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.
