Category: Reviews

One of my fundamental theories of pizza is that you should never eat pizza at a restaurant that doesn’t specialize in pizza.

If their pizza isn’t good enough to be their headliner and major breadwinner, it can’t be that good, right?

I enjoy eating at Olive Garden, but because of the aforementioned policy, I’ve never tried their pizza, although I’ve seen them served at other tables and they look pretty good.

Today, I broke with policy and gave it a try.

They serve one size pizza and the price doesn’t change for 1 to 4 toppings, so I went with sausage and pepperoni.

As with virtually everything at the Olive Garden, my dinner included salad and breadsticks before the pizza arrived.

I ate too much salad and too many breadsticks.

Then the pizza arrived and I have to tell you, it isn’t good. Sauce, cheese, toppings all were uninspiring, but worst of all was the crust. Cooked? Yes, but that’s the only thing I could say for it. Soft and bready, it just couldn’t be considered a pizza crust.

In fact, when I reached the outer edge I knew why: It’s a breadstick made into a crust.

You can’t just re-purpose any old dough and expect to make a pizza.

Pizza dimensions were not given on the menu, but by the scientific napkin measure this was a 10″ pizza.

Cost: $9.95, Cost per square inch $0.13 (0.127)

Conclusion: Don’t go for the pizza.

Technorati Tags: Food, Pizza, Restaurant, Review

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

Technorati Tags: Blog, Food, Pizza, Restaurant, Review

Thursday, my first choice for a pizza to review was Spinato’s, but it was not to be.

Spinato’s (on Glendale) has been taunting me for some time now. I’ve never driven past it at a convenient time to stop and have a pizza, and, as it is tucked away in an oddly positioned strip mall, it’s very easy to miss.

Much to our surprise, when we arrived Thursday around 7:30, it was packed, there were people standing outside waiting to be seated. As we were hauling two small children, we decided to move onto a backup location, but I was intrigued that they had such a good business on a Thursday night.

When I returned home that night, I began researching Spinato’s. I was surprised to learn they’d been in business in Phoenix since 1974 and had four locations around the valley. How they’d remained under my radar is beyond me.

I also discovered an unusual number of online reviews that were all positively glowing, although the fact that many of them singled out spinach pizza as Spinato’s best was worrying.

And so it was with a lot of anticipation that we entered Spinato’s today, just after they opened for the day.

The restaurant is a nice, family-friendly establishment (In fact, the motto “The Family Pizzeria” is emblazoned on all their tables, so it is the market they cater to.)

Their primary pizza is a Chicago-style thin crust, but they also serve a thick (Siciliano) style. I had the lil’ (7″) thin crust pepperoni, my wife had the 7″ thick crust for comparison. Honestly, we didn’t see much difference in the thickness of the two pizzas, although her had a thicker outer edge and had pizza sauce spurted all over the top like a ketchup-colored dessert frosting.

The Pizza
I’m not usually a fan of Chicago style crusts (thick or thin) because they’re usually more like bread and less like a crust. Spinato’s was no exception. The dough was well-cooked, but soft and puffy, but the flavor was good.

The pepperoni was… unnoticeable. Buried underneath the cheese, I completely forgot it was there until I was halfway through the pizza. The cheese was plentiful and good.

The problem with this pizza was the sauce. It’s sweet, really sweet, and therefore overpowering. It was also laid on heavy.

Buried just underneath a solid layer of cheese, this ocean of sauce tended to flow away from where you bit, forming pressured bubbles of hot liquid that, when ruptured spurted geysers towards innocent passersby.

I burned myself when one jet shot out over my hand like a fountain of blood in a Sam Peckinpah movie. I found myself planning my bites with great care to prevent a repeat.

Still, it was a nice place to eat with friendly staff and efficient service. In spite of the sauce, it was still a pretty good pizza. I’ll recommend it to others with the caveat that the sauce is just too sweet for me.

Cost: 7″ Pepperoni = $5.20, cost per square inch = $0.14 (0.135) making it quite expensive. (The next smallest pizza is 12″ at $8.70 or $0.08 per square inch bringing it down to a more reasonable number.)

Conclusion: Recommended (but beware the sauce!)

