Adriatico's Pizza

For Kevin's third go-around, he chose Adriatico's, a University of Cincinnati staple that has a huge pizza called "The Bearcat" (UC's mascot). Kevin got the bearcat with 1/2 pepperoni and 1/2 tomato & banana pepper.

Here's how Adriatico's stacked up again the rest of the competition:

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

Appearance (overall): 4.00
Aroma (overall): 4.13

Taste (overall): 3.92

Crust - 4.00

Cheese - 3.67

Toppings - 4.00

Sauce - 3.75

Pepperoni Pizza (overall): 3.92

Specialty Pizza & Menu Options: 3.75

X-factor: 3.17

Nik's only comments on this pizza were "Roar!" with a drawing of a paw print (which, now that I think about it, I should have scanned and included a picture of, but it's too late now). Kevin and I, however, did actually write down some of our observations. The pizza is HUGE and I gave them an extra 0.25 in the "Specialty Pizza & Menu Options" category for having breadsticks, even though we didn't actually try them, I guess I was feeling generous since I do really enjoy breadsticks. When it came to the pizza, Kevin liked the thick crust and we all thought that the sauce had a nice bit of spicyness to it. The slices were square and on the pepperoni half, there was only one pepperoni per slice; Kevin would have liked more than one pepperoni per slice (which I wouldn't have minded too). My biggest complaint, though, was that the oregano/dried herb mixture that was sprinkled on top of the pizza was way too overpowering.

Overall, I can see why this is a UC staple - you can get a HUGE pizza for not too much money that is super filling because of it's thick crust. It's not our favorite of the ones we have tried, but I think we can all appreciate the niche it has in the world of pizza.

Dove Vivi (Portland, OR)

I know this is a blog about pizza in Cincinnati, but when Nik and I were in Portland, Oregon at the end of March, we went to an amazing pizza place our last night there that I had to write about. Before getting pizza at Dove Vivi, we stopped by Spints for some really good cocktails (their food menu looked awesome too). Then we headed over to Dove Vivi, where they have a cornmeal based crust that is unlike anything I have ever had before and is simply amazing. They're also deep-dish style and incredibly filling. We were with 2 other couples, and luckily they let you order pizzas by the half, so each couple order a 2 halves, so we had 6 halves. Nik and I also started with their beet salad, and some of our friends got their pickled carrot salad - both were delicious. I can't remember all of the pizzas we ordered, but I know some of them included the corn, pesto, and daily special pizzas. We didn't remember to take a picture until the end, but you can't eat much more than 1 piece, so there was still plenty to take pictures of :)

This was Scott & Annies - 1/2 pesto and 1/2 pepperoni (I think)


This was Lauren & Adam's - 1/2 corn & 1/2 quatro fromaggio


This was mine and Nik's - we got both of the specials (Nik's half had house-made sausage and pickled red cabbage I think, and mine had tomatoes, mushrooms, and blue cheese)

It was amazing, if you're ever in Portland, try it!

Angilo's Pizza

Sorry it's taken so long to get this post up! I've even forgotten how to start this off! Quite a while ago, back in March, Nik treated us to Angilo's Pizza for his third go-around. Angilo's has been serving the greater Cincinnati area for over 50 years and quite a few locations. The one closest to us is in Norwood, not too far away. One of their everyday specials is 2 large, 2 topping pizzas for $18.95, what a steal! And they were nice enough to let us do our usual pepperoni pizza and then a second pizza with 3 toppings under that deal. Nik chose banana peppers, tomatoes, and onions as the 3 toppings for the second pizza.

(Pepperoni pizza)

Here's what we thought of Angilo's:

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

Appearance (overall): 3.67

Aroma (overall): 4.00

Taste (overall): 3.75

Crust - 3.83

Cheese - 3.67

Toppings - 3.50

Sauce - 3.92

Pepperoni Pizza (overall): 4.00

Specialty Pizza & Menu Options: 3.25

X-factor: 3.33

Angilo's wasn't our favorite pizza place of the ones we've tried so far, but Nik liked the family/neighborhood feel of the restaurant. Kevin liked the square slices and the spicy sauce and thought that it was a thin crust that ate like a thick crust pizza. Nik thought that the crust was interesting and spongy, while I thought it was crunchy while being spongy/bready (which I wasn't a huge fan of). I also liked the spiceness of the sauce, but thought it had too much oregano in it. Also, they put the pepperoni under the cheese, which I don't think is nearly as attractive as having them on top. Kevin thought the onions on the second pizza were too strong and I thought both pizzas were good ranch dipping pizzas. Nik thought the pizzas had a freezer pizza quality, but in a good way. The overall menu wasn't too exciting, although they do serve Cincinnati chili.

Overall, a pretty good pizza at a good price! Next up, a special surprise post!....

Hiatus

Sorry for the month long hiatus! Spring travels have interfered with pizza night quite a bit over the last month or so. We have 2 new posts to catch up on, one from March and one from last week. So, hopefully we can get those up before next Thursday when we get back in to the routine again (Kevin's at a conference this week). Soon your mouth can water in hungry jealousy!

Dewey's Pizza

Well, Dewey's Pizza was my second choice for our sixth stop on our quest for the best pizza in Cincinnati. Dewey's is also right down the street from our house, but in the opposite direction from Mio's. I've actually been to Dewey's quite a bit since it's a favorite in the office (it's a small chain and has a location near work). On top of good pizza, Dewey's has really good salads. The salad I chose (which I didn't think to take a picture of) was the seasonal "harvest" salad: field greens and romaine lettuce with figs, toasted pumpkin seeds, boursin cheese and apple wood smoked bacon (which I got on the side), with homemade apple cider honey vinaigrette.

