Hungry Howie's Pizza

The Facts:

Pizza: Hungry Howie’s Pizza

Business Category: National Chain (based in Michigan; locations in 21 states)

Website: http://www.hungryhowies.com/

Location: 1601 S. Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach, SC

Date of Review Visit: December 16, 2014

What I Ordered: small (10”) pizza with pepperoni and sausage

Price: $5.52 (on special; regular price is $8.19)

The Micro:

Crust: Although Hungry Howie’s is based in Michigan, they do not make the thick pan crust we often see from that part of the world.  Instead, the crust on this pizza is flat with only medium thickness.  I found the crust very chewy, possibly because my pizza was slightly overbaked.  This crust is solid, but it does not really stand out.  Score: 7/10.

Sauce: This criterion is a tough call.  The pizza is undersauced, but the sauce that does exist has quite good taste, not too sweet and not too spicy.  I don’t like a lot of sauce, so I will lean toward the positive side on this criterion.  Score: 7/10.

Cheese: The cheese appears in good quantity and has good taste, but it also produces a fair amount of grease.  The grease is always a warning sign and always prevents a high score.  Score: 7/10.

Toppings: There is a good bit of variation in topping quality.  The pepperoni has a nice crisp, almost old-world taste.  The sausage, on the other hand, is pretty tasteless and nondescript.  This criterion is another tough call, but I will go slightly better than middle.  Score: 6/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The service and atmosphere are purely functional.  The pizza’s appearance is better than average.  Score: 7/10.

Value: Thanks to the special they were running on my visit, the value for me was fantastic.  You will rarely find pizza this good for this cheap even if you have to pay the full price.  Score: 10/10.

Taste: Everything comes together pretty well here.  This score would be higher but for the grease.  Score: 16/20.

The Final Judgment:

For this price, you will not find better pizza hardly anywhere.  Hungry Howie’s gets 1.5 thumbs up from Hungry Big Dave the Parker.  Score: 60/80.

Pizzeria Opa in Irmo, SC

The Facts:

Pizza: Pizzeria Opa

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pizzeria-Opa/660302254065538?sk=info&tab=overview

Location: 7320 Broad River Rd. in Irmo, SC (beside Publix)

Date of Review Visit: December 9, 2014

What I Ordered: small (10”) pizza with pepperoni and sausage; Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $14.17 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: As its name suggests, Pizzeria Opa makes Greek-style pizza (opa is a Greek dancing term).  Thus, the crust is the typical Greek-style thick crust: crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  The crust has a fresh bready taste, and my pizza was baked to perfection.  Greek-style is not my favorite style of pizza, but this crust is pretty good for what it is.  Score: 8/10.

Sauce: The sauce comes in decent quantity, but this sauce is strongly seasoned with garlic and herbs.  I guess some people like this much seasoning, but the garlic/herb taste comes across way too strong on my taste palette.  Score: 5/10.

Cheese: The cheese appears in good quantity, and the lack of piles of grease on this pizza speaks to its quality too.  The server even brings some parmesan cheese that you can sprinkle on if you want to (and of course you want to).  Overall, the cheese is probably the strength of this pizza.  Score: 9/10.

Toppings: The toppings are pretty non-descript.  The pepperoni has very little taste, and the sausage suffers from the same herby taste as the sauce.  Overall, this area really needs to be better.  Score: 5/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza looks like the good Greek-style pizza that it is.  The dining room, complete with some photos from Greece, evokes a nice, dimly lit, quiet atmosphere that I really liked.  The service was a little slow considering I was the only customer in the restaurant, but I had no serious problems with the service.  Score: 9/10.

Value: Now here’s where the real problem lies: the first topping on a small pizza costs $3.  $3 for one topping on a 10” pizza!  In spite of some of my comments above, I actually kind of like this pizza, but the small pizza is way overpriced relative to what you put in your mouth.  Score: 2/10.

Taste: The garlic/herb taste of the sauce really overpowers everything else, which is a shame because there are some other good things going on here.  Score: 14/20.

The Final Judgment:

If you want fairly good but overpriced Greek-style pizza, then Pizzeria Opa is for you.  I would come here occasionally, but I would not become a regular.  Score: 52/80.