Spinato’s has 4 locations, but the review was at:

Spinato’s Pizza
1219 E Glendale
Phoenix, Az

Technorati Tags: Blog, Food, Pizza, Pizza Week, Restaurant, Review

Monday, when searching for pizza, I stopped a Mamma Mia Brick Oven Pizza first, but there was nowhere to eat and the smallest pizza was 14″, so I grabbed a menu and planned for a weekday lunch visit from my office.

When I picked up the menu, the restaurant smelled heavenly! (Admittedly, I was hungry at the time, but it really smelled good.)

Their menu says, “Est 1980” but I can only assume this was at another location. I lived in this neighborhood in the late 80’s and I’m sure it was a different restaurant back then. I also note that their menu shows they won best pizza awards in New Jersey.

They do have a few seats and I could have eaten there today, but it’s just too much pizza for one person, so I called in a take-out order. I arrived early to make sure I got it right when it came out of the oven.

While I was waiting, I was really beginning to wonder what the fascination with the Rat Pack and license plates is. This is the second restaurant in two days so adorned.

It was also clear while I was waiting that this was a restaurant that was developing a loyal following. The owner(?) greeted several of the people by name and the dialog with many of the others showed familiarity. It’s certainly been a long time since I’ve heard so many unsolicited testimonials on the taste of the food.

I could hardly wait.

It was 7 minutes from the oven back to my office and onto the plates, which is at the extreme upper limit of acceptable delay for eating. Still, the pizza was plenty hot.

The pizza was New York style and much too droopy in the middle. It had to be eaten with a fork.

Apart from that annoyance, this was a great tasting pizza. It had lots of cheese, pepperoni and sauce and all of it was good.

The crust around the outer edge was good too, but it had an unusual flavor I couldn’t quite place. The nearest thing I could compare the flavor to would be butter, but I don’t think that’s what it was.

The is definitely a shop worth stopping at for a pizza.

Cost: 14″ Pepperoni = $10.45, cost per square inch = $0.07 (0.068)

Mamma Mia Brick Oven Pizza
3937 E. Indian School Rd
Phoenix, Az

Conclusion: Recommended

Technorati Tags: Blog, Food, Pizza, Pizza Week, Restaurant, Review

Pizza Week rolled onto Thursday with an evening visit to Pat’s Pizza Plus.

Pat’s is not much to look at, located as it is in a ramshackle old strip mall on E Glendale Rd. Inside it’s got the same kind of character.

I’ve never understood why some restaurants feel the need to cover their walls with memorabilia from the Rat Pack or Marilyn Monroe? Even more mystifying are old license plates. Pat’s has an abundance of both.

The pizza itself was what I’ve been referring to as “California Style” and was… average and inoffensive.

We had two pizzas at out table, both were a little soggy, one more so than the other.

Crust, pepperoni, cheese and sauce were all… good but unremarkable.

The restaurant was doing a brisk trade for late on Thursday night, so they must be keeping their customers happy. I certainly would have no problem recommended them to anyone in the neighborhood, but I wouldn’t recommend a pilgrimage there.

12″ Pepperoni pizza = $8.74, Cost per Square inch = $0.08 (0.077)

Pat’s Pizza plus
1135 E Glendale Ave
Phoenix, Az

Conclusion: Recommended, but unremarkable

Technorati Tags: Blog, Food, Pizza, Pizza Week, Restaurant, Review

Pizza week can also be a time of desperation and despair.

My pizza week had been all planned out, but a change in my work schedule today resulted in my being unable to review the pizza I wanted. I had to shift my plan to have pizza for dinner, but my wife had planned an elaborate meal.

I thought certain that I was going to miss my goal of pizza everyday this week. And then, on the drive home, a shining ray of mediocrity hit me: Peter Piper Pizza. If I’m not mistaken, they’re a locally grown chain that was expanded outside of Phoenix, even outside the US.

How do they do it? The same way McDonald’s sells hamburgers: they pitch to the kids.

I remember quite clearly some 30 years ago when I lived in Oracle, a small town outside of Tucson. We used to get TV reception from Phoenix, but we never went there. I’d see commercials for restaurants and stores that I thought I’d never eat in.

