Brooklyn Pizzeria in Newport, TN

The Facts:

Pizza: Brooklyn Pizzeria

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: (none)

Location: 1015 Cosby Highway in Newport, TN (adjacent to Best Western Newport Inn at I-40 exit 435)

Date of Review Visit: April 11, 2015

What I Ordered: 2 slices of pizza with pepperoni and sausage; Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $7.57

The Micro:

Crust: The crust at Brooklyn Pizzeria is not really New York style.  Instead, this crust has medium thickness, and it is very crispy, even a little overbaked.  In fact, the overbaked property really kills the texture and the flavor of the crust.  Overall, the crust is probably the weakness of this pizza.  Score: 5/10.

Sauce: The sauce, on the other hand, is quite tasty.  The sauce appears in good quantity, and it is neither over-spiced nor bland.  I like it.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: Like the sauce, the cheese also appears in good quantity.  The cheese that comes on the pizza tastes a little bland, but sprinkling on some parmesan adds good flavor.  Only a slight excess of grease keeps this score from being higher.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The quantity of the toppings is better than average.  The crispy pepperoni has a slightly spicy flavor, and the sausage comes in nice large chunks.  Both meats have some spices, but neither is overspiced.  Score: 8/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: This pizza is overbaked, and the appearance testifies such.  Brooklyn Pizzeria has a nice dining area with 1 large TV.  Unfortunately, our service was terrible: we waited 20 minutes for 2 slices of pizza, and the restaurant was almost empty.  Much improvement is needed in the service.  Score: 4/10.

Value: For less than $8 you get two very large slices (probably from an 8-slice 18” pizza) and a drink.  The quality is better than average, so the value metric grades out pretty well here.  Score: 9/10.

Taste: Everything works together pretty well aside from the fact that the pizza is overbaked.  Brooklyn Pizza offers large, filling slices with abundant cheese, sauce, and toppings.  Yum!  Score: 17/20.

The Final Judgment:

Brooklyn Pizza is a cut below top-quality gourmet pizza, but it is a cut above most interstate town hotel pizzas.  I would recommend stopping here if you find yourself on I-40 in eastern Tennessee.  Score: 59/80.

Joe's New York Pizza in Seneca, SC

The Facts:

Pizza: Joe’s New York Pizza

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: http://joespizzaseneca.com/

Location: 625 By-Pass 123 in Seneca, SC

Date of Review Visit: March 21, 2015

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

Price: $14.02 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: Joe’s New York Pizza does not make the usual floppy, foldable, New York style crust.  Instead, this crust has medium thickness; it is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  The result is that this crust produces a non-descript almost manufactured taste.  To their credit, Joe’s does have a deep dish option, but it costs $2 extra.  The “traditional crust” that I had is passable but nothing stellar.  Score: 5/10.

Sauce: Unlike the crust, the sauce on this pizza is in-line with the traditional New York style, i.e. there is very little sauce.  What sauce exists is rather overspiced: I tasted the spices and not the tomatoes.  Some people may like this sauce, but it is not for me.  Score: 4/10.

Cheese: The cheese appears in sufficient quantity, and it produces some grease but not too much.  The cheese blend tastes like bland pure mozzarella, but sprinkling on some parmesan helps in the taste department.  Score: 6/10.

Toppings: Both the pepperoni and the sausage are pretty bad.  The pepperoni comes in thin slices of pepperoni, and the sausage appears as tiny shredded bits.  Even worse, the pepperoni has little flavor, and the sausage is overspiced.  The quantity is passable but not remarkable.  Score: 5/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The shredded sausage gives the pizza a crude appearance. The dining area features some nice TV’s tuned to sports events, and the purple and orange tables and chairs make sense due to the geographical proximity to Clemson University.  I had no problems with the service.  Score: 8/10.

Value: Joe’s pizza is not terribly expensive, but it is not of particularly good quality either.  The half-price Monday special would really help on the price side, but I came here on a Saturday.  Score: 5/10.

Taste: This pizza has too much spiciness from the sauce and the sausage and not enough flavor from anything else.  I’ve eaten worse tasting pizza before, but this combination does not work for me.  Score: 13/20.

The Final Judgment:

Some people really like this pizza, but I am not one of them.  In fact, this is one pizza I would not mind shipping back to New York.  I could see eating at Joe’s occasionally, but there are far better pizza options in the Clemson area (such as Todaro Pizza).  Score: 46/80.