Critic's Review
One of my favorite lunches back in NY was a Meatball Parm Hero; there was this Deli that had either Meatball Parm, Chicken Parm or Veal Parm every day for $6.95. A big, 12" hero. I hadn't been to doughboys since 2010.
Walking in the place, you see that Doughboys is stuck in the 1990s. They still use cash registers and paper tickets. Bustling at 3pm, unlike just about every other venue at 3pm. The lunch specials go until 4pm here.
I ordered a "small" meatball parm hero to go; they call them halfs but they're really just 6" heros.
Disastrous decor; there are mirrors everywhere. Don't want to watch yourself eat a pizza? Make sure you take out.
There are seats in front of the counter were double as waiting for takeout and eating a slice options.
They have a neon sign in the window that says WiFi Hotspot, but there was no wiFi detected by my phone.
Twelve minutes later my sub comes out, but the counter people aren't interested. One guy is reading the mail and the girl is on the phone taking an order. C'mon, I can see it, just hand it to me. Finally I get it.
When I got home and opened the container, I was pleased with the portion. Not bad for $5.95. The "lunch special" with heros is that you get fries.
My first impression was that it was short on sauce; I tasted a meatball. Bland city. The sauce was bland too. Yikes, how could a meatball hero not be bursting with flavor?
There was no part of this sandwich that met my minimum expectations. A very disappointing sandwich from head to toe.
I didn't eat the fries. I'll re-fry them another time for a snack.
Conclusion
There's a reason I haven't been to Doughboys in 7 years. It's a typical South Florida pizzeria. People who have never had good Italian food like it just fine; but it's just not worth the calories. If you're going to be a big fat rolly polly person. you need to be happy. This isn't going to do it.
Review 12/12/10
Doughboys has been around a long time; over 24 years, so it fits into the old Florida mold. They've long had a reputation for being a big gruff; but from my experience they seem to be trying to turn over a new leaf. Their phone demeanor was very polite, and service was just fine.
The first thing I noticed when I walked in is that it smelled like they had a natural gas leak. Nobody else seemed concerned, so maybe my nose is just a big more sensitive than others. I haven't heard any explosions so maybe it was just their air freshener.
Inside its a pretty modest place but there are seats where you can sit. I've always though of Dough Boys as a take out place; they charge $3 for delivery so with other places offering free delivery they're not on the radar for that.
I ordered a 1/2 sausage, large pizza and when I opened the box I though it looked pretty appetizing.
There are a couple of things to note. They didn't really spread out the topping very much; they charged me full price for a topping so it seems that they bunched it onto one side of the pizza. So there was too much sausage on those slices. I guess they don't want to do 1/2 toppings, but instead of slices of pizza with sausage, the sausage side was more like a flatbread with sausage.
The pizza overall wasn't as good as it looked. The crust was a bit mealy, and the sauce has no taste; or it just wasn't a very good sauce. They did give a lot of cheese. It was pretty good but not as good as I'd anticipated when I opened the box.
They have a ridiculously large menu at this place so if you're having a party it might be worth the $3 delivery charge. For pizza I can think of better choices in the area.
