When it comes to outdoor pizza ovens and entertaining. Bring your ego – size matters. We have already reviewed the very popular Gozney Roccobox and loved it. In fact many of my friends with kids have one.
For the last month I have been living with this big boy – It is the pizza oven equivalent of upgrading from a Smart Car to a Range Rover – suddenly everyone wants to come to my place for dinner. At $1,400, it costs more than my first car (which admittedly was a Fiat, held together with duct tape and prayers), but does it deliver the goods, or is it just an expensive way to burn my eyebrows off? After weeks of testing with everything from Neapolitan classics to “let’s see what happens if I put pineapple on this” experiments, here’s my brutally honest verdict.
The Gozney Range
“I wasn’t a designer. I wasn’t a CEO. By 21 I was kicked out of school. Fresh out of rehab. I poured myself into cooking and built a pizza oven in my garden. It changed my life. In fact, it probably saved it.”
– Tom Gozney, Founder & Designer
The Arc XL fits between the Godfather (and aspirational ownership) of the home pizza cook: ‘THE DOME’ and the popular, portable and more affordable Roccobox. Both of these top and bottom end offerings have woodfire options. The Arc range, however sits in the middle and are gas only – for those who are serious about their pizzas and want a premium experience for big (14” pizza) and family sized (16” pizza).
The Unboxing
The Arrival – I feel genuinely sorry for the poor delivery guy puffing up my driveway and dropping these boxes into my home! Suddenly my lounge is now looking like I am moving house. It’s quite intimidating given the size of everything. Clearly I need help! I have the Arc Stand, The Arc XL pizza oven along with essential accessories of cover and peels. That’s three big boxes of potential happiness.
Unlike the Roccbox’s straightforward unboxing, the Arc XL arrives as a more substantial affair. At 26.5kg, this isn’t something I can casually lift out of the box myself – so I wait till the weekend for Mr G to help.
The good news is it’s pre-assembled. We lift the oven using its side handles. Inside the removable 20mm cordierite stone is impressive. The stone can shift in transportation but ours was fine. I remove the blue wedges holding it in place and play around with the little ‘stone adjuster tool’ to get the fit right. Next, I pop in the flue into the top section and the burner guard which sits around the flame ignition on the inside. The digital thermometer needs three 2AA batteries (two for the display, one for ignition), but setup is pretty simple once wrestled into position.
The Assembly- The Stand
Like all good Ikea DIY’ers know… I start by laying out all the sections on the floor. I build in sections from the ground up. First the gas bottle stand (such a cool idea!), then the legs with wheels, upper sections, the top part supporting the pizza oven and then the folding tray tables. Finally the Arc’s feet slot into four corners of the stand. There are a lot of screws, nuts and bolts- yes a bit of swearing by me, but much better instructions than my not so Fantastic Furniture tall boy!
Connect the ARC XL to The Stand
Super easy – well, mostly. I connect my LPG gas bottle. However, the oven is so heavy it’s not designed for casual repositioning like the Roccbox. So I am really thrilled we ordered the stand which is on wheels. I move it to a part of our small courtyard so it’s in the corner but has enough clearance due to the heat (obeying the instructions for once).
Design and Look – First Impressions
I mean. WOW. The Arc XL is a BEAST. I know people with Peloton bikes put them in by a window to show off – half of me thinks I should do the same. The Arc should be in full supermodel mode at the front of our little innerwest townhouse!
It is the Porsche of home pizza ovens, with a pearl-white finish, soft curves and professional finish. It isn’t trying to be cute or portable – it’s a serious piece of kit. The integrated digital thermometer display is stylish and thoughtfully designed. I like the colours and the ‘arc’ display. It’s modern and clear, showing temperature in both Celsius and Fahrenheit with helpful color coding: blue (too cold), green (perfect for cooking), and red (too hot). The wider mouth opening is larger than Roccbox which for a pizza novice like me, makes moving, turning the pizza around much easier.
For the Geeks: Oven external dimensions: 530mm x 629mm x 342mm | Oven internal dimensions: 427mm x 517mm x 173mm | Door size: 427mm x 95mm
Ease of Use
The Arc XL’s ignition system is straightforward. I press the button and I rotate 90 degrees with a clicking sound. The flame ignites instantly. WHOAH!! But here’s where patience becomes essential, it takes around 35 mins to reach optimal temperature, significantly longer than the Roccbox’s 15-minute warm-up. The digital thermometer takes the guesswork out of temperature monitoring. I cure the oven with medium low heat and wait…
The Flame – No guesses why its called the ‘Arc’. It’s golden, rolling and mesmerising to watch it arc up and over the top of the oven, almost to the over side as it mimics traditional wood-fired ovens. It’s the most aggressive flame I have seen, but I feel safe given the controls and engineering. The temperature is hotter by the flame, but overall the heat is nicely consistent across all cooks.
Performance – The Pizza Cook-Off
I make sourdough bread every few days. I fed my mother dough a few days ago and my ‘balls’ are in the fridge with a 38hr ferment. I have passata, mozzarella, prawns, chilli, basil, prosciutto and more, all ready to rock.
It’s a freezing cold Sunday, but thankfully dry. We are ready to become firestarters! The 16-inch capacity means I can create proper family-sized pizzas, and the lateral burner system provides remarkably even heat distribution. This means less time faffing cooking small pizza’s and more time with friends eating them!