One of those was Peter Piper Pizza. They used to have a spokesman named Tony – a middle-aged, pot-bellied guy in a chef’s hat, standing at a counter, working a big lump of dough.

He’d say things like, “Why does pizza cost so much? It’s just some dough with some cheese on it?”

It’s just that attitude that accounts for the results of a typical Peter Piper Pizza.

What always really get my attention about those commercials was that Tony had a bit of speech problem. When he got animated and spoke out about the injustices of high-priced pizza, he kept visibly spitting in that big lump of dough he was working.

I know it was prop dough, and he wasn’t really the cook, but come on, people! That’s just gross.

I’ve scoffed at a lot of Peter Piper Pizzas over the years, but today was the first time I really tried to analyze one. (Hey, I take my pizza reviews seriously) Here goes:

There’s nothing wrong with this pizza that a good crust transplant couldn’t cure.

Their crust is just not good. It’s dry and has a consistency that is frequently compared to cardboard or dried play-doh. Those comparisons aren’t fair. I can’t think of anything to compare it to. It’s a bread, it’s not quite a cracker, it’s not quite a crusty bread stick. I just don’t know what it is and I spent a lot of time thinking about it today. (I was up till 3:00 AM last night/this morning, so it was easy for my mind to wax philosophical.)

It’s just not a proper pizza dough, and that’s the point where always I’ve dismissed it. In fact, there really wasn’t anything wrong with the rest of it. The toppings and cheese are unexciting, but passable. The blame all comes back to the crust.

How do they stay in business? It’s CHEAP, and most people don’t care what their pizza tastes like.

Cost: 7″ Pepperoni pizza, $2.49! Cost per square inch = $0.06 (0.647)

Conclusion: I can’t recommend the pizza, but they’ve got games for the kids and it’s a cheap way to feed ’em

Peter Piper Pizza has various locations

Review pizza came from

3403 N 7th Ave
Phoenix, AZ

Technorati Tags: Blog, Food, Pizza, Pizza Week, Restaurant, Review

Pizza Week is a time of joy and forgiveness.

And it is the spirit of forgiveness that I returned to Rosati’s for lunch.

As you probably don’t recall in a previous entry, (No Good Deed Ever Goes Unpunished, July, 2005) Rosati’s by my office seriously botched up our order and did a very poor job of trying to keep a customer.

Despite the fact that they’ve served me some of the best pizzas I’ve ever had, I haven’t been back for 8 months.

I’d like to say it was the spirits of Pizza Week (Past, Present & Future) that brought me back to Rosati’s, but it wasn’t. They called my wife, unsolicited, last week and offered her a free pizza. My guess is that they’d noticed she hadn’t ordered in a long time and were trying to lure customers back. (Notice to merchants: keeping a good repeat customer is better than scrambling for new ones.)

The ploy worked.

I’ve had their stuffed crust pizzas, which I really like, and I had their thin or “original” crust, which I wasn’t as crazy about. Their thin crust is wafer thin and, although I like thin crust pizzas, for some reason Rosati’s just didn’t click for me.

I consider both stuffed pizzas and wafer thin pizzas to be out of the range of a “normal” pizza, so when given a choice of multiple types, I will generally try to review the crust most like the “typical” thickness.

For this pizza, I had a 12″ “double-dough” pepperoni pizza. Double-dough turns out to be about twice as thick as the thin crust, and just about the right thickness.

Normally, I eat the pizza on location, but Rosati’s, like many a pizza place these days, caters to delivery and take-out. The near proximity to my office made for only a 4 minute delay from door to table, and it was still piping hot.

This was an excellent pizza. The only negative was that the crust around the outer edge was a bit dry and floury, as if the dough didn’t have quite enough water in it. There was an unusual horizontal layer in the crust, which leads me to believe the double-dough is, in fact, two thin crusts cooked together, which explain a bit of the dryness.

The pepperoni was good and hidden under the cheese, but there was plenty of it. Likewise the cheese was good.

I think I might have finally figured out what, in particular, makes me like Rosati’s pizza: It’s the sauce. It’s, without doubt the best tasting sauce I’ve had and it really adds a lot to the flavor of the pizza.

