Sofra Urbana
In Fountain Valley, Bosnian meats and drinks are lures for a mostly classic collection of pizzas
For those who may be interested in learning more about the history of Fountain Valley’s Sofra Urbana, a really nice Eater article goes into plenty of detail, presenting this small restaurant as a locally unique dining experience with European and East Coast American roots – a Bosnian pizzeria. Here, we’re going to cut to the chase and focus on what we experienced on our mid-August 2026 visit, which was somewhat less Balkan than we expected going in, but good nonetheless.
Formerly known as Rocco’s Pizza, the restaurant still carries an online review legacy dating back years before its 2017 reconfiguration as Sofra Urbana. Since then, it has grafted its owners’ skill in producing cured meats – halal suho meso (smoked beef proscuitto), sudzuka (beef pepperoni), and cevapi (mini sausages) – into serving a handful of Bosnian-influenced pizzas: the Balkan with suho meso, sudzuka, and kaymak/kajmak clotted cream; an Erko Special with suho meso, sudzuka, and turkey bacon; and the Sofra Urbana with suho meso, arugula, shaved parmesan, and mushrooms. Posted menus of “gourmet classic pizzas” spotlight only a few non-Balkan choices, ranging from margherita to meat lovers, but many other options are either available or customizable, including BBQ chicken, four cheese, and vegetarian versions.
Sofra Urbana doesn’t make ordering the Bosnian pizzas as easy as it was in the past. Prior to mid-2026, it offered affordable 10″ personal pan options across all three of its Bosnian “specialty” pizzas, using its standard (very good) homemade dough. These days, the only 10″ pizzas available are gluten-free, so you’ll either need to buy a large 14″ ($26) or giant 18″ ($32.50) to get one of the Bosnian recipes without a gluten-free base. If you’re not wiling to commit to one of the larger sizes sight unseen, you can order individual slices of cheese ($5) or pepperoni ($6) pizza with either suho meso or sudzuka for an extra $1, which is how we sampled the meats.
Sofra Urbana also serves five types of flaky savory pastries, collectively listed as burek. Two are filled with ground beef ($13), the first rolled in a spiral and sold as burek, the latter cut into bites and sold as mantije; the other three are $12 spirals filled with cheese (sirnica), spinach and cheese (zeljanica), or potato (krompirusa). There are also five Bosnian entree choices: small ($14/5) or large ($20/10) orders of cevapi, two pljeskavica patty burgers served either without ($13) or with ($20.50) the suho meso and sudzuka, and beef/rice-stuffed peppers ($22). Non-Balkan salads ($7.50 to $17), sandwiches ($13 to $17), and wings ($14/7) are also available, along with two desserts ($7), notably a two-piece set of lightly sweetened walnut baklava. Multiple imported sodas, including Epsa lemonade, Salaam colas and sodas, and herbal, non-alcoholic vermouth-like Cockta can be had for under $4 per can or bottle, alongside several fountain drinks.
Given Sofra Urbana’s history, it comes as no surprise that both of its cured meats and the mozzarella and red sauce standard pizza were really good – the highlights of our meal. As simple as they look, these slices really benefitted from the uncommonly rich red beefiness of the suho meso, which offers a halal alternative to ham-based proscuitto without compromising at all on umami or salt, and the sudzuka, which though similar to traditional pepperoni similarly swaps beef for pork. We wouldn’t drive out of our way for either ingredient, but liked both of them, and really appreciated both the lightly chewy texture and unburnt bottoms of Sofra’s standard dough.
The more thoroughly Bosnian items, the ground beef-filled burek and mini-sausage cevapi, were both in “fine” to “good” territory. Sofra Urbana delivers the hot, lightly golden brown burek spiral in a basket with a cool tzaziki cucumber dip that does more to contrast temperature than flavor; the lightly spiced meat, phyllo, and tzaziki all hit similarly light to neutral taste notes. Our small cevapi order surprised us by taking the form of a DIY sandwich – a roll-shaped pocket of somun/lepinje soft bread served with five little links inside, cabbage and onions in a separate basket, and cups of kaymak cream and red pepper ajvar sauce. Though the links themselves tasted like little more than grilled ground beef, the combination of all these ingredients worked really well as a texturally diverse sandwich with a mix of deep, light, fresh, and maillard-charred flavors.
We’d sum up our visit to Sofra Urbana as simultaneously positive and not as distinctive as we’d expected going in – a conclusion that will read differently depending on what you’re looking for. Those seeking an easy onramp into Eastern European cuisine will certainly find it here, as light-touch as adding some smoked or cured beef to a pizza, trying a meaty pastry, and choosing a soda; none are likely to shock any American palate. Reasonable pricing enables guests to easily explore everything except the more complex Bosnian pizzas, which we wish were still available with normal dough in personal sizes. If that changes in the future, we’ll likely come back and sample more of the menu.
Stats
Price: $-$$
Service: Counter
Open Since: 2009*/2017
Address
17098 Magnolia St.
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
714.843.3233
Instagram: @sofra_urbana