Brixx Wood Fired Pizza

Basic Information:

Pizza: Brixx Wood Fired Pizza

Number of Locations: 20 across 4 states; based in Charlotte, NC

Location Reviewed: 30 Town Square Blvd. in Asheville, NC (in Biltmore Town Square shopping center)

Website: https://brixxpizza.com/

Date of Review Visit: January 2015

What I Ordered: 10” 4x4 pizza (4 meat, 4 cheese); Mr. Pibb to drink

Price: $15.19 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

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Summary Review: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Brixx’ pizza has a crispy thin crust that is partly blackened due to the wood fired baking technique.  The crust has very little taste; it mainly stays out of the way so that the other tastier items on this pizza can shine through.  My pizza was baked perfectly, which is hard to do in the high heat of a brick oven.  The crust is not the strength of this pizza, but it is pretty good for what it is.  Score: 7/10.

Sauce: This criterion is not applicable: the particular pizza I ordered has no sauce.  I want to give a final judgment score out of 80, so I took an average of the scores from the other criteria and rounded up.  Score: 9/10.

Cheese: The 4x4 pizza features a mixture of 4 cheeses: mozzarella, parmesan, gouda, and goat.  This mixture sports a flavorful taste, and it is applied with plenty of quantity.  Freshly grated parmesan applied by the waitress at my table is always a nice touch.  Score: 10/10.

Toppings: The sausage is too spicy for my taste, but the prosciutto and bacon are among the best I have ever had.  All toppings appear in plenty of quantity.  Score: 9/10.

Overall Taste: Everything comes together to yield a light and flavorful taste that I really like.  This pizza wins your taste palette with subtlety rather than brute force.  Score: 9.5/10.

Pizza Appearance: The slightly blackened crusted gives a nice well-baked appearance.

Dining Atmosphere: Brixx’ restaurants have an upscale casual dining atmosphere.  There are large TV’s and paintings for sale on the walls.

Customer Service: The service at Brixx is among the best I have ever experienced at a pizza restaurant.

Monetary Value: As you would expect for pizza this good, the price is not cheap.  Brixx only makes 10” pizzas, so you get no help on price by ordering larger pizzas as you might at other pizzerias.  Every pizza has its weakness, and this is it for Brixx.

The Final Judgment:

I might not be a regular here due to the price, but for special occasions Brixx can hardly be beat.  I highly recommend Brixx when you want a first class pizza experience.  Score: 88/100.

Donatos Pizza

Basic Information:

Pizza: Donatos Pizza

Number of Locations: 200+ locations across 6 states; based in Columbus, OH

Location Reviewed: 8484 Winton Road in Cincinnati, OH (across the street from the Finneytown Kroger)

Website: https://www.donatos.com/

Date of Review Visit: January 2015

What I Ordered: medium (12”) pizza with pepperoni

Price: $10.99 (pizza only)

Photos:

Summary Review: 5 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Donatos is famous for its thin crust pizza, but this thin crust is not as thin as you find on some pizzas: it is almost ½ inch thick.  This type of crust allows Donatos to pile toppings edge to edge, a key point in the company’s marketing strategy.  Some cornmeal baked into bottom of the crust adds nice texture.  I am not a thin crust fan, but this is not your typical thin crust.  Score: 9/10.

Sauce: The sauce appears in appropriate quantity, and it is spread evenly over the entire pizza.  The sauce is definitely not overspiced, a major pitfall among pizza sauces.  To the contrary, this sauce has a strong sweet taste that I really like.  Score: 10/10.

Cheese: The cheese may be the weakness of this pizza.  The pizza is not undercheesed, but the cheese gets overshadowed by the sauce and toppings.  Likewise, the taste of the cheese gets lost as well.  On the bright side, this cheese does not produce much grease, a testament to its quality.  Overall, the cheese is not bad but not great either.  Score: 7/10.

Toppings: As I mentioned before, Donatos markets their pizza by emphasizing the edge-to-edge toppings.  Thus, the toppings appear in plenty of quantity.  The pepperoni more or less forms another layer, and it has a crisp taste with just the right amount of spiciness.  From past experience, I know the sausage is pretty good too.  Score: 10/10.

