Barro's Pizza near Phoenix, AZ

Basic Information:

Pizza: Barro's Pizza
Number of Locations: around 40, mostly near Phoenix
Location Reviewed: 5884 W. Arizona Pavilions Drive in Tucson, AZ (across the parking lot from Walmart at I-10, exit 246)

Website: https://barrospizza.com/
Date of Review Visit: February 2024
What I Ordered: medium (12") pizza with Italian sausage and pepperoni
Price: $14.12 (includes tax but no drink or tip)

Photos:

Summary Review: 5 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Barro's Pizza has a nice thick bready crust.  The texture has just the right amount of crispiness.  I really enjoyed this crust.  Score: 10/10.

Sauce: This pizza has plenty of sauce.  The sauce is not overspiced, but it might be oversalted.  Something makes this pizza taste very salty, and while I'm not sure it is the sauce, I couldn't isolate the saltiness anywhere else.  Thus, I'll factor the saltiness in here.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: This pizza has plenty of yummy cheese, but it produces quite a bit of grease.  Hence, a mandatory deduction applies.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The pepperoni is adequate: it has decent flavor with a little spiciness.  The sausage is fantastic: it comes in big chunks of pork with just the right amount of seasoning.  Both toppings appear in high quantity.  Score: 10/10.

Overall Taste: The heavy saltiness lowers the score on what is otherwise an excellent tasting pizza.  I wanted to write "this pizza is not as salty as Pizza Hut," but I'm not sure that's true.  Score: 8/10.

Pizza Appearance: Barro's Pizza looks like the yummy, robust pizza it is.

Dining Atmosphere: I ordered carryout, but their dining area looked like a nice casual dining room.

Customer Service: The service was quick and friendly.

Monetary Value: The price is a little high, but this is a 12" pizza, not the usual 10" pizza I usually order.  Thus, the value grades out well.

The Final Judgment:

Barro's is a true Phoenix success story, and I can see why.  Barro's makes a nice pizza if you can tolerate the saltiness.  Score: 90/100.

Lou Malnati's Pizzeria (Pizza Review #100)

Basic Information:

Pizza: Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria

Number of Locations: 81, mostly near Chicago, IL

Location Reviewed: 1050 E. Higgins Rd. in Elk Grove Village, IL

Website: https://www.loumalnatis.com/

Date of Review Visit: May 2019

What I Ordered: Personal Malnati Chicago Classic Pizza (8” deep dish sausage pizza); Coke to drink

Price: $11.99 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

Photos:

Summary Review: 5 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: True to its name, the crust on the pizza at Lou Malnati’s is an inch thick Chicago-style butter crust baked in a pan.  They do also offer a thin crust option, but I have no idea why.  I have not yet seen anyone do this style of crust better than Malnati’s does.  Score: 10/10.

Sauce: This pizza features a thick layer of sauce spread over the top.  The sauce has some chunks of tomato, which I don’t like.  However, the most important thing to me about any tomato sauce is that it tastes like tomatoes, and on that metric this sauce passes with flying colors.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: The cheese seems to be 100% mozzarella, and it appears in high quantity even though I had to look for it under the thick layer of sauce.  Score: 9/10.

Toppings: The sausage is an entire layer, and as you would expect on a Chicago-style pizza it appears in nice fresh chunks.  This is my favorite kind of pizza sausage.  Score: 10/10.

Overall Taste: Everything comes together really well.  Maybe this pizza has a little too much sauce with a few too many chunks of tomatoes.  Score: 9.5/10.

Pizza Appearance: The sauce and crust dominate the appearance, as usual for a true Chicago-style pizza.

Dining Atmosphere: The Elk Grove Village location has a dark dining room that is well-decorated with antique light chandeliers and antique-looking chairs.

Customer Service: The service was friendly and excellent, but the pizza took longer to make than it should have considering they weren’t that busy when I came here at 3pm on a Wednesday.

Monetary Value: The price is reasonable for pizza of this quality.  Therefore, while this is not cheap pizza, it does offer good value.

The Final Judgment:

A Chicago classic, Lou Malnati’s ranks right up with Uno’s and LaRosa’s as my favorite pizzas available.  Score: 93/100.