Ask anyone who knows me, pizza and burgers are my go-to for lunch or dinner. We could even be at a fancy-ish restaurant and if I see pizza or burger, that is what I go for.
That said, I have been to almost all the pizza joints in NWA. So when I heard that Ruby's was opening in Johnson. BOOM, out the door to try this place for dinner.
The atmosphere is good. It reminds me of a back-street restaurant in Italy. Not too flashy. Not too trendy. Comfortable. Easy on the eyes. Enjoyable. Lots to look at. They also have a open kitchen, which I prefer and like watching them make food.
My wife and I split a small Caesar salad (it was plenty big enough for us both). The waiter recommended getting the meatball on it, which sounded weird, but we went for it. #GoodCall #seriously lol. I never would have ordered this, but we are glad we did! It worked very well with a less-than-impressive-but-yummy salad. In fact, I think it improved the salad.
We then ordered a stout beer. Fab! Then a Pizza (all pizzas are served NY style - large 18"). We got the Fenway pizza (homemade sausage, roasted red & green peppers, onion, fresh mozz, provolone, red sauce, oregano). A very delicious combination. It arrived a bit late because our server forgot to fire it, but we only waited about 20mins for the pizza, so no biggie to me. That is about how long it takes to make a pizza from scratch anyway.
Now, when it arrived, it looked very good and tasted pretty good. It had the right amount of toppings and they were yummy. The pizza with it's double cheese was not soupy which can happen with too much cheese. The dough was cooked all the way (I say this because some places have a hard time with cooking their dough the whole way through). SO, a solid pizza. However, a few things were lacking. The crust, though homemade, was bland and boring. I think the crust was too big around the topping -- that is preference on my part; I like more toppings and less bread. The sauce was under-seasoned for pizza sauce. In a word, bland. Pizza sauce is supposed to be exciting, but Ruby's was not. If these two issues were fixed, this pizza could be the best in NWA. For now, I say it is at best the third best pizza behind Marley's Pizza & MJ's. For these issues, I drop it only a 0.5 star because the pizza was better than average.
So, why go the whole star down? 2 more reasons:
1) the staff
2) the atmosphere
Let's start with #2 - atmosphere. WAIT!! Didn't I say the atmosphere was great above?!? Yes, I did. However, there was a flaw. There is a HUGE tv above the bar. Normally, not a problem. However, the evening we went, there was a movie on that was very profane and very gory. Not exactly family friendly. So, I have to ding them for this, but not too much because this is easily fixable. Play sports or something else that I would be ok with my child seeing.
Back to #1 - the staff. All were friendly and helpful. We even had a chef come chat with us and apologize for the delay of our pizza. I appreciate that so much! So, why do I ding on the staff? Well, when I was trying to get a comparison of how they view their pizza with the competition, I got a poor response. I mentioned that I love Chicago-style (e.g., Marley's). This is partially because I lived in Chicago for many years and fell in love with this style. However, after I said this, I was immediately insulted by our server that I like "pizza soup" and not real pizza. "Here at Ruby's we make real pizza that is light-years better than soupy pizza," was the comment. Yikes! It would have better to just say the pizzas are different, because they are. I let this slide because style is a preference. But then, after eating, our server asked how the food was and how it compared to other pizzas I have had in NWA, and I told him that this was a good pizza, but I personally think Marley's is better. He got visibly upset with us and walked away. Yikes #2! I truly did like the pizza (as I said above). And I plan to return to eat again. But, this reaction was not good. He at least could have let me explain WHY. But, he was apparently done with me. For that, I have to ding Ruby's. Y'all need to be ok with feedback.
All in all, good pizza, good atmosphere, mostly friendly staff. I would go with a 3.5 star, but I think 4-stars is more accurate than 3. We plan to return for pizza in the future. Recommended. read more