Overall Taste: Everything comes together to produce a taste that grows on you the more you eat it.  Donatos Pizza is not quite elite, but it is very good.  Score: 9/10.

Pizza Appearance: Donatos cuts their pizza into odd rectangular-shaped slices, not the usual wedge-shaped.  I am not sure the cutting style is bad, but it does give the pizza an odd appearance with some pieces much larger than others.  The edge-to-edge toppings give it a nice decked-out look.

Dining Atmosphere: The restaurants’ atmosphere is purely functional.

Customer Service: I have never had a problem with the service at Donatos.

Monetary Value: Donatos makes good quality pizza at an average price, so the quality/price ratio grades out pretty well.  I always found I needed a larger pizza than usual at Donatos due to the thin crust, or is it due to the fact that the pizza is so good I eat it faster?

The Final Judgment:

Donatos may be my second favorite pizza in Cincinnati (behind only LaRosa’s).  It deserves to be a regular part of your pizza rotation.  Score: 89/100.

Hungry Howie's Pizza

Basic Information:

Pizza: Hungry Howie’s Pizza

Number of Locations: many across 21 states; based in Michigan

Location Reviewed: 1601 S. Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach, SC

Website: https://www.hungryhowies.com/

Date of Review Visit: December 2014

What I Ordered: small (10”) pizza with pepperoni and sausage

Price: $5.52 (on special; regular price is $8.19)

Photos:

Summary Review: 4 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Although Hungry Howie’s is based in Michigan, they do not make the thick pan crust we often see from that part of the world.  Instead, the crust on this pizza is flat with only medium thickness.  I found the crust very chewy, possibly because my pizza was slightly overbaked.  This crust is solid, but it does not really stand out.  Score: 7/10.

Sauce: This criterion is a tough call.  The pizza is undersauced, but the sauce that does exist has quite good taste, not too sweet and not too spicy.  I don’t like a lot of sauce, so I will lean toward the positive side on this criterion.  Score: 7/10.

Cheese: The cheese appears in high quantity and has a pleasant taste, but it also produces a fair amount of grease.  The grease is always a warning sign and always prevents a high score.  Score: 7/10.

Toppings: There is a good bit of variation in topping quality.  The pepperoni has a nice crisp, almost old-world taste.  The sausage, on the other hand, is pretty tasteless and nondescript.  This criterion is another tough call, but I will go slightly better than middle.  Score: 6/10.

Overall Taste: Everything comes together pretty well here.  This score would be higher but for the grease.  Score: 8/10.

Pizza Appearance: The wide area of plain crust around the pizza's edge is a bit of a turn-off, but the overall appearance is passable.

Dining Atmosphere: The dining room is purely functional.

Customer Service: The service was also purely functional on my visit.

Monetary Value: Thanks to the special they were running on my visit, the value for me was fantastic.  You will rarely find pizza this good for this cheap even if you have to pay the full price.

The Final Judgment:

For this price, you will not find better pizza hardly anywhere.  Hungry Howie’s gets 1.5 thumbs up from Hungry Big Dave the Parks Professor.  Score: 80/100.

Pizza Inn

Basic Information:

Pizza: Pizza Inn

Number of Locations: about 100 across 13 states, mostly in the south and southeast

Location Reviewed: 515 Roe Center Court in Travelers Rest, SC

Website: https://www.pizzainn.com/

Date of Review Visit: October 2014

What I Ordered: weekend pizza buffet; Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $9.91 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

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Summary Review: 1 star (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Because Pizza Inn offers a pizza buffet, the most obvious comparable national chain is Cici’s.  As with most buffet pizzas (including Cici’s), the crust is not this pizza’s strength.  The crust has an unusual texture: it is thin and crispy but flaky.  The real problem is that this crust is almost completely tasteless.  Therefore, the points earned on this criterion are almost completely nonexistent.  Score: 1/10.

Sauce: This pizza has very little sauce.  What sauce does exist is unremarkable in terms of taste or texture.  Score: 1/10.