Pizza Inn

The Facts:

Pizza: Pizza Inn

Business Category: Regional Chain (locations in 16 states)

Website: http://www.pizzainn.com/

Location: 515 Roe Center Court in Travelers Rest, SC

Date of Review Visit: October 18, 2014

What I Ordered: weekend pizza buffet; Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $9.91 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: Because Pizza Inn offers a pizza buffet, the most obvious comparable national chain is Cici’s.  As with most buffet pizzas (including Cici’s), the crust is not this pizza’s strength.  The crust has an unusual texture: it is thin and crispy but flaky.  The real problem is that this crust is almost completely tasteless.  Therefore, the points earned on this criterion are almost completely nonexistent.  Score: 1/10.

Sauce: This pizza has very little sauce.  What sauce does exist is unremarkable in terms of taste or texture.  Score: 1/10.

Cheese: I don’t mean to sound repetitive, but this pizza has very little cheese.  The taste of the cheese is unremarkable, but the fairly low amount of grease keeps this mark from being super low.  Score: 3/10.

Toppings: As usual with a pizza buffet, the quality of the toppings varies with the topping.  My favorite topping at Pizza Inn is the pepperoni: it has nice flavor without being overspiced.  The other toppings are average at best.  Score: 4/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza’s appearance is passable but uninspiring, and the semi-carnival kids atmosphere is similar to Cici’s.  The table service for your drink is a nice touch you don’t get at Cici’s, but if you have to serve yourself pizza off of the buffet, is it too much extra effort to serve yourself the drink also?  Score: 6/10.

Value: The pizza quality is slightly better than Cici’s, but the price is more expensive.  Thus, although the value for almost any pizza buffet is above average, Pizza Inn does not present the great value that Cici’s does.  Score: 7/10.

Taste: Let’s be straightforward here: this pizza has very little taste, plain and simple.  Moreover, some of the pizza on the buffet was cold.  Much improvement is needed here.  Score: 9/20.

The Final Judgment:

In the battle of chain pizza buffets, Cici’s wins by a decent margin.  Whether you want good quality or good value, you can do better than Pizza Inn.  Score: 31/80.

Fuel Pizza

The Facts:

Pizza: Fuel Pizza

Business Category: Regional Chain (10 locations in Washington DC and Charlotte, NC)

Website: http://www.fuelpizza.com/

Location: 500 S. College St. in Charlotte, NC (across College St. from the Convention Center)

Date of Review Visit: August 6, 2014

What I Ordered: 1 slice of extreme (all meat) pizza and a fountain drink

Price: $5.72

The Micro:

Crust: Like Pie in the Sky, the first of my two downtown Charlotte pizza indulgences of the day, Fuel Pizza makes New York style pizza.  The crust has nice thickness and texture, but the taste is a little stale and bland.  I wonder how long that slice of pizza was sitting in the display case before I came along and ordered it….  Score: 8/10.

Sauce: The sauce has light quantity, as you would expect for a New York style pizza, but it seems almost pasted on.  This sauce has no spices to flavor it, but it does have a good tomato-ful taste.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: Fuel Pizza does not use a lot of cheese, but the cheese that is on this pizza is baked to a nice golden brown.  The cheese is not greasy, and it has pretty good flavor.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The toppings should be the strength of an all meat pizza, but they are not in this case.  All toppings appear in good quantity, but all of them have very little flavor.  The toppings just sit there, and that’s not good.  Score: 5/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The dining area at Fuel Pizza features lots of historic oil and gas signs and antiques.  Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz of American Pickers would love this dining room.  The service was passable but nonchalant.  The pizza’s appearance is OK except for the low quantity of cheese.  Score: 8/10.

Value: True this is an all meat pizza, but I only ordered one slice, and I got a small slice at that.  You can get 2 slices of pizza and a drink at Pie in the Sky just a few blocks away for about the same price.  Score: 3/10.

Taste: This pizza does not have much taste.  Everything from the cheese to the sauce to the toppings is pretty non-descript.  Score: 13/20.

The Final Judgment:

Fuel Pizza makes a passable product, but there are better pizzas around.  That statement holds whether you look from the value or quality perspective.  Score: 53/80.

Pie in the Sky Pizza in Charlotte, NC

The Facts:

Pizza: Pie in the Sky Pizza

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: http://www.pieintheskycharlotte.com/

Location: 320 South Tryon Street in Charlotte, NC (in Latta Arcade)

Date of Review Visit: August 6, 2014

What I Ordered: 2 slices of pepperoni pizza and a fountain drink

Price: $5.97

The Micro:

Crust: Pie in the Sky Pizza (ironically located on the ground floor of Latta Arcade) features a nice New York style crust.  Unlike most crusts of this style, this crust does not fold because they reheat the pizza slices when you order them.  Thus, the crust comes out crispy, but it still has a nice fresh taste.  Score: 9/10.

