COMING SOON: A New Pizzeria at The Mill on Etowah in Canton

A new pizzeria is set to officially open soon at The Mill on Etowah in Canton, bringing Neapolitan-style pizza to the area.

Campania, a venture by Stewart Muller and his wife Jennifer Muller, will feature a variety of menu items including Neapolitan pizza. Stewart Muller said he was introduced to Neapolitan pizza through his wife.

Campania is the region in Italy that is home to the city of Naples.

“Our main focus and staple is the Neapolitan-style pizza — this is what we want people to try and enjoy first — everything else is frosting on the cake,” said Caitlin Krueger, general manager of Campania Canton. “We also do authentic Italian dishes like traditional pastas, salmon, chicken and veal, salad, soups — everything is going to be quality over quantity, fresh and made in house.”

Stewart Muller said there are 10 rules to making Neapolitan pizza.

“We follow all of them very strictly,” he said. “Some of these rules include cooking in a high temperature wood burning oven in under 90 seconds, you have to use double zero flour and you have to use San Marzano tomatoes — these are the three most important.”

The restaurant has offered pizza to guests over the last several days as part of a “soft opening.”

“Currently we are still in our soft opening phase, where we are offering pizza, gelato and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages,” Krueger said. “We plan on doing a full menu grand opening on July 16.”

Muller added that in its first week, business has been “booming.”

“It was an incredible turnout, and it wildly surpassed my expectations for a quiet opening — we haven’t even activated our Google business page yet for the Canton location,” Muller said, adding that he expects business to pick up even more for the grand opening.

The restaurant shares a building with Gekko Kitchen , occupying the second level above the Asian cuisine restaurant overlooking the green.

Campania’s other two locations are in Alpharetta, which has been open for 11 years, and Milton (Crabapple), which has been open for six years.

A section for the Canton location will be on the company website by July 16, Muller said, adding that people will be able to make reservations and order food online for pickup through the website.

“We’ve started to refer to the Milton location as Crabapple because it’s in downtown Crabapple, but the reason we chose Canton as a third location is because of my relationship with Penn Hodge, who is the developer of The Mill on Etowah,” Muller said. “I’ve known him for 13 years. He called me a year and a half ago to ask if I would be interested in doing a Campania location at the Mill. I hadn’t really thought about it at the time, but then Todd Hogan who owns Community Burger at the Mill called me and encouraged me to do it. So, I started going to Canton to eat and visit and read about the city and its growth.”

Muller said the growth of the city, the growth of the Riverstone area and The Mill on Etowah, as well as the city’s location, landscape and distance from the other two Campania locations were all factors in him bringing the restaurant’s third location to Canton.

“We looked at this location at the Mill in the fall of 2023 and that’s when we agreed to bring a new location here,” Muller said.

The Canton location features 50 indoor dining seats and 100 outdoor dining seats, as well as a bar.

Campania Canton’s hours will be the same as the Alpharetta and Milton locations — 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. The restaurant will be closed Mondays.

For more information, visit www.campaniaga.com and www.facebook.com/CampaniaAlpharetta .