Incidentally, the staff and crew were a lot friendlier and efficient.

Cost: 12″ (Double-dough) pepperoni, $10.95, cost per square inch = $0.10 (0.097)

Conclusion: Recommended

various locations around the valley

Review pizza came from
Rosati’s of Arcadia
4041 E Thomas
Phoenix, AZ

Technorati Tags: Blog, Food, Pizza, Pizza Week, Restaurant, Review

I thought Godfather’s Pizza went out of business 20+ years ago. Once there were several of them, then they disappeared. It’s been so long since I’d eaten in one, I had completely forgotten what it was like.

Now I find they’ve re-colonized the east valley and today I got the opportunity to try them. Even having just eaten one, I cannot remember if it bore any similarity to their pizzas of yesteryear.

There’s no point in beating around the bush on this one, I didn’t enjoy this experience.

Godfather’s has three kinds of crust: original, golden and thin. I chose original. Mistake.

While I don’t like to use one pizza to describe another, in this case, the pizza I had was virtually indistinguishable from the ubiquitous Pizza Hut pan pizza, only not quite as well cooked. Pizza Hut sometimes manages to take their pan crust and produce a crunchy outer shell, which helps a bit.

Godfather’s was cooked, but soft and bread-like throughout.

I just can’t recommend this pizza, and there are 100s of pizza places I still have to try before I’d go back and see if their golden or thin crusts are any better.

One thing might get me back, they do have a pizza buffet every day, “all day” and, if I’m passing someday, I might stop in and try some samples of the other crusts, just to see if it’s worth going back for a proper review.

Cost: Sizes weren’t listed, but the pizza I had was a “small” for $8. Using a napkin ruler, it measured out to 11″ in diameter.

Price per square inch: $0.08 (0.084)

Not recommended, but it seems a good place to take a hungry soccer team because of the liberal buffet hours.

Godfather’s Pizza is a chain, but in this case I ate at this location:

Godfather’s Pizza
4929 W Chandler Blvd
Chandler, AZ

Technorati Tags: Blog, Food, Pizza, Restaurant, Review

Pizza Heaven has recently moved to a new location on 7th Street.

It’s in one of those previously residential homes that have been converted to a business, and they’ve done a nice job. The move is so recent, the paint was still wet on the walls when we visited.

It’s a comfortable restaurant, and the staff were friendly and attentive.

In addition to being a New Times Best of Phoenix winner at some point, their menu brags that Channel 3 awarded them “the cleanest kitchen in the Valley.”

I like a nice, clean kitchen, but I’d be happier if Channel 3 could come up with something better to say, like “good tasting food” or something.

That notwithstanding, I really had a good feeling about this pizza by the time it arrived. When it did arrive, it was a beauty. Rarely have I seen a pizza brought to the table that looked so… right.

After such an auspicious start, it was anti-climactic after that.

The crust itself was done, but very, very light and insubstantial. It was cooked, but it was airy like a loaf of white bread. It didn’t really add anything to the overall flavor of the pizza.

The pepperoni was just ordinary. If I had to guess, I’d say it was Hormel, pre-sliced, just like you’d buy at the supermarket. Similarly, the sauce was just ordinary – nothing wrong with it but really nothing to recommend it.

The cheese finished off a perfect 4 out of 4 ordinaries. It wasn’t particularly flavorful and as the pizza sat for a while, it began to coagulate and breakup like extremely low-fat or imitation cheeses do.

Completely unremarkable pizza, but it’s a nice place to eat.

They do have sandwiches, pastas, wings, calzones and sodas. It was such a nice place, I wouldn’t write this place off and will certainly go back and try something else – or maybe even try another pizza.

The menu says they have wireless internet access too, although pizza sauce splashed on my pristine white iBook would not be a welcome event.

Pizza Heaven
5150 N 7th Street
Phoenix, Arizona
602.277.8800

Cost of 12″ Pepperoni pizza: $9.00. Cost per square inch: $0.08 (0.080)

Conclusion: While I’m not wowed by their pizza, this is a place worth giving a try.

Technorati Tags: Food, Pizza, Restaurant, Review