The Facts:
Pizza: Antonio’s Pizza and Pasta
Business Category: Single Store
Location: 142 McNeely Rd. in Powdersville, SC (across the
street from Aldi and WalMart)
Date of Review Visit: October 19, 2019
What I Ordered: large (18”) pizza with sausage, pepperoni,
and ham; coke to drink
Price: $25.92 (includes tax and drink but not tip)
The Micro:
Crust: Antonio’s offers two crusts: Sicilian and
traditional. I tried to order the
Sicilian crust, but I was told they were “out of” 16” Sicilian crusts. Thus, their crusts may not be freshly
made. The traditional crust I did manage
to order is thick and crispy with a very hard texture; it was tough to cut with
a knife or bite with my teeth. The crust
has a fresh bready taste, but it is very bulky and hard to eat. Score: 3/10.
Sauce: This pizza is undersauced, but what sauce does exist
has a nice tomatoey taste. Score: 5/10.
Cheese: This pizza is also slightly undercheesed, and the
cheese does not have a lot of flavor. Fortunately,
it also does not produce a lot of grease.
Score: 4/10.
Toppings: The sausage is a chunky sliced Italian sausage
with only a little bit of spiciness.
Likewise the pepperoni has only a little spiciness. The ham has almost a honey glazed taste, and
I really like it. All toppings appear in
about average quantity. Score: 9/10.
The Macro:
Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The thick and wide crust
dominates the appearance. Antonio’s
dining area offers a nice dining atmosphere with faux wood tables. The service was slow, and the waitress didn’t
tell me they were out of Sicilian crusts until several minutes after I ordered. Score: 7/10.
Value: The price is quite high, even for an 18” pizza with
three toppings. Score: 3/10.
Taste: The hard crust and lack of sauce really hurt here,
which is too bad because the toppings left an interesting sweet and spicy
combination on my tongue. Score: 14/20.
The Final Judgment:
Large groups seem to really like Antonio’s, probably for
their large pizzas, but for a single guy like me it’s only OK. Score: 45/80.
