Venezia’s Pizzeria (Rainy Day Edition)

Nothing beats pizza for good old fashioned rainy day food. When Phoenix broke its dry spell, the skies really opened up, and we found ourselves driving in a torrential rain on the wrong side of town. We took the opportunity to stop a Venezia’s Pizza, which I semi-reviewed previously. This time I was here to do the job right.

I’ve purposely not re-read my earlier partial review, so as to not bias this review, but I also might be covering somethings I’ve mentioned before.

Venezia’s is a family restaurant transplanted from their original location in New Mexico, now being run by the second generation of the family.

They have three locations in Tempe, Chandler and East Mesa. We ate at the Chandler location.

This was a good pizza.

I particularly liked the sauce, which is a bit more tart than most pizza sauces and has an unusual flavor to it. I spent most of my time trying to identify the flavor. Although I cannot be sure, if I had to guess, I’d say the flavor was green pepper.

While I’m not a fan of green pepper as a topping, as a seasoning, it adds a nice, fresh green flavor that is very similar to the unique flavor of their sauce.

Since the sauce was a touch on the tart side (my wife likened it to green tea, which is why she doesn’t write pizza reviews) it compensated nicely for the slightly smoky flavor of the pepperoni.

The cheese was a solid entry. Good quality but playing second-fiddle to the sauce.

The crust was interesting. We were shocked at how fast they brought our pizza to the table. We didn’t time it, but it was well under 10 minutes.

Despite that, the outer edge was well done – it fact, it was almost too done. It was well-flavored, but beginning to dry up.

Meanwhile the center was softer that I usually associate with even the floppiest of New York style large pizzas.

I’m not sure what cooking technique was used – I wish I’d watched them prepare it – but it was an unusual combination of over and under done on the same crust.

All around, I’d still rate it a good, solid pizza with a distinct taste.

Another point in their favor, they tried to talk me our of buying a whole pizza. Their individual slices are enormous, being made from a 24″ pie and they do offer a much better cost per square inch than the 12″ whole pizza.

(12″ pizza = 113 sq.”, 1 slice= 56.5 sq.”, so 2 slices is the same as a 12″ pizza. 12″ pizza =$8.75, 2 slices = $4.70: all prices pepperoni)

Of course, I couldn’t tell them I was reviewing the pizza and that I have to review a whole pizza, so I couldn’t be dissuaded. When I went ahead and ordered the whole pizza, they knocked a dollar off the price of the pizza.

Pricing:
12″ Pepperoni = $8.75 or $0.08 (0.077)

Venezia’s New York Style Pizzeria
1080 E Pecos Road Ste 23
Chandler, AZ

Conclusion; Recommended

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