I had a good feeling about this place. I'm not sure why, but I picked it somewhat at random, and asked for my buddy to confirm with my choice.
When we arrived, it was amusing as navigation had taken us around the whole shopping center, and I had to drive halfway back across the shopping center.
It's pretty much across from the Nob Hill grocery store.
Going inside, it looked small but accessible. There wasn't someone at the register. I saw someone preparing a pizza and she yelled "sorry" and I didn't know what to think. We took a look at the menu board.
There was no sign of the pizza slices we'd seen in photos on Yelp but there was an 8 inch pizza option, along with 12, 18, and 20 inch pizzas. I really didn't see everything because there was so much.
It was a very long wait, but after another "sorry", she eventually got everything into the oven, and came forward. I ordered a Meat Lovers Pizza in an 8 inch and a combo of the same size, and she mentioned that it would be much less expensive to order slices.
It was something like $8.99 for each 8 inch and it ended up being $5.00 each for each slices, so there was a big savings because of her suggestion.
I asked for the restroom, and she told me that it was all the way to the back. It was clean. When I returned, I mentioned the surprise of seeing real pizza ovens, instead of those conveyor belt ovens that are so popular now. We had a quick chat as she was preparing food.
As my buddy and I were watching a rugby match between England and Ireland, we passed the time, and other employees arrived. Thankfully, they were able to get food to the other people just after that. I mentioned that it reminded me of a place in Upper Darby, PA in the 69th Street shopping district and that brought back some good memories.
It didn't take too much longer for our slices. They were likely bigger than 8 inch pizzas in surface area, based on slices from a 20 inch pizza.
My first bite of the combo slice made me think that they needed to clean the oven better--part of the reason conveyor belt ovens are popular because pizza dust doesn't accumulate easily.
The taste of the pizza was great. I think it's probably the best sit-down place I've been for pizza in all of California. My buddy enjoyed his and we talked about it quite a bit after we left the place. He even got his ranch sauce for dipping.
I'm quite happy to find a place that isn't a chain restaurant or a fancy-schmancy place serving only whole wheat crust with cauliflower and broccoli pizza. I hope that every time I visit it's this good.
Update 2015.04.16: I tried the lasagna today. For $9.99, you get a decent sized portion of lasagna with two pieces of crusty bread. With the drink, I was almost at $13.00, which is probably too much.
Lasagna costs a lot to make. This portion had meat and cheese and noodles, of course. The gravy/sauce (Italian families back east say gravy) was not full of oregano and garlic. It was a plain sauce that seemed a bit too sweet. I like to make mine a little more like Arabbiata, you know, with peppers. However, if I make lasagna, I have enough for 6-10 people.
It was better than Stouffer's and likely better than what Olive Garden is selling now. I wanted to love it, but I don't. read more