I've lived in Coral Springs for 12 years and have never been to or gotten pies from Pizza Time. And while this is not stylistically the type of pizza I usually like to get (on the rare instances Rachel wants to go out pizza as we typically now bake our own), this is a pretty good pie for what it is.
When you've been open since 1979, you are doing something right. I believe the original owner sold it to a new owner 15 or so years ago, he now runs a place in Boca (I think also called Pizza Time), and his son owns Heritage in FtL, which is a James Beard award-winning Italian and pizza place (I haven't been to it yet and please don't ask me when I'm going, I can't get to everything).
It looks like a throwback place up from the front (because it is?), with Roman statues in the parking lot and a Roman soldier guarding the entrance to the dining room, which is in a Tuscan style with painted brick with scenes of Italy, and wooden cross-hatch fencing suspended from the ceiling with synthetic grape vines in it. Probably was decorated in the 1980s. Customers dining in are mostly older (50s-60s) and families.
The hardware also looks from the 1980s, possibly a 90s refresh, with six decks of Vulcan-style gas putting out an impressive amount of heat. They don't make them like this anymore, and you would rarely see a pizza place install that many decks now. This was a big build for the time.
I sat at the bar in the dining room area to the right of the entrance and watched various plates come out. The standards, like pasta in white clam sauce and the red sauce plates, looked good. Good to know, but I was not there for that. Calzones are also nice and big.
I violated all my own rules for testing a new pizza place because I was by myself -- instead of a plain or single topping pie, I went for a large meat lovers, loaded with ham, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, AND meatballs, and ordered it well-done.
Look, there are worse life choices you can make than this, and if this is the worst decision I make all week, I'm good with it.
The skill of the main pizza guy, Angelo, a large muscular, imposing, bearded biker-type dude wearing a do-rag/bandana (I think the entire baking crew wears them to deal with the output from the Vulcans) is evident. I will note that he does not like it when you take pictures of his work up front while he is working. I apologized for scaring him, to which he then replied, "You don't scare me," and I said, "Well, you're bigger than me." This seemed to disarm him.
I started off with a side Ceasar. It's well-dressed, and you taste the anchovy. For a local pizza joint, it's better than the ones many restaurants serve locally with Ceasars on their menus. Croutons are fresh and crispy; I couldn't tell if they made them or not.
I watched a bunch of pies come out, both traditional "NY" style round and "grandmas," which this place is known for and I probably should have gotten. They look good.
I was frightened by what came out. It's a big pie, the meat lovers. Because of the massive pile of ingredients, you're not gonna get the completely cooked-through effect in the center, so this is a toaster oven reheater type of slice, and you will most definitely hit it with a knife and fork, or you will be wearing it. I got a quick shot of the underskirt, and given all the stuff on the top, it was evenly baked on the bottom.
I ate one slice and got it down with a large Pellegrino because I finished most of my salad. I boxed the rest. Please don't do what I did unless you've first experienced a simple pie here.
The crust has a nice fermentation, although it has a sweetness, so they may be adding a little sugar/malt to it, although that could be the caramelization effect when baking and the fermentation itself. The sauce is also sweeter-style; the cheese is a Grande or something similar. read more