Steve's Wood Fired Pizza

Critic's Review

Last week I exposed the truth about Tucci's Coal Fired pizza, so this week it's time to see what wood fired pizza is all about. It's the same basic concept; higher temperatures somehow produce a better pizza. I'm not sure I'm buying it. The best pizzas I've had were from Long Island where all of the ovens are those commercial stainless steel ones.

I ordered the pizza on the phone, and they asked for my phone#, name, and then my last name. I think I've expressed my disdain for places that ask for a last name. Are they expecting another Dennis with the same phone number to order? Here's a message to restaurant owners everywhere: Don't ask for last names. It's none of your business. We don't ask your cashier's last name, so don't ask for ours.

They're located quite a ways out west on glades in a strip mall that's deserted on a Sunday night. I saw the pizzamaker (maybe Steve?) working on some pretty small pizzas; my box came out and it was kind of small also. I'd ordered a large pizza with 1/2 sausage; it does say on their web site that their large pies are 14" so I should have known. They told me the price and it didn't hit me immediately ; $18.63. I took the pie and left.

It's a pretty nice looking pizza; they use the good sausage and there was just enough cheese; real cheese, and it wasn't flash fused to the crust like Tucci's. The sauce is very good; the tastes throughout were good. The sauce, cheese, sausage. The only thing was that the crust was a bit too mealy; a bit chewy. It wasn't crisp. This crust was edible however, unlike the burnt crust from Tucci's.

I don't really see much difference between wood fired pizza and regular pizza. Coal fired is noticeably different (in a bad way), but the wood fired didn't seem to be any different than pizzas cooked in conventional pizza ovens.

That being said, I couldn't figure out how they came up with $18.63; it's just too much for a 14" pizza with a half topping. I went to their website and saw that the pizza was $13.99 and the toppings were $2.50, so even with the wacky 6.5% sales tax it just didn't add up. So I gave them a call. It seems that the prices on their website are outdated. A plain 14" pizza is now $14.99, and toppings are $2.50 for a 1/2 or a whole.

I try not to let pricing affect my ratings; value isn't really what I'm trying to tell you about. You can make your own assessment. But this is the most expensive pizza anywhere, when you consider that this is a medium pizza. And charging the same for a half topping as you charge for a whole one is just wrong; heck if you charge $2.00 for a half it's rude; charging the same is downright obnoxious.

Now while the pizza is pretty good, considering that you can get a bigger pizza from Dominic's that costs less and is just as good makes me wonder why they have any customers. To be fair Tucci's is just as expensive for a 16" pizza, but much of Tucci's pizza is inedible (due to the scorching), so it's similar. Both places are too expensive for what you get.