I've worked in Canby for a number of years, but it was just recently that I've tried Lone Elder…read morePizza. It took me so long because it looks like the parking lot is a big walk from the front door, but unbeknownst to me, there's a back door that goes to the middle of the parking lot!
Then there were the issues of all the bad things I heard a few years ago. But my understanding is that a former owner left, the original owner took it back, rebuilt what was lost, and re-retired, selling to a better vetted owner, and now I'm hearing nothing but good things.
And, in fact, I am impressed. It is very good pizza.
Over a couple of weeks, I tried three different pizzas. I like pizzas with lots of toppings, so that was my first order. Then I tried a simple meat and one other topping pizza. And finally, I tried a pizza with a moderate number of toppings, plus extra cheese.
Pizzas are built with crust, sauce, cheese, and toppings. The cheese usually holds the toppings in place, and if you order from many places, if you order a lot of toppings, they give you less of each topping so they can form a single layer against the cheese. Not so at Lone Elder. You get a full serving of each topping, which means you're going to get your money's worth. And while I didn't really mind that the extra toppings fell off as I picked up each slice (I can eat them with a fork off the box), I was concerned that they seemed to be chopped too big, leaving them substantially cold. That's probably better than over-cooked, limp toppings, but the pile I ate with a fork was more like a salad.
The crust, however, was perfect! Crunchy on the bottom, chewy in the middle, and completely baked. Leaving the pizza in the oven longer (to heat the toppings) could have over-cooked (burned) the crust.
So the second pizza I ordered had a minimal number of toppings. What I was hoping to see would be the cheese under the toppings peaking through. It did, but there was no browning. Again, the crust was perfect.
The third pizza I ordered had extra cheese. I was hoping with even more cheese, I'd see some browning, but I didn't. Again, the crust was perfect.
My conclusion is that the oven isn't heating enough on the top. Combine that with a chop on the toppings that's a little too course, leaving pieces that are too thick, and that's how we get to 4 stars instead of 5 stars. Mind you, 4 stars is still very good in my book.
I will be returning, but perhaps not as often as I head towards some other pizzas that aren't as good, but that's because of the cost. Even if the pizza got 5 stars in my book, I can't justify the price of a great pizza when I can get okay pizza for half the price.
One other thing that bothers me: If you get the pizza delivered, they toss in some complimentary cookies. That seems to be an incentive to get delivery, when what they really need to do is offer an incentive for people to find that side entry, and come in for their pizza!