really great. Construction took some time, so everyone was always asking.”

The Millbrae location has 13 indoor seats and 12 outdoor seats, and because of the smaller seating area — which Yuksel Valenzuela speculated will bring in families, commuters and students from the surrounding high schools and middle schools — the restaurant will also work well for those seeking delivery and pickup options.

“That’s the clientele we’re expecting with the size of the dining room,” she said.

The Yuksel family’s commitment to the restaurant industry shows both in the franchises they operate and in their family dynamics, Yuksel Valenzuela said.

“Because we’ve been in the industry for so long, my brother and I and our other siblings — five of us in all — worked in the restaurant industry since we were kids. It’s definitely been what we know,” she said. “It’s been an amazing opportunity to work with family. My dad really created something special for us.”