Sauce: The sauce appears in lighter than average quantity, which is typical for New York style pizza.  The sauce is not overspiced, and it fits well with the rest of the pizza.  Score: 9/10.

Cheese: The cheese has decent taste, but it is very greasy.  Grease runs off of the pizza when you lean it sideways.  This area needs some work.  Score: 5/10.

Toppings: The slices of pepperoni are thin, but they have just the right amount of spiciness.  Also, the pepperoni appears in good quantity.  Overall, there is more to like here than to not like.  Score: 8/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: Due to the downtown location, space is at a premium. Thus, the restaurant gives the feel of trying to cram as much as possible into as little space as possible.  There are some humorous old-timey signs on the wall.  The pizza’s appearance is passable but not exceptional.  On the other hand, the men behind the counter remembered me on only my second visit.  That fact may be due to my awesomely handsome looks (tongue firmly planted in cheek), but it is probably due to their excellent service.  Score: 8/10.

Value: Pie in the Sky’s lunch special made the value very good.  The drink was too small relative to the food, but this is a pizza blog, not a Dr. Pepper blog.  Score: 9/10.

Taste: The cheese ensures that this pizza is too greasy to earn a high score in this category.  That’s too bad, because otherwise the taste is well-balanced and pretty good.  Score: 15/20.

The Final Judgment:

Pie in the Sky is slightly better than your typical downtown pizzeria, and it is way better than the infamous Sbarro.  I recommend coming here at least occasionally.  Score: 63/80.

Pizza 9 in New Mexico

The Facts:

Pizza: Pizza 9

Business Category: Regional Chain (13 locations in north-central New Mexico)

Website: http://pizzanine.com/

Location: 1965 Cerrillos Rd. in Santa Fe, NM

Date of Review Visit: July 16, 2014

What I Ordered: Medium (12”) all meat pizza with 2 fountain drinks

Price: $19.47 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: True to its advertising, Pizza 9 makes Chicago-style deep dish pizzas.  The crust is about an inch thick, but it is far from the thickest crust I have ever eaten.  This crust is definitely better than any of the so-called pan crusts offered by the national pizza chains.  The spices sprinkled on the crust are an added bonus.  Score: 9/10.

Sauce: The sauce appears in light but passable quantity.  The bits of onions in the sauce are a major turn-off for me: I do not like finding chunks of anything in my sauce.  Like the crust, the sauce is also highly spiced.  Score: 5/10.

Cheese: The cheese appears in excellent quantity with some spilling over onto the crust.  The taste of the cheese is rather indistinctive, but it is certainly not bad.  Score: 7/10.

Toppings: All toppings appear in good quantity, and the huge chunks of sausage fit perfectly with the robust nature of this pizza.  Unfortunately, the spiciness of the sausage somewhat overpowers the taste of the other toppings.  That not withstanding, the toppings are a strength of this pizza.  Score: 9/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza looks like the stomach-filling Chicago-style pizza it is.  The dining room has a high-energy party style atmosphere complete with video games.  The service was fantastic: they even unlocked the back door to let us in when we parked on the wrong side of the building.  Score: 9/10.

Value: The price is high for good but not great quality pizza, but you need to remember that 1) this was dinner for 2, not 1 like usual for me, and 2) this is an all meat pizza.  Their party packages would help on the price side for groups.  As is for my order, the price/quality ratio grades out about average.  Score: 5/10.

Taste: The spices in the crust, sauce, and sausage add up to give the pizza a slightly overspiced taste.  Otherwise, the taste is pretty good.  Score: 16/20.

The Final Judgment:

Pizza 9 is not the best Chicago-style pizza I have ever eaten, but it is pretty good.  I recommend coming here at least on occasion.  Score: 60/80.

Back Road Pizza in Santa Fe, NM

The Facts:

Pizza: Back Road Pizza

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: http://backroadpizza.com/

Location: 1807 Second Street #1 in Santa Fe, NM

Date of Review Visit: July 12, 2014

What I Ordered: Large (16”) pizza with pepperoni and sausage

Price: $21.91

The Micro:

Crust: The crust at Back Road Pizza is the thin southern-style crust, but it is not ultra-thin like some other southern-style pizzas.  A thick layer of cornmeal baked into the bottom of the crust adds flavor and texture.  I also found some unusual charred/black mystery chunks (cornmeal?) on the bottom of my pizza.  Despite these unusual items, the crust fits this pizza well, and I like it more than I dislike it.  Score: 8/10.

