What's a "Pizza Place" you say. Well curious consumer, a "Pizza Place" for this experiment is defined as an establishment that sells at least two different kinds of "Pizza, " where a "Pizza" must have a crust, even if this crust is a bagel or pita, and have cheese, tomato sauce, or be marketed as pizza. While were sixty some places that sold something that resembled a pizza, and a number of Chinese restaurants that sold pizza rolls, only about 38 places qualified to participate in this pizza tasting.
The number of judges at each tasting varied between four and ten people. The judges voted on which types of pizza to order from which restaurant. Each restaurant and pizza was identified by a number, so that the judges did not know where the pizza came from until after judging. Instead of picking a plain pizza from each restaurant, we tried to pick what appeared to be a specialty, or a type of pizza unique to the location. Sometimes we may not have chosen the best pizza a restaurant had to show for itself, but a strong pizza place should be consistent in quality across the flavors it offers. The last caveat I will identify is that all pizzas were either delivered or picked up. Many sit in restaurants offer very good pizza, to be eaten in the restaurant, that simply do not retain their quality during the up to twelve block walk back to my house. With all of this in mind, I present to you the results of my long, arduous, and occasionally scrumptious search for the best pizza in West Philly.
Top 5 "Pizzas"
4 (Tied). Danger Pie from Clarkville (43rd and Baltimore)
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| I am inserting pictures of yummy pizza from the winning restaurants |
The Danger Pie is a slightly elevated version of a classic cheese pizza. It is adorned with garlic tomato sauce, house mozzarella, oregano, and sea salt. Clarkville does this pizza justice. While not innovative, the Danger Pie tastes exactly like a pizza should, if everything were executed just right. The crust has a nice crunch which you can enjoy in the restaurant but not if you order the pizza for carry out. So to enjoy this pizza properly, eat it in the restaurant. This is tied as the highest rated traditional pizza we sampled.
4 (Tied). White Pizza from Abner's Cheesesteaks (3813 Chestnut)
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| I lied. This is not an image of a pizza. It not yummy. Do not consume. |
3. Honey Goat Cheese Flatbread from City Tap House (3925 Walnut)
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| Resume yummy pizza pictures. |
City Tap House makes a host of fine flatbreads. They are a bit fancier (read more pretentious) than other pizza's we tried, but the quality of the pizza itself was worth the higher cost and the pretentiousness. This flatbread is adorned with red onion, pistachio pesto, rosemary, goat cheese, and truffled honey. I don't even know how one truffles honey, but it sure does taste good.
2. Zataar and Cheese Manakeesh from Manakeesh (4420 Walnut)
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| I'm posting these to make you hungry. |
Calling this a pizza might be a bit of a stretch. Manakeesh are a fluffy Lebanese flatbread. Zataar is a flavorful middle eastern spice blend. So this flatbread is just a mash of flavorful spices on a fluffy chunk of goodness. The Zataar and Cheese Manakeesh may not quite cure your craving for pizza but it is certainly worth trying.
1. Chicken Tikka Pizza from Shaban (4145 Chestnut)
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| I hope it's working. |
So Shaban makes notably good Paneer Tikka and Chicken Tikka. Basically they slapped one of their more successful dishes on a pizza and called it a day. This was a spicy and interesting change of pace from ordinary pizza.
Honorable Mention
These pizzas made the top five in either the taste, crust, or topping category, but failed to make the top five overall.
Tres Queso Mollete from Tortas Frontera (3601 Locust Walk)
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| This mollete has brought honor onto its family. |
A mollete is a mexican open faced sandwich. However the ones served at Frontera are typically covered in cheese, tomato and toppings in just the right way to satisfy a pizza craving. The Tres Queso Mollete is covered in sun-dried tomatoes, poblano rajas, goat cheese, chihuahua cheese, queso cotija, and chiptole garlic mojo. What can be bad about this? To be honest, I don't exactly know what many of the ingredients I just listed are, and do not expect you to either. Though I assure you these mysterious toppings are quite enjoyable. The Tres Queso Mollete made the top five in both the taste and toppings category, it only failed to place because some judges took issue with it's un-pizza-like crust. Regardless of this, the Tres Queso Mollete is hands down the best Pizza you can get on a Penn dining plan.
Royal Pizza (4200 Baltimore) and Zavino (3200 Chestnut)
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| You must be on the other side of this wall to enjoy these pizzas properly. |
Both Royal Pizza and Zavino supplied pizzas that broke the top five in the crust category. Royal Pizza was a but of a dark horse here. Even more surprising was Zavino only making the top five in crust and not other categories. Zavino is a well respected eat-in pizza restaurant. The eat-in aspect is clear here. The pizza's just don't travel well, which is probably why they don't deliver. So try this place if you are down for a sit down meal, otherwise you are doing their pizza a disservice.
Dishonorable Mention
Pizza's you just shouldn't eat. In fact, I refuse to give you the addresses of these places so you don't go here and try to eat the pizza yourself. These pizzas are counted down from least horrible to most horrible.
3. Vegetable Pizza from South Side Pizza
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| This is not a yummy pizza |
Something was just wrong with this pizza, likely poor quality toppings. The judges said things like "The olives are terrible","The crust is too stiff", or worst of all "This tastes like Commons Pizza." We intentionally did not include Commons Pizza in our sample set because it wasn't worth the suffering it would cause. Still it haunted us.
2. Veggie Lover's Pizza from Pizza Hut
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| Any hunger you are feeling at the site of this pizza is just your body betraying you. |
Why would you even get pizza from Pizza Hut? You should know better. The crust in particular upset the judges. The average score for the crust was a 2.71 on a scale of 1 to 10. This is the lowest score any pizza received in any category.