The pizzas included a regular pepperoni pizza (one of their specialty pizzas is an "X-Pepperoni pizza which has (can you guess?) extra pepperoni) and their "Billy Goat" pizza, as pictured below (sorry about the not-so-great lighting, but you can still see how delicious the crust looks).

So here's how Dewey's compared:

(1-5 scale, 1=worst, 5=best)
Appearance (overall): 4.00
Aroma (overall): 4.50
Taste (overall): 4.17
Crust - 4.08
Cheese - 4.08
Toppings - 4.17
Sauce - 3.92
Pepperoni Pizza (overall): 4.00
Specialty Pizza & Menu Options: 4.33
X-factor: 4.00

Overall, we all pretty much only had positive comments. Kevin thought the salad was good (I, of course, thought it was great) and liked the fluffy edge of the crust. I also liked thought it was a great crust with a nice hint of garlic flavor. Nik thought that the crust was on the doughy side and would make a great breadstick. Kevin liked the spiceness of the pepperoni pizza and I really liked the variety of good cheese options for the pizzas. Part of the reason Dewey's Pizza scored a good "X-factor" rating is because they always offer plates and napkins when you pick your food up. Granted, disposable plates and napkins aren't very environmentally friendly, but it's the thought that counts!

Pomodori's Pizzeria

Kevin chose Pomodori's Pizzeria for our 5th stop on our quest for the best pizza in Cincinnati, a place I was really looking forward to trying since they do wood-fired oven pizzas with more "gourmet" options for those pizzas. Although you can get non-wood-fired oven pizzas, I was happy that Kevin chose to get the pepperoni pizza as a wood-fired oven pizza. The other wood-fired oven pizza Kevin chose was the fig & prosciutto. Pomodori's is also known for their apple dessert pizza, so Kevin picked up one of those for dessert too.

The lighting for these pictures don't do the pizzas justice, but they still look pretty darn good.

Here's how Pomorodi's scored:

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

Appearance (overall): 4.17
Aroma (overall): 4.00

Taste (overall): 4.33

Crust - 4.25

Cheese - 3.83

Toppings - 4.33

Sauce - 4.50

Pepperoni Pizza (overall): 4.17

Specialty Pizza & Menu Options: 4.25

X-factor: 3.67

We all agreed that the sauce was great - garlicky & spicy. We thought that the pizzas had good flavor and that the crust was nicely cooked and crispy, but Nik and I both thought that the crust could use some salt to give it more flavor. The pepperoni pizza had the small "pepperoni grease boats" like Chi-natti's had (I prefer nice big pepperoni). Kevin doesn't like mushrooms and a lot of the specialty pizzas had mushrooms on them, so he wasn't a fan of that. But, I thought that the fig & prosciutto pizza was delicious, so I had no problem with a non-mushroom specialty pizza! It was a white pizza and had a nice balance of salty (prosciutto) and sweet (figs). Kevin thought that the apple dessert pizza (which we didn't think to take a picture of) was really good. Nik and I both thought that it was pretty good, but dry. It needed more carmelized cinnamon sugar under the apples and a cream cheese frosting or caramel drizzle on top. Overall, Pomodori's is my favorite pizza thus far while ZZ's is my favorite for desserts.

Nik noticed the front of Pomodori's pizza box said this and had to take a picture of it:



I don't know about you, but I've never encountered pizza that I couldn't eat!

ZZ's Pizza Company

Well, the rotation is back to Nik and his second choice and our fourth stop in our quest for the best pizza in Cincinnati is ZZ's Pizza Company. ZZ's Pizza Company originally opened in 1986, but then closed for some time and has recently re-opened again. They have a specialty pizza of the day as well as daily homemade desserts. They also have different crust choices, so Nik went with the sourdough for the pepperoni pizza and whole wheat for the Mediterranean pizza he chose as the specialty pizza. In our increasing state of hunger, we forgot to take pictures again, but promise to remember during the second round! So here's how ZZ's stacked up:


(1-5 scale, 1=worst, 5=best)
Appearance (overall): 4.00
Aroma (overall): 4.25
Taste (overall): 4.08
Crust - 3.83
Cheese - 3.33
Toppings - 4.00
Sauce - 4.17
Pepperoni Pizza (overall): 4.00
Specialty Pizza & Menu Options: 3.83
X-factor: 4.5


ZZ's Pizza Company quickly won over the heart of Nik. Nik walked out of the restaurant with his 2 pizzas and with a bag that he thought contained the 2 pieces of homemade pie he was looking forward to just as much as the pizza. Once in his car and in the process of pulling out of the parking lot, one of the employees came running out of the restaurant with an identical looking bag and caught Nik just in time to let him know that he accidentally grabbed someones salad instead of the desserts.


Not only did ZZ's have great customer service, they also had great pizza. Kevin thought that the specialty pizza looked great and that the sauce was the highlight for ZZ's pizzas. Kevin thought, however, that the crust wasn't quite as crisp as it could be and that the menu didn't offer too many choices other than pizza (but there are lots of good pizza choices though). I also agreed with Kevin that the sauce was the highlight - it was very flavorful, with lots of herbs, and that there wasn't many exciting menu options besides the pizzas and desserts.


For dessert, Nik chose the banana cream pie and the butterscotch pie. Both were excellent and I really look forward to the second, quality checking round for some more delicious, homemade desserts!