Pizza 9 in New Mexico

Basic Information:

Pizza: Pizza 9

Number of Locations: 9, mostly in New Mexico

Location Reviewed: 1965 Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe, NM (Update: this location is now closed.  The closest location is in Albuquerque.)

Website: https://pizzanine.com/

Date of Review Visit: July 2014

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

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

Photo:

Summary Review: 4 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

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.

Overall 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: 8/10.

Pizza Appearance: The pizza looks like the stomach-filling Chicago-style pizza it is.

Dining Atmosphere: The dining room has a high-energy party style atmosphere complete with video games.

Customer Service: The service was fantastic: they even unlocked the back door to let us in when we parked on the wrong side of the building.

Monetary 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.

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: 80/100.