Why We Opened Sacred Slice Pizza in Barcelona?

We’re Mark and Alex Hernandez, the husband-and-wife team behind it.

The pizza, the name, the brand, and the space all came from both of us, shaped by our shared love of New York-style pizza, music, art, culture, and creating places where people feel welcome.

This is the story of why we opened Sacred Slice.

The Pizza, from Mark

The conversation between us kept coming back to pizza.

I am originally from Los Angeles. I grew up in the Washington, DC area and spent years exploring great food cities across the United States. Somewhere in that, I made plenty of trips to New York and became obsessed with the way pizza lived there.

It was not just the slices. It was how accessible they were. How woven into ordinary life they were. The corner shop. The walk-in lunch. The late-night slice on the way home. The neighborhood spot you knew without thinking about it.

New York-style pizza is not just a category on a menu. It is a way of being in a city. That is the thing I wanted to bring back.

The Name, from Alex

The name Sacred Slice is an homage to my strict Catholic upbringing, blended with Mark and my lifelong love of punk, metal, and hip-hop. I’m a true ’90s kid, and that spirit runs through everything we do. The brand is playful, bold, a little rebellious, and built with heart.

I’m a builder by nature. Before this chapter, I spent more than a decade at a tech company called OpenSesame where I built programs and partnerships that helped people learn and grow. Before that, I worked my way through college and graduate school in bars and restaurants, which taught me hustle, resilience, and how to read a room.

I’ve lived all over the United States, spent time in Bolivia and the Dominican Republic, and now call Spain home. Sacred Slice is the next thing I’m building, not just a pizza shop, but a place with personality, warmth, humor, great music, and a true sense of community. A place where locals, travelers, creatives, and neighbors all feel welcome.

Why Barcelona

We moved to Barcelona for the city itself, for its food culture, its neighborhoods, and the way people live here. Long lunches that turn into long afternoons. Tables spilling onto the streets. A real sense of community and place.

Community > Netflix & Chill.

We came to love Barcelona the way you love a place you actually live in, not just a place you visit.

But there was one thing we kept missing: the neighborhood slice shop. Barcelona has incredible pizza, and we would never pretend otherwise. Eventually, we stopped talking about it and started building it.

What We Built

No big restaurant group. No outside investors. Just a family who took a chance on an idea and poured everything we had into making it real.

Sacred Slice was born from a love of New York-style pizza, great conversations, alternative culture, art, music, and the belief that food brings people together.

Every part of the space was intentional, the lighting, the artwork, the music, the bar program, the terrace, the slice case. Nothing happened by accident. We wanted to create a place that felt welcoming, a little unexpected, and unmistakably ours.

A place where you can stop in for a slice on a paper plate and be on your way fifteen minutes later. Or settle in for a couple of slices, a cocktail, and lose track of time.

Both experiences are exactly what we hoped to build.

The Doors Are Open

On June 11, 2026, we opened our doors.

The ovens are hot. The slice case is full. The bar is pouring. Most evenings, the terrace fills with neighbors, friends, and visitors sharing pizza, cocktails, and conversation.

Our menu features New York-style slices and whole pies, alongside salads, appetizers, desserts, and a full beverage program.

Our New York Style Cheese is built with mozzarella, house tomato sauce, pecorino romano, fresh basil, and garlic oil. The Sacred is our signature meat pie, layered with cup-and-char pepperoni, Spanish sausage, jamón serrano, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers, pecorino romano, and hot honey. Forbidden Fruit brings together roasted pear, garlic ricotta, gorgonzola, cracked pepper, and hot honey for a sweet-and-savory favorite.

If you’d rather stay home, we’re available across Barcelona on Glovo and Uber Eats with our 30 cm personal pizzas. You can also explore the full menu right here on our website.

Sacred Slice Pizza is our love letter to New York-style pizza, to community, and to the city we now call home.

We hope to see you at the counter.