Pizza House in Travelers Rest, SC

Basic Information:

Pizza: Pizza House

Number of Locations: 1

Location Reviewed: 310 Poplar Street Extension in Travelers Rest, SC (visible from US 25)

Website: https://www.pizzahousetravelersrest.com/

Date of Review Visit: October 2013

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

Price: $10.64 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

Photo:

Summary Review: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Pizza House makes the nice, inch-thick crust that I like.  The crust is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, as it should be.  Some cheese that spills over onto the crust adds to the flavor.  Occasionally the crust seems bulky and tasteless, but for the most part I really like it.  Score: 9/10.

Sauce: The pizza is somewhat under-sauced, and the sauce does not have a lot of flavor or seasoning.  The oddest part about this sauce is the temperature: the sauce is much hotter (in terms of temperature, not spiciness) than the rest of the pizza.  This fact might be a consequence of the way this pizza is cheesed (see below), and I can’t say I like the sauce this way.  Score: 6/10.

Cheese: The cheesing is also unusual: there is a thick layer of white cheese in the middle of the pizza and almost none toward the edges.  Thus, the pizza is only undercheesed if you insist the cheese go all of the way to the edge.  The only real problem in my view is that the cheese does not have much flavor.  Overall, slightly above average marks here.  Score: 6/10.

Toppings: Aside from perhaps the crust, the toppings are the strength of this pizza.  The ground-up sausage almost forms another layer, and there is plenty of pepperoni too.  Neither the sausage nor the pepperoni are particularly spicy, and their tastes are pretty good but not stellar. Score: 9/10.

Overall Taste: Some of the parts grade out well, but nothing on this pizza adds any real flavor.  Thus, the blandness of the thick crust governs the entire taste metric.  The taste is not bad, but it is not particularly good either.  Score: 8/10.

Pizza Appearance: Removing the pizza from the pan gives the pizza an unrefined look, as does the odd cheesing and the sausage “layer.”

Dining Atmosphere: The dining room has not been updated for at least 25 years, and the seats have no padding.  The dirty ceiling tiles make the dining room’s appearance even worse.  Some serious improvement is in order here.

Customer Service: I like the friendly, homey style of the service at Pizza House.

Monetary Value: The price is reasonable, and the quality is above average.  Pizza House seems to be a favorite stop for families with kids.  Overall, the value grades out pretty well.

The Final Judgment:

Pizza House makes a quality if somewhat unspectacular pizza.  A renovation of the dining area would take this pizza place to the next level.  As is, I come here occasionally, but Pizza House is not my favorite pizza restaurant.  Score: 77/100.

Gondolier Pizza

Basic Information:

Pizza: Gondolier Pizza

Number of Locations: 19 locations across 4 states; based in Cleveland, TN

Location Reviewed: 6901 Lee Highway in Chattanooga, TN

Website: https://gondolierpizza.com/

Date of Review Visit: October 2013

What I Ordered: 2 small pizzas, 1 with sausage and pepperoni, and 1 with sausage and onions

Price: $11.84 (includes tax but not drink)

Photos:

Summary Review: 4 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: The crust is a nice, thick crust baked to a perfect golden brown.  The crust does not have a lot of taste, but it does its job without being bulky or distasteful.  This is not the best crust ever, but it is pretty good.  Score: 8/10.

Sauce: You hardly notice the sauce thanks to all the cheese (see below), but that is not because the pizza is undersauced.  The sauce does not have a strong taste, and even though it may do little to add to the pizza, it certainly does nothing to detract from it.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: This is probably not the tastiest blend of cheese I have ever eaten, but the quantity more than makes up for any blandness.  The cheese covers the pizza from crust to crust with a thick layer of off-white goodness.  Memo to the national chains: this how you cheese a pizza.  Score: 10/10.

Toppings: As good as the cheese is, the toppings are almost as bad.  The sausage appears as tiny ground balls, and the thin slices of pepperoni add only a little flavor.  The quantity is decent but not excellent.  There is room for improvement here. Score: 5/10.

Overall Taste: The cheese and crust make a nice combination, but the taste of this pizza is held back by the quality of the toppings.  I do like the taste of this pizza, but it could be better. Score: 8/10.

Pizza Appearance: The appearance of the pizza is satisfactory except that the cheese looks too white to me.

Dining Atmosphere: The dining room has a casual family atmosphere with big screen TV’s.

Customer Service: The service was quick and attentive.

Monetary Value: Now here’s an odd case.  Gondolier sells their pizzas buy-one-get-one free.  If you only buy 1 pizza, the value is probably average at best.  Buy two and the value/quality ratio starts to tip in your favor.  Thus, you should bring a friend or take one home for tomorrow whenever you come to Gondolier.

The Final Judgment:

Gondolier makes a pretty good pizza, and it is significantly better than the national chains.  I will come here again the next time I am in the Chattanooga area.  Score: 84/100.