Red Tomato Greek and Italian Cuisine in Anderson, SC

Basic Information:

Pizza: Red Tomato Greek and Italian Cuisine
Number of Locations: 1
Location Reviewed: 3907A Clemson Boulevard in Anderson, SC (across the street from Anderson Ford)

Website: https://theredtomatorestaurant.com/
Date of Review Visit: May 2024
What I Ordered: small (9") pizza with sausage, pepperoni, and ham; Dr. Pepper to drink
Price: $13.83 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

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Summary Review: 4 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Red Tomato makes southern-style thin crust pizza.  It is hard to bake this kind of pizza perfectly, and my pizza seemed to be a little overbaked: the crust was too hard to be described as crispy.  This isn't my favorite kind of crust, and it is not done particularly well.  Score: 4/10.

Sauce: The sauce has a fresh taste and appears in adequate quantity, but it is a little overspiced.  This is not a bad sauce, but for a restaurant named Red Tomato I really expected an elite sauce.  This sauce is nowhere near elite.  Score: 7/10.

Cheese: This pizza has plenty of yummy stringy cheese that produces very little grease.  Score: 10/10.

Toppings: The sausage and ham have a nice fresh pork flavor.  The pepperoni comes in thin slices that were somewhat burnt, again probably because my pizza was overbaked.  All toppings appear in satisfactory quantity.  Score: 9/10.

Overall Taste: Red Tomato offers an odd mix of things to like and things to not like.  The overall taste is held back by the overspiced sauce and by the fact that my pizza was somewhat overbaked.  Score: 8/10.

Pizza Appearance: This pizza has a nice tidy appearance, and it comes served on an expensive-looking wooden platter.

Dining Atmosphere: Red Tomato has a small dining area that is beautifully decorated with nice music and comfortable seats.

Customer Service: The service was friendly, attentive, and very southern on my visit.

Monetary Value: This pizza is not crazy expensive for a nice dining experience and decent quality pizza.  Thus, the value ranks quite high.

The Final Judgment:

Red Tomato has its strong points, but they need to use more tomatoes and be more precise with the baking.  In this part of Anderson, I like DaVinci's more but Fyre less.  Score: 83/100.

Brittany's Brick Oven Pizza in Madison, IN

Basic Information:

Pizza: Brittany's Brick Oven Pizza (B-Bop's)
Number of Locations: 1
Location Review: 2034 Lanier Drive in Madison, IN (on SR 7 just south of SR 62)

Website: https://www.brittanyspizza.com/
Date of Review Visit: May 2024
What I Ordered: personal (6.5") Sinister Six pizza (6 meat pizza), Mr. Pibb to drink
Price: $13.58 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

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Summary Review: 5 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Locally known as B-Bop's, Brittany's Brick Oven Pizza uses an award-winning recipe for their crust that requires slow proofing the dough for 2-4 days.  The crust comes out crispy and even blackened, but it still has a fresh doughy taste.  This is one of the best crusts I have ever had.  Score: 10/10.

Sauce: The sauce has a thick texture and fresh tomatoey taste.  It appears in adequate quantity.  What's not to like?  Score: 10/10.

Cheese: This pizza has a nice thick layer of yummy white cheese that does not produce a lot of grease.  Score: 10/10.

Toppings: Strangely enough, only the bacon stands out among the toppings: it is slightly crispy and has a slight smoky flavor.  The other 5 meats blend together to produce a fresh pork flavor but are indistinguishable from each other.  Score: 9/10.

Overall Taste: I would have liked to have tasted the individual meats a little more, but the overall taste is hard to beat.  Score: 9.5/10.

Pizza Appearance: The blackened areas give this pizza very much a wood-fired appearance.

Dining Atmosphere: B-Bop's has a basic dining atmosphere with nice chairs and 1960's music programming on TV's.

Customer Service: The service was quick and witty.

Monetary Value: For high quality pizza, the price is surprisingly low.  Large pizzas are an even better value.

The Final Judgment:

We have a new high scoring pizza!  B-Bop's is a tiny shop in a small town, but you won't find better pizza anywhere.  Score: 96/100.