Temperature top tips:
New York Pizza – 320 – 370°F+
Roman Style Pizza – 370 – 430°F
Neapolitan Pizza – 430 – 480°F Over Temp (Too Hot) – 480°F+
I test my first cook with a pre-made base and then onto my homemade sourdough. The larger opening makes pizza manipulation significantly easier than smaller ovens – no more wrestling oversized pizzas through tight spaces. The pizza peel is really good so I can first get the dough onto the peel and with a shove- get it into the oven
A classic Roman style Margherita cooks in under 90 seconds with browned crusts and evenly melted cheese. The aggressive flame that initially concerned me proves easily controllable – even at 220°C.
Next, my home-made dough is Neapolitan style at 249°C. This is done with ‘blanco’ fior di latte, with juicy king prawns from the fish markets, spinach and dots of chilli oil. I slice fresh garlic on top. Thank god for the balance placement peel as it needs that support. I launch, let it rest in front of the flame. It is so intoxicating seeing the puff fluff up. I spin three times every 10 seconds or so. I use the utility turning peel to tuck under, topple on one side then spin 60 degrees. These tools really make the difference as the turning peel is essential. It takes a bit of practice but I get the hang of it.
The real test came with a loaded family pizza featuring mushrooms, pepperoni, and chorizo. The Arc XL handled the extra toppings well, cooking everything evenly without the soggy centers. The stone floor provides impressive heat retention, ensuring consistent bottom crust development even during back-to-back cooking sessions. I used a light thermometer to test how quickly it returned to temperature (generally 20 seconds).
Cleaning – Most impressively, after cooking multiple pizzas, the oven exterior remained remarkably clean – The lateral burner system creates a distinctive recess that improves performance but keeps the front surprisingly clean during cooking. Also the flue means no soot around the outside either. The outside of the oven does get hot, I could touch for a few seconds, but it’s not burning. Less intense than the heat from a Weber for those of us who have them. I just need to do a quick brush-out between sessions.
Versatility – Beyond Pizza
Arc XL’s large capacity and stable high temperatures make it for interesting for other dishes. Here is how they went:
Chicken – I like to spatchcock my own whole chooks, then dry brine (i.e. not in water, in the fridge). The next weekend we used the oven for non-pizza cooking. I put the chicken on a roasting tray (which has seen better times!). I kept the temp to 180, in 25 mins it was done. I rotated it a few times but the good thing is I didn’t need to flip it as the heat from the base was fantastic. The chicken was a little bit overdone on the wings, but I should have moved it more frequently.
Vegetables – I chopped up lots of root vegetables/pumpkin. Tossed in oil – easy as. Great result. Veggies are done in around 10 mins, depending on size of chopping.
Potatoes – These were the bomb! I par-boiled red potatoes, cut them into halves, tossed in olive oil, garlic, onion powder and lots of sea salt. Smooshed and into the Gozney in a baking tray. These were perhaps my champions, crusty, burnt on a few edges, soft in the middle. Amazing.
Fish – I tried a small Barra. Mmm disaster! The whole fish cooked too fast and raw on the inside. Better were two Orange Roughy fillets. Heated to 280. The pan was hot and then only needed 5 mins with some turning and basting of butter.
Whole Fish – My tip with fish is low and slow 200 moving up to 330 ish. This worked better with a whole 3kg NZ King Salmon at room temp. It took around 35 minutes on the thick baking tray. One thing that works well is to spray the fish with some stock. I did move it in and out of the oven, plus resting time. Every fish is different, and it’s bone structure. So I recommend that with a whole fish, go slow at first, checking the cooking, and then blasting towards the end to get crispy.
The Essential Accessories
If you are paying this much for a pizza oven, look after it. Get the Arc XL cover. Unfortunately it doesn’t totally cover the whole stand which is a shame but it does fit the oven. I like the pull string at the bottom to keep it snug. A Placement Pizza Peel is essential to lift a large pizza and ‘launch’ it. Especially with these large pizzas, nothing else will do. Also you do need to invest in a turning peel, its smaller than a launch peel. You need to get underneath a pizza to lift and turn. Plus if you want to use it (as I did) with other other cooking trays a utility peel is the way forward. Yes, you can cut pizza with a knife but a cutter is great. This one has a good size wheel so it doesn’t get stuck in thick ingredients like prawns. I would also invest in BBQ grade gloves with fingers which give you the dexterity to move things around at 300 degree heat and more!
Price & Value
At $1,400 plus essential accessories (stand, pizza peels, cover). This can be a $2,000+ total investment. The Arc XL is in premium territory, competing with built-in outdoor ovens rather than portable alternatives. However, the build quality, performance, and capacity justify the premium for serious entertainers. The professional-grade construction and superior heat retention deliver results that smaller ovens simply cannot match.
The Daily Addict Verdict
What We’re Addicted To? The Gozney Arc XL is an indulgence. BUT, It’s so god darn beautiful. The combination of capacity, professional performance, and remarkably clean operation makes it a standout. Most importantly, it delivers consistent, restaurant-quality results that justifys the premium price point.
What We Need to Be More Addicted? The 35-minute heat-up time feels excessive in our instant-gratification world – a baffle door accessory would be transformative. The essential accessories could be included at this price point, not sold separately. The substantial weight and size means this may not be suitable for renters or those wanting flexibility in outdoor setup. It doesn’t have a wood option which for me would be the reason I would save up for the ulitmate – The DOME!
Gozney Arc XL, RRP: $1,400
Arc XL Stand $349, Arc Cover $99, Balance Placement Peel 14inch – $159, Utility Turning Peel – $129, Pizza cuter $74