Sauce: The sauce is a salsa-like sauce with chunks of tomatoes, but it is not spicy.  The sauce is applied with good quantity.  This is not my style of sauce, but it is pretty good for what it is.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: The cheese may be the strength of this pizza; it has high quantity and quality.  Adding some parmesan would have added a little more flavor, but this cheese is good enough the way it is.  Score: 9/10.

Toppings: The sausage and pepperoni both have good taste without being overspiced.  The quantity is a little low, especially for the sausage, and that is the main reason for the deduction here.  Score: 8/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza’s appearance is OK except for the low quantity of toppings.  I carried my pizza out, but the dining atmosphere made me rethink that plan: the dining room seemed casual with some nice, unique decorations.  The service was friendly and helpful.  Score: 8/10.

Value: Back Road was featured on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives a few years ago.  They must still charge the Guy Fieri premium, because this pizza is very overpriced relative to what you put in your mouth, even after you consider that this is a 16” pizza.  I like this pizza, but I don’t like it $22 much.  Score: 3/10.

Taste: I am not a fan of the sauce, but that notwithstanding everything comes together pretty well for a tasty, flavorful pizza.  Score: 18/20.

The Final Judgment:

Back Road makes a good pizza, but I would not come here regularly due to the price.  For a one-off, perhaps while you are on vacation as I was, this pizza is a nice choice.  Score: 62/80.

Todaro Pizza in Clemson, SC

The Facts:

Pizza: Todaro Pizza

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: http://todaropizza.com/

Location: 105 Sloan St. in downtown Clemson, SC

Date of Review Visit: June 4, 2014

What I Ordered: Personal (8”) carnivore pizza; Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $9.80 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: Google maps calls Todaro Pizza New York style pizza.  They must mean southern New York: the flatbread thin crust is far more similar to pizzas normally found here in the southeast than the floppy, foldable crusts of New York.  Thin crust pizzas are hard to bake well, but mine was perfectly baked, crispy without being burnt.  The crust has a hard time holding all of the toppings (see below), but overall I like it.  Score: 9/10.

Sauce: There is not much sauce on this pizza, but that observation fits with the thin crust.  What sauce there is has decent taste but thin consistency.  For you college students who do not want to eat your vegetables, not even on a pizza, this pizza is for you.  Score: 7/10.

Cheese: This pizza appears under-cheesed until you realize that most of the cheese is actually under the toppings.  The mozzarella (or provolone?) cheese is solid white in color.  It appears in good quantity and produces little grease, but it does not have a lot of flavor.  Overall, this cheese grades out pretty well.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: Todaro may put too many toppings on its pizza.  Wait, did I just write that?  Indeed, this pizza is loaded.  The thick, tender, juicy chunks of ham are especially yummy, but the pepperoni and sausage are also pretty tasty.  Only the bacon, which I found too salty, and the tasteless beef topping prevent a perfect score.  Score: 9/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza looks as robust as it is.  The presentation on waxed paper in a paper plate is basic but functional.  The dining room has a typical college town atmosphere: merely functional seating with loud rock music blaring through speakers.  The service is prompt and very New York style (here ya go, buddy!).  Score: 8/10.

Value: The price is low and quality good, but there are two other considerations.  First, this is only an 8” pizza, not the 10” or 12” that I normally order as a “personal-sized” pizza.  Second, I got a $0.50 discount because I ordered a pizza-drink lunch combination.  Overall, the value still grades out pretty well, but not as well as you might initially think.  Score: 7/10.

Taste: This pizza makes its marks by brute force with abundant toppings, not by placing delightful flavors on your taste palette (sausage and pepperoni slightly excepted).  That said, it does make its marks, and mostly good ones at that.  Score: 17/20.

The Final Judgment:

Todaro Pizza is a couple of cuts above your run-of-the-mill college town pizza, but it lacks the flavor of the elite level pizzas.  As a self-appointed professor of pizza, my homework assignment for you is to come here at least occasionally, maybe more often if you see fit.  Score: 65/80.

