‘It’s got to be fresh or I’m not serving it.’ Aria Pizza opens in Warner Robins

Say hello to Jeremie St. Pierre, a 29-year-old Middle Georgia native, pizza maker and owner of the new Aria Pizza in Warner Robins.

His journey to becoming an independent restaurateur includes a wide variety of experiences across the restaurant industry and other career fields.

Those experiences in other career fields helped him to determine that he wanted to stay in the restaurant industry, solidifying his decision to work toward becoming a restaurateur.

He believes the experiences working at other restaurants equipped him well to own and operate his own restaurant, wanting to combine best practices to create “an even more possibly efficient or positive way to do this.”

An emphasis on freshness and quality

At Aria Pizza, St. Pierre serves up handcrafted pizzas, salads, baked wings, pasta, appetizers and desserts made fresh daily.

He prides himself on using fresh and choice ingredients. Also, much of what he offers is made in-house from scratch.

St. Pierre uses fresh mozzarella on his pizza and mozzarella di bufala on his signature margherita pizza. He offers San Marzano tomato sauce and his dough is made in-house from scratch.

The margherita pizza is made with the San Marzano tomato sauce, mozzarella di bufala, garlic, sea salt and basil.

The mushroom truffle pizza is made with garlic extra virgin olive oil, mozzarella, prosciutto ham, mushroom, parmesan, arugula and white truffle oil.

Also, St. Pierre uses bronze-cut pasta that helps sauces cling to the pasta. His chicken Alfredo penne is made with a fresh chicken breast that is pan seared.

His tiramisu is from scratch.

“I make savoyardi lady biscuits for it,” St. Pierre said. “So, I make a French meringue out of egg whites and granulated sugar, and then combine that with the egg yolks and the cake flour, put it into a piping bag, pipe it onto a sheet pan — cook that.

“I make the custard cream for the tiramisu, which is a Sauvignon base, a custard basically, and then combine that with medium whipped cream and the mascarpone cheese.”

He strives for excellence.

“The intent is to make this as close to full service or almost fine dining food, but do it quickly, and that requires a decent amount of prep to make sure that it’s in its partially complete form when the ticket is fired,” St. Pierre said. “But I also try to only make a certain quantity of things so that it’s not going to stick around for very long.

“So, like you saw, I have three portions of tiramisu made, and that’s because, based on what I’ve seen so far with our current demand, and people ordering about three tiramisu per 24 hours or so. I don’t want to keep it any longer than 24 hours, and that’s with most items. We only prep to the day’s usage. I’m not prepping to next week. It’s got to be fresh or I’m not serving it.”

Freedom in independent local ownership

Aria Pizza can be found at 133 Margie Drive, Suite 400, in the former Uncle Maddio’s Pizza Joint location that opened in August 2015 under then franchisee and Georgia native Tyler Mobley.

In November 2022, St. Pierre and Doug Sleeth of the former Choice Pizzeria off Ga. 96 partnered 50/50 to purchase the restaurant from Mobley.

St. Pierre and Sleeth worked together for about six months, with St. Pierre then purchasing 40% of Sleeth’s interest. In October 2024, St. Pierre became the sole owner by purchasing Sleeth’s remaining 10% interest.

When the franchise agreement expired, St. Pierre closed Uncle Maddio’s Pizza Joint on Dec. 23. On New Year’s Eve, he opened Aria Pizza with its new look, its own menu and the same staff.

“I wanted to have freedom of menu, freedom of operations - be able to do things how I thought they ought to be,” St. Pierre said of deciding to transitioning to an independently owned local restaurant.

Here’s an overview of the Aria Pizza menu

Get started with appetizers such as cheesy bread, oven baked wings, bruschetta, or Caesar, Greek or CYO (create your own) salads.

The CYO 10-inch and 14-inch pizza options offer a choice of classic (vegan), gluten-free (vegan) and cauliflower dough as well as six sauce options, five cheese choices include a vegan cheese, and a variety of meats, veggies, and garnishes.

The nine signature pizzas offer a balanced variety from spicy pepperoni to barbecue chicken to vegetarian and vegan options.

The “pick two” includes half of a create-your-own pizza or a signature pizza, a drink and choice of cheesy bread, side salad or five wings.

Pasta options include spaghetti and meatballs and four cheese baked ziti. The menu also includes pizza folds of chicken, bacon and ranch; three cheese; or create your own.

Among the desserts are stracciatella gelato with vanilla bean ice cream and shaved dark chocolate and a “brookie,” cocoa fudge brownie and a chocolate chip cookie.

Beverages include fountain and bottled drinks, bottled water and 2-liter drinks.

The kids’ menu offers half of a 10-inch pizza, three-cheese macaroni, or spaghetti and meatballs with a fountain drink.

The restaurant can seat about 75 people.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The number is 478-953-9422. Online ordering and third-party delivery is available.