R&B Pizza Place in Pittsburgh, PA

Basic Information:

Pizza: R&B’s Pizza Place

Number of Locations: 1

Location Reviewed: 107 Smithfield Street in downtown Pittsburgh (Update: this location is now closed.  Their only remaining location is in Bellevue, PA.)

Website: https://www.rbspizza.com/

Date of Review Visit: July 2017

What I Ordered: slice of sausage pizza; French fries; Pepsi fountain drink

(lunch combo #1)

Price: $6.06

Photo:

Summary Review: 3 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: R&B’s Pizza Place makes pizza with the thick northern-style crust.  The crust has a nice crispy texture, but nothing else really offends or stands out about this crust.  Score: 6/10.

Sauce: This pizza is quite undersauced, and what sauce there is has little flavor.  Score: 3/10.

Cheese: R&B Pizza has a nice base cheese, but they also add an extra layer of mozzarella on top of the base.  Thus, the cheese is the strength of this pizza. Score: 9/10.

Toppings: The sausage appears in decent quantity, but the ground up sausage has very little flavor.  Score: 5/10.

Overall Taste: French fries and pizza is an odd combination, and the crispy French fries may have tasted as good as the pizza.  I never thought I would write that in a pizza blog.  Score: 6/10.

Pizza Appearance: The extra mozzarella gives this pizza a white appearance.

Dining Atmosphere: The cramped dining area is typical for a downtown pizza place.

Customer Service: The service is counter service and was fine on my visit.

Monetary Value: This pizza’s quality leaves somewhat to be desired.  However, the price is cheap, as R&B Pizza offers some of the least expensive pizza in downtown Pittsburgh.  Therefore, this is the place to come for value.

The Final Judgment:

The two pizza places I visited in downtown Pittsburgh arrived at nearly the same final score but by very different avenues.  Pizza Parma has slightly better quality, but R&B’s Pizza Place offers slightly better value.  Score: 73/100.

Pizza Parma in Pittsburgh, PA

Basic Information:

Pizza: Pizza Parma

Number of Locations: 2, both near Pittsburgh, PA

Location Reviewed: 823 Penn Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh (Update: this location is now closed.  Their other downtown location is at 963 Liberty Avenue.)

Website: https://www.pizzaparma.us/

Date of Review Visit: July 2017

What I Ordered: Personal (8”) pepperoni pizza; 20 oz. Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $9.62 (on the lunch menu)

Photos:

Summary Review: 3 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: The pizza at Pizza Parma features a thick northern-style crust.  The crust has an extremely tough consistency: I could not cut it with the plastic knife and fork Pizza Parma provides.  The crust’s consistency is probably due to the fact that my pizza was slightly overbaked.  The crust has a nice fresh taste, but the tough consistency keeps this score down.  Score: 5/10.

Sauce: The sauce has a somewhat unremarkable tomatoey taste.  It appears in good quantity.  Score: 7/10.

Cheese: The yummy stringy cheese appears in excellent quantity, but it produces quite a bit of grease.  Thus, a mandatory deduction applies.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The pepperoni appears in good quantity, but it also comes in thin slices with little spiciness or flavor.  Score: 6/10.

Overall Taste: This pizza’s taste is more than passable, but nothing really makes it stand out.  Score: 7/10.

Pizza Appearance: The pizza has a nice symmetrical, somewhat orange appearance.

Dining Atmosphere: The dining atmosphere is the cramped no-amenities dining room you would expect from a downtown location.

Customer Service: I actually ordered a personal sausage pizza, not the personal pepperoni pizza they made for me, so the service gaffe leads to a deduction.

Monetary Value: Pizza Parma is about average in quality, but it is not too expensive compared to other downtown lunch spots: you can and I did pay $14 for a hamburger in downtown Pittsburgh.  On the down side, the lunch special only saves you $0.50.

The Final Judgment:

Of the many small pizza places in downtown Pittsburgh, Pizza Parma is one of them.  I found nothing horrific here but nothing particularly commendable either.  Pizza Parma is a passable quick lunch destination but nothing more.  Score: 74/100.