The Facts:
Pizza: Monte Carlo Italian Restaurant
Business Category: Locally-owned
Location: 3230 Old Forest Road
in Lynchburg , VA
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.
