Cassano's Pizza near Dayton, OH

Basic Information:

Pizza: Cassano’s Pizza

Number of Locations: 33, all near Dayton, OH

Location: 588 W. Main Street in New Lebanon, OH (on US 35 near Family Dollar)

Website: https://www.cassanos.com/

Date of Review Visit: June 2015

What I Ordered: Small (9”) pizza with sausage and pepperoni; Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $9.51 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

Photo:

Summary Review: 3 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Cassano’s Pizza features a crispy thin crust.  The crust is similar to Donatos in style, but no cornmeal is baked into the crust for texture.  Like Donatos, the crust is loaded edge-to-edge with toppings and other good stuff.  My pizza was slightly overbaked but only slightly.  Overall, this crust does a solid job of what it is supposed to do, and for that it deserves good marks.  Score: 7/10.

Sauce: This pizza has almost no sauce, and therefore it is very under-sauced.  I could not even get a pinch of the sauce on my tongue to determine what it tastes like.  How do you rate something you can’t taste?  I’ll pretend I tasted a little and score it….  Score: 3/10.

Cheese: The cheese is applied with good quantity, but it produces too much grease to be good quality cheese.  They do give you the option of sprinkling on some parmesan for more flavor.  Score: 7/10.

Toppings: The quality of the toppings is a mixed bag.  The pepperoni comes in thin crunchy slices that are nothing to brag about.  The finely ground sausage is more appealing; it has a lot of fat but also some flavor.  Both toppings appear in good quantity.  Score: 6/10.

Overall Taste: Everything comes together pretty well.  The high amount of grease is the only real turn-off.  Score: 8/10.

Pizza Appearance: The pizza’s appearance is tidy but hurt by the overbaking.

Dining Atmosphere: The dining room atmosphere is purely functional.  The room features some very bad ceiling tiles that show heavy evidence of roof leaks.  On my visit the TV was tuned to a bad movie, so bad that I turned my back to the TV to prevent myself from watching it.

Customer Service: The service was prompt and helpful.

Value: The price is low, but this metric is value, not price.  Cassano’s small pizza only measures 9 inches, and the quality is not great.  Therefore, this pizza performs well on this metric but not as well as you might think.

The Final Judgment:

Somewhat of a Donatos want-to-be, Cassano’s is not bad for a change of pace, but it probably will not top your list.  There are better pizza options in this area (see LaRosa’s or Donatos, for example).  Score: 72/100.