Went to Ballston this past weekend with the husband to check out the new mall and grab a bite to eat. I'm a sucker for a Neapolitan style pizza and just had to try it. If you want to know if the pizza is good - yes, it's a good pizza, but I have a few gripes that take this experience from a 5 to a 3.
Gripe 1: I love Neapolitan pizzas. I am not a beginner to the style. I've frequented 2 Amys and Pupatella among others. Neapolitan pizza has a thin saggy crust that calls for you to use silverware to eat it. If it's not cut into pieces for you, you could try folding the pizza twice and eat it like traditional street food, but this was precut. Since ours came precut and the dough was limper than a wet noodle, I needed to cut it. I needed to use a fork and knife. And because I don't carry my own fork and knife with me, I picked up a fork and knife from Turu's booth and sat down to eat it. To cut to the chase, MY FORK MELTED. I cut the first bite, it's delish, I put my fork down and my husband and I chat for a moment because his pizza hadn't come out (I know. I'm a monster. I was hungry). Husband gets his pizza, I pick up my fork... and that sucker was about as flat and limp as my pizza. I swear to you my curved forked was honest-to-god straightened after resting on my pizza/plate for less than a minute. The pizza was not excessively hot. I could stick it in my mouth without burning it. The cheese wasn't molten. Trust me, I've eaten pizza bagels straight out of the microwave... I know the pains of burning your mouth on pizza. But still on this warm, but not too hot pizza, the quality of their utensils is so appalling you can't use them for their intended purpose. And I hear what you are saying, "just go grab another fork." I did. I pressed my new fork into the pizza to steady it as I cut a slice, AND THE TINES MELTED AND BENT. I picked up my flat fork tried it again and the tines on it... yeah, melted and bent. I didn't notice the same issue with the knife, but I stopped trying after a while. I had to pick it up like a New Yorker (the humanity!!), and the toppings slid down quicker than a child in a water slide. If I can't get your pizza into my pie hole, I can't eat it.
Gripe 2. On top of the issue with the actual utensils, the other negative with the eating experience was the fact the pizza was put on a metal tray with a layer of paper underneath. I get it. It looks fancy. However, you have forks and knives on your station. You know people are going to use the forks and knives for your food... Anyone want to guess what happens when you put paper under something you're cutting with a knife? It tears. And when that paper is super thin and the pizza is a bit soggy in the middle... it sticks. Horrible user experience. If I wanted to eat paper, I'd go buy those candy dots stuck to paper from the corner store or just reach into my printer and grab a sheet out.
Gripe 3. Toppings to pizza ratio. I wish I had thought to take pictures of this stuff as it was happening, but I didn't. I wasn't planning on writing a review. I was enjoying a nice outing with my husband, and then Yelp sent me one of those annoying messages that say, "did you visit x? Write a review." And so I thought, sure, all I'm doing is watching beauty YouTube anyway. Let's write that review. There were I believe 6 slices of pizza on my plate... I had a pepperoni pizza. Each slice had exactly 4 tiny pepperonis. Imagine a nickel. That's how tiny they were. I'm not asking for a pepperoni pizza drowning in toppings, but I'd like more than 4 on each slice... maybe 6. 6 would at least make it look like you tried to put pepperoni on my pizza.
I know, really world-shaking stuff here. First world problems and all that. But I'm reviewing a restaurant so there are my gripes about Turu's.
Are they bad enough that I would never eat there again? No. The pizza was good. The cheese blend was nice. The limited pepperoni I did have was tasty. I would eat there again. Hopefully, someone else is making the pizza and they'd give me more pepperonis. Maybe I should ask for extra pepperonis. Maybe you should ask for extra pepperonis. If you're reading this review to decide if you should eat there and you like pepperonis, I'd recommend asking for extra.
Are the pizzas actually the 10 inches like the menu says they are? No. The pizzas my husband and I had were closer to 14 inches. Yay! Extra Pizza! I'm not going to turn down extra pizza.
Do they have some user experience issues that detract from the dining experience? Yes. Maybe next time I'll bring my own silverware... Let's be real that's never happening, but I might slide the paper out from under the pie or ask them just to skip it. It's not needed. It's just going to a landfill. Why put it there anyway if it detracts from the experience of enjoying your food? Are you putting them there to keep your pizza from the tray because your kitchen staff have less than ideal cleaning standards? Yo no se. read more