Viewers

In its original American broadcast, "Sal's Pizza" was seen by an estimated 3.36 million household viewers and gained a 1.5/4 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research.^[1] This was a slight increase in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 3.26 million viewers with a 1.4/4 in the 18-49 demographics.^[2] This means that 1.5 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 4 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it. With these ratings, Brooklyn Nine-Nine was the second most watched show on FOX for the night, beating Dads and The Mindy Project but behind New Girl, fourth on its timeslot and eleventh for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind The Goldbergs, New Girl, The Biggest Loser, Chicago Fire, Person of Interest, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., NCIS: Los Angeles, David Blaine: Real or Magic, NCIS, and The Voice.

Critical reviews

"Sal's Pizza" received positive reviews from critics. Roth Cornet of IGN gave the episode a "great" 8.0 out of 10 and wrote, "Another strong episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine as the writers continue to allow the chemistry to build amongst the support cast. The ensemble is truly what works about this series, with each cast member working to volley the jokes to the next."^[3]

Molly Eichel of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B+" grade and wrote, "Diaz and Santiago's plot was less thrilling than the rest: Diaz is offered a job as Captain in a boring suburb, exposing Santiago’s jealous ambition. It was nicely book-ended with an overeager Santiago kowtowing to authority figure Holt and her admission that in a family of seven boys, competition was the way to success. I wasn't happy about the prospect of comedy derived from women's cattiness, but Diaz's short moment of sentimentality, that women in male-dominated fields need to stick together, worked without feeling heavy-handed or cheesy. Unlike Santiago, it didn't overstep its moment."^[4]

Alan Sepinwall of HitFix wrote, "'Sal's Pizza' was another episode that didn't quite have Jake dialed in right, but that worked anyway because the supporting characters have become so rich so quickly. So even though Jake was again being a little kid – even his motivation for chasing the arson investigation came from childhood (which did not, as I briefly suspected, turn out to be a lie to shut up Marshal Boone) – Charles' foodie habits, plus Patton Oswalt being Patton Oswalt (*), were amusing enough to carry the A-story."^[5] Aaron Channon of Paste gave the episode a 7.6 out of 10 and wrote, "If there's ever an episode such as this one where Samberg's Peralta is limited to 'You're a fireman, so you should know how to treat that burn,' there are a half dozen co-stars to back him up by crushing Magic 8-Balls with their bare hands or describing the inside of cheeks as 'thighs with tongues.' The series has come a long way in a short time from the pilot when it seemed that the series was destined to be carried entirely by Samberg and Braugher. 'Sal's Pizza,' despite its flaws, is a testament to that growth."^[6]