Domino's Pizza

Yep, that's right, Domino's Pizza is one of our stops on our quest for the best pizza in Cincinnati. Sometimes you need/want quick, cheap pizza, so Domino's, Papa John's, and Little Caeser's are all on the list. And this summer our street starting doing porch nights every other Thursday (our pizza night), so something quick is ideal after attending one of those. Domino's is right around the corner from Kevin's, so after the first porch night, we walked over to his place and Kevin picked up a Pepperoni pizza and a Buffalo Chicken pizza from Domino's. Here's how the pizza ranked:

(1-5 scale, 1=worst, 5=best)

Appearance (overall): 2.83
Aroma (overall): 3.00
Taste (overall): 2.83
Crust - 3.33
Cheese - 2.83
Toppings - 3.00
Sauce - 3.17
Pepperoni Pizza (overall): 3.17
Specialty Pizza & Menu Options: 3.00
X-factor: 3.00 (Nik wrote "dudes!!!" in this section instead of an acutal score, you'll see why below)

So, not a big surprise to me, but Domino's wasn't our favorite pizza. In fact, it has the lowest scores of all of the pizzas places we've tried so far. Here's why: the guys running the place should be in a mocumentary because they could barely run the place and it was quite comical. They some how messed up Kevin's order, but in the end we did get pizza. Also, as Kevin said, the Buffalo Chicken pizza was a let down. Nik thought the buffalo sauce on top looked like bad, squirt bottle ugly. I thought that it should have come with ranch or blue cheese on top or on the side (something with some more flavor!). For both pizzas, there wasn't enough flavor and on top of that, the Pepperoni pizza was too greasy. Overall, we all agreed that Papa John's is better, and it's a close call with Little Caesar's (although Little Caesar's at least has some awesome crazy bread, and we have yet to "officially" review both places). On the plus side, it is quick (if they don't mess up your order) and cheap.

Balboa's Grill and Pizzeria

Balboa's Grill and Pizzeria is conveniently on the drive home from University of Cincinnati to our place in Oakley, so Nik picked up a couple of pizzas on his way home. The pizzas at Balboa's are big, New York style pizzas, so two was plenty. Nik chose the pepperoni and the barbeque chicken pizzas. Balboa's focuses on east-coast style food and even imports their hoagies from Philadelphia for their Philly sandwiches.

Balboa's was a hit for all of us, here's how they scored:

(1-5 scale, 1=worst, 5=best)

Appearance (overall): 4.17
Aroma (overall): 4.50

Taste (overall): 4.42

Crust - 4.67

Cheese - 4.00

Toppings - 4.25

Sauce - 3.75

Pepperoni Pizza (overall): 4.50
Specialty Pizza & Menu Options: 3.92

X-factor: 4.08

So far, Balboa's has the highest scoring pepperoni pizza, outscoring Pomodori's! The crust was cooked perfectly and the pepperoni pizza had a nice spiciness thanks to the spices and herbs on top. The tomato sauce was too "tomato paste-y" and needed more spices/flavor, but the bbq sauce on the barbeque chicken pizza was really good. And although I try to only eat locally raised meat (besides the exception of pepperoni for pizza night), I'm really tempted to try their philly cheese steak on their Philadelphia-imported hoagie.

Betta's Italian Oven

Now that we're back to being 4 weeks behind on the blog again, I figured it's time to play some more catching up. My next choice for pizza night was Betta's Italian Oven in Norwood. Betta's is a family run restaurant that does wood-fired oven pizzas. Since the pizzas only come in one size (10"), I decided to get three (and a few of their of their homemade desserts): Pepperoni, Margherita, and the Spicy Diavolo. Since they don't have a website or menu online, I went in to the restaurant and waited for the pizzas after I ordered them. It was a cute restaurant with plenty of seating and the pizzas were done in 15 minutes. Not only were they quick, they were also delicious:

(1-5 scale, 1=worst, 5=best)

Appearance (overall): 4.25

Aroma (overall): 4.50

Taste (overall): 4.17

Crust - 4.33

Cheese - 3.83

Toppings - 3.83

Sauce - 3.83

Pepperoni Pizza (overall): 4.00

Specialty Pizza & Menu Options: 4.17

X-factor: 4.13

Overall, Betta's was a hit. All Kevin had to say was that wood-fired pizza is cool. Nik and I both noted that the spicy sauce on the spicy diavolo is really spicy and better than the regular tomato sauce on the pepperoni pizza. The pepperoni's were the "pepperoni grease boats" that so many places around here seem to go for (I prefer large pepperoni's). Nik thought the crust for the pepperoni pizza was underdone and would have scored it a "5" if it had been cooked appropriately.

What about the desserts? Delicious! Definitely try them, especially their homemade tiramisu.

Sorrento's Pizzeria

Sorrento's Pizzeria has been serving Cincinnati for nearly 54 years, opening its doors on August 10, 1956 and is still family owned and operated. Kevin headed over to Norwood to pick us up a pepperoni pizza and a margherita pizza. Sorrento's turned out mediocre scores:

(1-5 scale, 1=worst, 5=best)

Appearance (overall): 3.00
Aroma (overall): 4.13

Taste (overall): 3.75
Crust - 4.00

Cheese - 3.33
Toppings - 3.67

Sauce - 3.58
Pepperoni Pizza (overall): 4.00

Specialty Pizza & Menu Options: 4.08
X-factor: 3.83

Kevin thought that everyone there was very friendly and that it was the kind of place you could go to a few times and become a regular. Unfortunately, the pizza wasn't too hot by the time we sat down to eat it, but once it warmed up a bit in the oven it was much better. Sorrento's pizza had a really thin crust, but it was good. I especially liked that the pepperoni was a little crispy. All Nik wrote in his comments section was "hallucinations," and when I asked him what that meant/why he wrote that last week, he couldn't remember and didn't have any idea why he would write that. Oh, and he drew the University of Cincinnati bearcat symbol. (I think Nik may have had one too many beers before dinner ;))

While maybe not the best pizza in town, it's still good and the atmosphere of the restaurant more than makes up for it.