Cheese: I don’t mean to sound repetitive, but this pizza has very little cheese.  The taste of the cheese is unremarkable, but the fairly low amount of grease keeps this mark from being super low.  Score: 3/10.

Toppings: As usual with a pizza buffet, the quality of the toppings varies with the topping.  My favorite topping at Pizza Inn is the pepperoni: it has nice flavor without being overspiced.  The other toppings are average at best.  Score: 4/10.

Overall Taste: Let’s be straightforward here: this pizza has very little taste, plain and simple.  Moreover, some of the pizza on the buffet was cold.  Much improvement is needed here.  Score: 4.5/10.

Pizza Appearance: The pizza’s appearance is passable for buffet pizza but uninspiring overall.

Dining Atmosphere: The semi-carnival kids atmosphere is similar to Cici’s

Customer Service: The table service for your drink is a nice touch you don’t get at Cici’s, but if you have to serve yourself pizza off of the buffet, is it too much extra effort to serve yourself the drink also?

Monetary Value: The pizza quality is slightly better than Cici’s, but the price is more expensive.  Thus, although the value for almost any pizza buffet is above average, Pizza Inn does not present the great value that Cici’s does.

The Final Judgment:

In the battle of chain pizza buffets, Cici’s wins by a decent margin.  Whether you want good quality or good value, you can do better than Pizza Inn.  Score: 51/100.

Fuel Pizza in Charlotte, NC

Basic Information:

Pizza: Fuel Pizza

Number of Locations: 1

Location Reviewed: 500 S. College St. in Charlotte, NC (Update: this location is now closed.  The only remaining location is at 1501 Central Avenue in Charlotte.)

Website: http://www.fuelpizza.com/

Date of Review Visit: August 2014

What I Ordered: 1 slice of extreme (all meat) pizza and a fountain drink

Price: $5.72

Photo:

Summary Review: 3 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Like Pie in the Sky, the first of my two downtown Charlotte pizza indulgences of the day, Fuel Pizza makes New York style pizza.  The crust has nice thickness and texture, but the taste is a little stale and bland.  I wonder how long that slice of pizza was sitting in the display case before I came along and ordered it….  Score: 8/10.

Sauce: The sauce has light quantity, as you would expect for a New York style pizza, but it seems almost pasted on.  This sauce has no spices to flavor it, but it does have a good tomato-ful taste.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: Fuel Pizza does not use a lot of cheese, but the cheese that is on this pizza is baked to a nice golden brown.  The cheese is not greasy, and it has pretty good flavor.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The toppings should be the strength of an all meat pizza, but they are not in this case.  All toppings appear in good quantity, but all of them have very little flavor.  The toppings just sit there, and that’s not good.  Score: 5/10.

Overall Taste: This pizza does not have much taste.  Everything from the cheese to the sauce to the toppings is pretty non-descript.  Score: 6.5/10.

Pizza Appearance: The pizza’s appearance is OK except for the low quantity of cheese.

Dining Atmosphere: The dining area at Fuel Pizza features lots of historic oil and gas signs and antiques.  Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz of American Pickers would love this dining room.

Customer Service:  The service was passable but nonchalant.  

Monetary Value: True this is an all meat pizza, but I only ordered one slice, and I got a small slice at that.  You can get 2 slices of pizza and a drink at Pie in the Sky just a few blocks away for about the same price.

The Final Judgment:

Fuel Pizza makes a passable product, but there are better pizzas around.  That statement holds whether you look from the value or quality perspective.  Score: 73/100.

Pie in the Sky Pizza in Charlotte, NC

Basic Information:

Pizza: Pie in the Sky Pizza

Number of Locations: 1

Location Reviewed: 320 South Tryon Street in Charlotte, NC (in Latta Arcade)

Website: https://pieintheskycharlotte.com/

Date of Review Visit: August 2014

What I Ordered: 2 slices of pepperoni pizza and a fountain drink

Price: $5.97

Photos:

Summary Review: 4 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Pie in the Sky Pizza (ironically located on the ground floor of Latta Arcade) features a nice New York style crust.  Unlike most crusts of this style, this crust does not fold because they reheat the pizza slices when you order them.  Thus, the crust comes out crispy, but it still has a nice fresh taste.  Score: 9/10.