1. Margherita Pizza from Cosi
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| This pizza will break your heart. |
This one was a bit surprising. The food at Cosi is reasonably good, and people have said their pizzas are as well. The pizza we sampled had rubbery blobs of cheese, and nothing to redeem it. It wasn't the worst in any given category, just the most consistently bad.
Complete Pizza Ranking (with scores)
1. Chicken Tikka Pizza from Shaban (Taste: 9.25, Crust: 6.5, Toppings: 9.5)2. Zataar and Cheese Manakeesh from Manakeesh (Taste: 8.2, Crust: 7.8, Toppings: 8.2)
3. Honey Goat Cheese Flatbread from City Tap House (Taste: 8.09, Crust: 6.81, Toppings: 8)
4. Danger Pie from Clarkville (Taste: 7.14, Crust: 6.57, Toppings: 7.29)
4. White Pizza from Abner's Cheesesteaks (Taste: 7.71, Crust: 7.43, Toppings: 5.86)
6. Upsidedown Pizza from Royal Pizza (Taste: 7.4, Crust: 6.6, Toppings: 6.8)
7. Stache from Zavino (Taste: 6.8, Crust: 6.8, Toppings: 7)
8. Greek Pizza from Colonial Pizza (Taste: 6.88, Crust: 6.5, Toppings: 7.13)
9. Mediterranean Pizza from Accu Pizza (Taste: 7.38, Crust: 5.5, Toppings: 7)
10. Tres Queso Mollete from Frontera (Taste: 7.43, Crust: 4.57, Toppings: 7.71)
11. Vegetarian Flatbread from Harvest (Taste: 6.86, Crust: 5, Toppings: 7.71)
12. Vegetarian Flatbread from Penne (Taste: 6.5, Crust: 6.25, Toppings: 6.75)
13. Mediterranean Pizza from Savas (Taste: 6.8, Crust: 5.2, Toppings: 7.1)
14. Tropical Pizza Evan's Varsity Pizza (Taste: 6.2, Crust: 6.2, Toppings: 6.4)
14. Devil's Delight from Powelton Pizza (Taste: 6.4, Crust: 5.8, Toppings: 6.6)
16. Eggplant Pizza from Vegetate (Taste: 6.5, Crust: 5.5, Toppings: 6.75)
17. Green Pepper Pizza from Drexel Pizza (Taste: 7 Crust: 5.2, Toppings: 6.4)
18. Salsa Pizza from Mad Greek Restaurant (Taste: 6, Crust: 5.63, Toppings: 6.25)
19. A La Greek from Dock Street Brewery Co (Taste: 5.88, Crust: 5.13, Toppings: 6.75)
20. Mushroom and Onion Pizza from Enjay's Pizza/ Smokey Joe's (Taste: 6.29, Crust: 5.71, Toppings: 5.57)
21. Greek Pizza from Pasqually's Pizza (Taste: 6.19, Crust: 5.38, Toppings: 7.86)
22. White Pizza from Rana Halal (Taste: 6, Crust: 4.67, Toppings: 6)
23. Vegilicious Pizza from Penn Pizza Cafe (Taste: 5.5, Crust: 5.2, Toppings: 5.83)
24. Sicillian Pizza from Allegro Pizza (Taste: 5.86, Crust: 4.86, Toppings: 5.8)
25. White Pizza from Axis Pizza (Taste: 5.86, Crust: 6, Toppings: 4.43)
26. Greek Pizza from Stacy's Pizza and Wings (Taste: 5.4, Crust: 5.35, Toppings: 5.4)
27. Mediterranean Pizza from New Style Pizzaria (Taste: 5.6, Crust: 5.1, Toppings: 5.4)
28. White Pizza from California Pizza Kitchen (Taste: 5.29, Crust: 5.29, Toppings: 5.43)
28. Greek Pizza from Ed's Buffalo Wings and Pizza (Taste: 5.4, Crust: 5.8, Toppings: 4.8)
28. Greek Pizza from Ted's Pizza Express (Taste: 5.5, Crust: 4.88, Toppings: 5.63)
31. Vegetarian Pizza from Fiesta Pizza (Taste: 6, Crust: 4, Toppings: 5.75)
32. Spinach and Feta Pizza from Dominoes Pizza (Taste: 5.38, Crust: 5.14, Toppings: 5.13)
33. Mediteranian Pizza from Zesto Pizza (Taste: 5.8, Crust: 4, Toppings: 5.75)
34. Cheese Pizza from Cavannaugh's (Taste: 5, Crust: 4.6, Toppings: 5.6)
35. Plain Pizza with Basil from Pizza Wings Steaks (Taste: 4.89, Crust: 4.67, Toppings: 4.63)
36. Vegetable Pizza from South Side Pizza (Taste: 3.2, Crust: 6.4, Toppings: 3)
37. Veggie Lover's Pizza from Pizza Hut (Taste: 5, Crust: 2.71, Toppings: 4.86)
38. Margherita Pizza from Cosi (Taste: 3.86, Crust: 3.14, Toppings: 4.14)
Well there you have it, the ranking of most pizza you can get in West Philly. Maybe you are wondering what happened to Dock Street Brewery. Why did it preform so poorly. Simply put, their pizzas were never intended to travel.
What do you think? Did we miss your favorite pizza place, insult your favorite pizza, or inspire you to try something new? Are you craving a slice of cheesy goodness? If nothing else this adventure has taught me that there is an overwhelming amount of mediocre pizza out there, but also that good pizza can be found in unexpected places. So be adventurous in your search for good food. It will often suck, but be very rewarding in the end. Or you are less adventurous, you can just let me explore food for you and report back from the trenches. I am happy to take requests.
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