Monte Carlo Italian Restaurant in Lynchburg, VA

The Facts:

Pizza: Monte Carlo Italian Restaurant

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: http://www.montecarloitalianrestaurant.com/

Location: 3230 Old Forest Road in Lynchburg, VA (across the road from Wal-Mart)

Date of Review Visit: May 14, 2014

What I Ordered: Large (16”) pizza with Italian sausage and pepperoni

Price: $15.65

The Micro:

Crust: This restaurant may be in Virginia, but the style is as New York as you can get.  The floppy, thin crust will not hold the toppings unless you fold it.  The only real gripe I have about this crust is that the pizza was somewhat underbaked: the crust was even slightly doughy in places.  The underbaking might be due to the fact that I was sitting in the lobby waiting for the pizza.  Overall, New York style pizza, welcome to Lynchburg!  Score: 9/10.

Sauce: There is not much sauce on this pizza, which fits with the ultra-thin crust.  What sauce there is has good taste, consistency, and seasoning.  The sauce does not stand out on its own, but it goes well with the rest of the pizza.  Score: 7/10.

Cheese: The cheese tastes excellent, even aged, and it appears in good quantity.  What’s not to like?  Score: 10/10.

Toppings: Both the pepperoni and sausage have good taste, and the freshness of the sausage is evident by the fact that it is hand-sliced.  Only a slight skimping on quantity prevents a perfect score.  Score: 9/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza appears a little bare due to the lack of toppings, but otherwise the appearance is fine.  The dining room is exquisite: it looks like a 5-star dining room, or as close as I ever get to 5-star dining.  I used to dine in at Monte Carlo all of the time just to sit in the dining room.  The take-out service is slow: I had to knock on the counter several times to get someone’s attention.  Score: 9/10.

Value: The quality is very good, and the price is reasonable given that this is a 16-inch pizza, not the 14-inch pizza some pizzerias call a large.  Thus, the value grades out well.  Score: 8/10.

Taste: The pizza is a little greasy, but overall it tastes like a good New York style pizza.  I like it.  Score: 17/20.

The Final Judgment:

Owned and run by an immigrant from Sicily, Monte Carlo has much going for it and little going against it.  Monte Carlo is not quite my favorite pizza in Lynchburg, but it is very good.  Score: 69/80.

Mama G's Italian Restaurant in Clayton, GA

The Facts:

Pizza: Mama G’s Italian Restaurant

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: http://loveisgoodfood.net/

Location: 777 US 441 South in Clayton, GA (just south of US 76)

Date of Review Visit: February 8, 2014

What I Ordered: Small (10”) pizza with sausage and pepperoni; Mello Yellow to drink

Price: $12.52 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: The crust at Mama G’s is the not-too-thick not-too-thin hand-tossed variety.  I am a thick-crust pizza fan who also sees the value in a thin, crispy crust.  The middle-of-the-road style is probably my least favorite, and the rather pedestrian qualities possessed by this crust did not improve its standing in my book.  On the bright side, the pizza is almost perfectly baked, and some shreds of cheese end up baked on the crust.  Overall, this crust is not bad, but it is a rather ordinary crust that gives the pizza a rather ordinary character.  Score: 6/10.

Sauce: The sauce appears in good quantity, but it has too many herbs and spices for my taste palette.  I ended up tasting only the spices and not the sauce.  A little more delicacy is in order, in my view.  Score: 7/10.

Cheese: The cheese comes in good quantity and quality.  The cheese blend is slightly bland unless you sprinkle on some parmesan provided on the tables.  Then again, given the overspicing of the sauce, blandness in another category may not be so bad.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The pepperoni is OK but nothing special.  The sausage, on the other hand, is excellent: it appears to be hand-sliced.  Both toppings appear in good quantity and have the right amount of spiciness.  Score: 9/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza’s appearance is good, and the service is very good.  The dining area is rustic and functional with lots of decorations (too many, in my opinion) on the wall. Some TV’s give a sports bar feel, and live entertainment on selected summer nights adds to the energy.  Score: 9/10.

Value: $12.52 for a 10” pizza and drink is quite steep.  The quality is good but not that good.  Score: 4/10.

Taste: The crust holds this category back, but everything else works together pretty well.  The quality of the sausage really helps.  Score: 16/20.

The Final Judgment:

I stop at Mama G’s rather often when I am hiking in the north Georgia mountains.  This restaurant is a good if somewhat pricey option to satisfy your pizza hunger.  Score: 59/80.