Sauce: The sauce appears in lighter than average quantity, which is typical for New York style pizza.  The sauce is not overspiced, and it fits well with the rest of the pizza.  Score: 9/10.

Cheese: The cheese has decent taste, but it is very greasy.  Grease runs off of the pizza when you lean it sideways.  This area needs some work.  Score: 5/10.

Toppings: The slices of pepperoni are thin, but they have just the right amount of spiciness.  Also, the pepperoni appears in sufficient quantity.  Overall, there is more to like here than to not like.  Score: 8/10.

Overall Taste: The cheese ensures that this pizza is too greasy to earn a high score in this category.  That’s too bad, because otherwise the taste is well-balanced and pretty good.  Score: 7.5/10.

Pizza Appearance: The pizza’s appearance is passable but not exceptional.

Dining Atmosphere: Due to the downtown location, space is at a premium. Thus, the restaurant gives the feel of trying to cram as much as possible into as little space as possible.  There are some humorous old-timey signs on the wall.

Customer Service: The men behind the counter remembered me on only my second visit.  That fact may be due to my awesomely handsome looks (tongue firmly planted in cheek), but it is probably due to their excellent service.

Monetary Value: Pie in the Sky’s lunch special made the value very high.  The drink was too small relative to the food, but this is a pizza blog, not a Dr. Pepper blog.

The Final Judgment:

Pie in the Sky is slightly better than your typical downtown pizzeria, and it is way better than the infamous Sbarro.  I recommend coming here at least occasionally.  Score: 83/100.

Pizza 9 in New Mexico

Basic Information:

Pizza: Pizza 9

Number of Locations: 9, mostly in New Mexico

Location Reviewed: 1965 Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe, NM (Update: this location is now closed.  The closest location is in Albuquerque.)

Website: https://pizzanine.com/

Date of Review Visit: July 2014

What I Ordered: Medium (12”) all meat pizza with 2 fountain drinks

Price: $19.47 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

Photo:

Summary Review: 4 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: True to its advertising, Pizza 9 makes Chicago-style deep dish pizzas.  The crust is about an inch thick, but it is far from the thickest crust I have ever eaten.  This crust is definitely better than any of the so-called pan crusts offered by the national pizza chains.  The spices sprinkled on the crust are an added bonus.  Score: 9/10.

Sauce: The sauce appears in light but passable quantity.  The bits of onions in the sauce are a major turn-off for me: I do not like finding chunks of anything in my sauce.  Like the crust, the sauce is also highly spiced.  Score: 5/10.

Cheese: The cheese appears in excellent quantity with some spilling over onto the crust.  The taste of the cheese is rather indistinctive, but it is certainly not bad.  Score: 7/10.

Toppings: All toppings appear in good quantity, and the huge chunks of sausage fit perfectly with the robust nature of this pizza.  Unfortunately, the spiciness of the sausage somewhat overpowers the taste of the other toppings.  That not withstanding, the toppings are a strength of this pizza.  Score: 9/10.

Overall Taste: The spices in the crust, sauce, and sausage add up to give the pizza a slightly overspiced taste.  Otherwise, the taste is pretty good.  Score: 8/10.

Pizza Appearance: The pizza looks like the stomach-filling Chicago-style pizza it is.

Dining Atmosphere: The dining room has a high-energy party style atmosphere complete with video games.

Customer Service: The service was fantastic: they even unlocked the back door to let us in when we parked on the wrong side of the building.

Monetary Value: The price is high for good but not great quality pizza, but you need to remember that 1) this was dinner for 2, not 1 like usual for me, and 2) this is an all meat pizza.  Their party packages would help on the price side for groups.  As is for my order, the price/quality ratio grades out about average.

The Final Judgment:

Pizza 9 is not the best Chicago-style pizza I have ever eaten, but it is pretty good.  I recommend coming here at least on occasion.  Score: 80/100.