Larry's Pizza in Central Arkansas

The Facts:

Pizza: Larry’s Pizza

Business Category: Regional Chain (11 locations, all in central Arkansas)

Website: http://larryspizzaofarkansas.com/

Location: 12911 Cantrell Rd. (beside Wells Fargo Advisors)

Date of Review Visit: March 14, 2017

What I Ordered: Medium pizza (12”) with sausage and pepperoni

Price: $12.20

The Micro:

Crust: The crust at Larry’s Pizza is of the ultra thin and crispy southern style.  My pizza was baked just the right amount, which is not easy to do when the crust is this thin.  Overall, this crust has good texture and consistency, but it has absolutely no flavor.  Score: 7/10.

Sauce: There is almost no sauce on this pizza, and what little sauce there is has no flavor.  While thin crust pizzas are usually lightly sauced, Larry’s takes that principal to the extreme.  Score: 1/10.

Cheese: This pizza tastes fairly salty, probably due to the cheese.  The cheese appears in sufficient quantity, but it has no flavor.  (Do you see a trend developing?) Score: 4/10.

Toppings: The sausage is of the pellet variety with some spices but, I repeat again, no flavor.  The pepperoni is a little better: it is crispy, and you can actually taste the meat.  Both appear in good quantity.  Score: 6/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The toppings dominate the pizza’s appearance, as you would expect for a thin crust pizza.  I ordered carry-out, but this location has a nice large dining area with a Cici’s style party room.  The service was questionable: the lady taking my order did not know how large a medium pizza was.  Score: 7/10.

Value: Even for a 12” pizza, this pizza is very overpriced relative to what you put in your mouth.  Larry’s offers a lunch and dinner pizza buffet that would help on the price, but the buffet was not open when I stopped by in the mid-afternoon.  Score: 3/10.

Taste: The best tasting thing about this pizza might be the crust, which means that the overall taste is pretty bland.  Score: 11/20.

The Final Judgment:

I could see coming here as an alternative to Cici’s, but save for the occasional self-gourding via pizza there are far better pizza options around.  Score: 39/80.

Tony's Pizza and Subs in upstate South Carolina

The Facts:

Pizza: Tony’s Pizza and Subs

Business Category: Regional Chain (all locations in upstate South Carolina)

Website: https://www.facebook.com/tonyspizzaandsubsanderson/

Location: 3750 N Highway 81 in Anderson, SC (beside Food Lion)

Date of Review Visit: March 11, 2017

What I Ordered: Large pizza (14”) with sausage and pepperoni

Price: $12.83

The Micro:

Crust: The crust at Tony’s Pizza and Subs is interesting and hard to classify.  The crust has medium thickness, and while it is crispy around the edge, it is a little crispy and a little soggy underneath. Overall, I like this crust, but I don’t like the borderline sogginess.  Score: 7/10.

Sauce: This sauce has the nice tomatoey taste I like, and it appears in good quantity.  This item is the strength of the pizza.  Score: 10/10.

Cheese: Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the cheese.  This pizza is slightly undercheesed, and the pizza tastes very salty, probably due to the cheese.  Moreover, there is no real flavor to the cheese blend on this pizza.  Needless to say, the cheese needs improvement.  Score: 3/10.

Toppings: The sausage has the ominous pellet look but not the horrible pellet taste: it has some flavor and spiciness.  The pepperoni is crispy and just spicy enough.  Both toppings appear in good quantity.  Score: 8/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: You can’t see the sausage because it has the same color as the cheese.  Also, my pizza’s slices were not cut evenly.  I ordered carry out, but the dining atmosphere offers the unremarkable casual storefront setting that you can find in almost every city.  The service was fast and friendly.  Score: 5/10.

Value: The price is cheap, but there are some quality issues.  Thus, the value score is not as high as you might expect.  Score: 7/10.

Taste: As odd as it seems given some of my comments above, the pizza as a whole tastes pretty good except for the saltiness.  The lack of cheese also hurts a little, but the main detractor is the saltiness.  Score: 15/20.

The Final Judgment:

Tony’s Pizza and Subs is a solid pizza option to add to your pizza rotation.  While not my favorite pizza in the Upstate, I recommend coming here at least occasionally if only for a change of pace.  Score: 55/80.

MOD Pizza

The Facts:

Pizza: MOD Pizza

Business Category: National Chain (locations in 21 states and the UK)

Website: https://modpizza.com/

Location: 2135 Ashley Phosphate Rd. in North Charleston, SC (I-26 exit 209)

Date of Review Visit: February 24, 2017

What I Ordered: MOD pizza (11”) with mild sausage, Canadian bacon, and pepperoni; Coke to drink

Price: $10.78 (includes drink and tax)

The Micro:

Crust: MOD Pizza uses the build-your-own pizza model with vats of potential toppings placed before you, hence the name MOD.  MOD Pizza features an ultra thin, somewhat flavorless, crispy crust that would not hold the weight of toppings I tried to make it bear.  My crust was slightly blackened on the bottom, which is expected for a crust this thin.  This crust does the job, but that’s about it.  Score: 7/10.

Sauce: The sauce tastes almost spicy.  The pizza would be undersauced were it not for the thin crust.  Overall, this sauce is not the best, but it is OK for what it is.  Score: 6/10.

Cheese: MOD Pizza offers plenty of cheese options.  I chose mozzarella and parmesan, but I could barely taste the parmesan.  The cheese appears in good quantity, but it also produces quite a bit of grease.  Hence, a small additional deduction is required on this criterion.  Score: 7/10.

Toppings: The pepperoni is excellent: crispy and slightly spicy.  The topping they call “mild sausage” tastes more like sweet Italian sausage than mild American sausage, but that is a subtle difference.  The Canadian bacon is unremarkable.  All toppings appear in good quantity.  MOD does not charge by topping, so you are encouraged to load up in this department.  Score: 9/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza looks like the thin crust pizza loaded with toppings that it is.  MOD Pizza has a nice casual dining atmosphere.   Service is counter rather than table, which is effective and saves on the tip.  Score: 10/10.

Value: The price is not cheap, but you can get as many toppings as you want.  Also, this pizza is pretty good quality, and therefore it is pretty good value.  Score: 9/10.

Taste: Believe it or not, the overall taste is a little underwhelming.  Be sure to choose some tasty toppings because they are the main flavor contributors.  The grease is also a deduction.  Score: 16/20.

The Final Judgment:

MOD Pizza ranks near the top of the build-your-own pizza category in my book.  It is similar to Your Pie but slightly better and slightly cheaper.  Score: 64/80.