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.

Ramundo's Pizzeria

We finally got back in to the swing of pizza night in May with Nik choosing Ramundo's Pizzeria. In addition to the pepperoni pizza, Nik chose a pizza with meatballs (homemade) & green peppers.

Here are the scores for Ramundo's:

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

Appearance (overall): 3.92
Aroma (overall): 4.00
Taste (overall): 4.08
Crust - 4.00
Cheese - 3.42
Toppings - 3.92
Sauce - 4.33
Pepperoni Pizza (overall): 4.00
Specialty Pizza & Menu Options: 4.00
X-factor: 1.50

I should start off by noting that Nik went to Ramundo's and waited for his order after placing it in person. They said they would come get him once it was ready, so he sat out front while he waited. Well, after 45 minutes, he decided to go in and check to see if it was ready, and it had been sitting there for who knows how long. Needless to say, the pizza wasn't piping hot, the "X-factor" score is the lowest of the bunch, and Nik's only comment was "idiots."

I think we still did a pretty good job judging the pizza solely on the pizza itself, although Kevin noted that even though the scores didn't reflect it, he really enjoyed this pizza. I thought that the pizza was a little greasy, but the sauce had a nice little spiciness to it. I think pepperoni pizzas are more attractive when the pepperoni is on top, which wasn't the case here, but they did put some dried herbs on top which gave it a nice flavor and made it look a little better. I really liked their NY style pepperoni pizza which came truly in NY style with nice, large slices.

Be sure to check the back of your Kroger receipts, there are always Ramundo's coupons on there!

Newport Pizza Company

Newport Pizza Company is located on the other side of the river, in Newport, Kentucky. I work in Erlanger, so I swung by Newport Pizza Company to pick up pizzas for my next turn. Newport has had the most "Cincinnati-esque" pizza options of all of the pizzas joints thus far. Besides the pepperoni pizza, I also got 'The Zeus' and 'The Cincinnatus'. The Zeus had baby spinach, feta, roma tomatoes, roasted garlic, olive oil, and asiago cheese. Can you guess what The Cincinnatus has on it??

Yes, that is Cincinnati style chili and cheddar cheese on a pizza. There is also a cream cheese base under the chili. And if you think that's crazy, on the weekends they have a goetta pizza, with scrambled eggs, sausage gravy, and goetta! Newport Pizza Company itself is a really cool joint too - very laid back with a huge pizza topping selection and a good beer selection. If we lived closer, I could definitely see Nik and me spending more time and money there.

I somehow managed to lose my score sheet (along with my comments), which would have bumped up the averages because I really liked Newport Pizza Company. Here are the averages for Kevin and Nik's scores.

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

Appearance (overall): 3.50
Aroma (overall): 4.00
Taste (overall): 3.50
Crust - 3.25
Cheese - 3.50
Toppings - 4.00
Sauce - 3.50
Pepperoni Pizza (overall): 3.25
Specialty Pizza & Menu Options: 4.75
X-factor: 4.50

I don't remember what my comments were, but I do remember that The Zeus was by far my favorite. Kevin noted that the sauce on the pepperoni pizza wasn't spicy, like most of the places we have tried so far and Nik thought that the pizza was a little greasy. Overall, we all really liked the pizza and give Newport Pizza Company a lot of credit for their originality!

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!