ChandlerShotgun@liz_kantner you know your philly pizza thing you do… have you done allegros on like… i donno 43rd i think? it’s amazing

We have been going to a series of Center City pizza places and we wanted something different. Allegros is located in University City on University of Pennsylvannia’s campus. I had actually been there before on a drunken night after a party with some friends, but didn’t get anything.

Everyone was in a good mood because of the good weather and both Phillies and Flyers wins.

Allegros is located on the corner of 39th and Spruce, it attracts a lot of college students. They have a wide variety of pre-made slices as well as other menu items such as hot wings. After much debate, we ordered two large cheese pizzas.

Here are some pictures of the inside of the pizza place via Dan’s iphone.

I liked the hit 90′s music and Billy Joel that was playing throughout the restaurant.

The pizzas came out after about 12 minutes. Both looked delicious.

We were all hungry and quickly began to grab slices. Unfortunately, they were way too hot to eat right away. Once the pizza cooled down, the boys ate their slices ravenously and I slowly ate mine (apparently I eat so slow that my second slice of pizza was cold by the time I got to it). We thought the pizza was a bit greasy, but overall, it was good.

Allegros Pizza is a great place to grab a slice of pizza. The location is great, the pizza is good and the atmosphere is young and fun.

The Pizzadelphia Project now has a twitter! Follow us and our adventures around Philadelphia as we try to find the best pizza. UP

This week only four (John, Vince, Dan and I) of the six (minus Mervin and Josh) ventured into Center City on another pizza adventure.

It was a gorgeous Sunday evening and the walk downtown was nice.

After a big fail with determining the hours of our chosen pizza place, Ciao, we ended up at Joe’s, only a few blocks away.

As we entered, authentic Italian music filled our ears and we quickly decided what to order.

After placing our orders the group chose the both in the far back of the restaurant in front of the very well hidden bathroom. The booth was also known as the “rhombus of hate” due to the constant mocking from the boys about my lack of interest in sports, my job and pretty much everything I like. During this trip I missed Mervin, who understands my dislike of sports, and Josh, who understands my love for Cursive.

Anyway, back to the task at hand. We decided to do things a bit differently this time and each get individual slices with various toppings as well as a large cheese pizza.

Dan chose a slice with chicken, penne, broccoli, peppers and cucumbers which he really liked.

I had spinach with tomato. The large pieces of tomato were delicious.

Vince had portabello mushroom and tomato.

Everyone except me enjoyed the plain cheese pizza. There was not a lot of sauce and cheese . The crust was too thick and each bite was very doughy. The boys liked it, they thought it was one of the better pizza’s we have had.

My slice with the toppings was infinitely better than my plain slice. I think most of us agreed that Joe’s is a better place to go for a pre-made slice.

I think we need to venture to parts of the city further away from Center City. All of the places in the 5 block radius are starting to blend together. Any suggestions?

Today, five hungry college students (Vince, John, Mervin, Josh and I) ventured to Giovani Pizza in Center City for dinner. After much confusion with the parking meter (it was out of order, does that mean you can park for free?) we made it there and placed our order.

We decided to try toppings this time. John ordered a large plain pizza and a large half sausage, half veggie pizza while we got a table. After more issues with splittingg the cost we discussed the atmosphere.

Giovani is a small place with no music, only a TV playing the news at a high volume. There is a nice wall mural to distract customers from the other walls that are in desperate need of a paint job. They had a good selection of pre-made pizzas, but were obviously sell-outs because thier take out boxes had ads for the Ab-Rocker on them. The bathroom was clean but covered in graffeti.

When the pizzas came out, they looked delicious.

Everyone shared the cheese pizza, Mervin and Vince had the sausage and Josh and I had the Veggie.

The pizza was messy but good.

Josh had an incident with the cheese falling off. There were no utensils, so he had to use his straw. It was rather hilarious.

Vince also had trouble with his pizza being too messy. You pretty much had to use the fold method in order to successfully eat a slice.

The crust was thick, the sauce was sweet. The plain cheese pizza was average and the entire experience was kind of typical. The veggie pizza had so many vegetables on it, including pickles which were interesting, but good. Josh and I picked the mushrooms and olives off leaving spinach, green peppers and broccoli.

After we were done, there was one piece left over which we had wrapped up and gave to a homeless man.

Giovani Pizza is a good place for a quick lunch and one slice of their pre-made pizza. In general though, it’s nothing to write home about.

Tonight ’5 guys and a girl’ decided to go to Mix Brick Oven Pizzeria. Last week when the guys went to Gusto Pizzeria while I was out of town, they passed this place.

Approaching the restaurant I thought it looked very pricey for a pizza shop. It was. Two large pizzas cost $30. Entering it felt like entering a brick oven. The atmosphere was cool. There were red lights and a very warm feeling.

We got a table and asked for water, there were six of us so Josh, being the engineer that he is thought it would be logical to get a pitcher and asked for one. They apparently don’t do pitchers there, instead the foreign waitress with the sexy voice (according to Mervin), brought out six massive cups of water.

In the back room there was a bar and a few TV’s playing public access television with Spanish subtitles. They also played some good music including Britney Spears, Jamiroquai and one of Vince’s favorite songs by Colbie Cailat.

We ordered two 18″ cheese pizzas at 6:22 pm.

While we waited we took pictures and commented on how much we liked the atmosphere and hit music playing.

And then, it arrived exactly eleven and a half minutes later.

As the waitress set the pizza on the table the delicious aroma of garlic, cheese and tomato sauce made my mouth water. The service was good, but we were given paper plates which although typically fitting for pizza, it didn’t go with the atmosphere.

The slices were huge and very thin. Folding was necessary. The first bite of the pizza was good. Then as I ate it got more and more mediocre. It was worth it to get to the grand finale, the crust. It was perfectly seasoned with garlic powder and the best part of the pizza. However, if it you got a burnt piece, it was very gross.

In general, the pizza smelled much better than it tasted. It was a bit doughy, the taste was weak and adding seasoning to it was a must.

By the second slice, no one was thrilled about a third. By the third, the boys felt like this….

Moral of the story – If you go to this Pizzeria, do not over eat!

Also, for Pizza shops everywhere – Don’t make a pizza that big if you can’t make a pizza that big.

The Pizzadelphians that decided to check out Gusto Pizzeria were Vince, John, Josh, and Merv.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere was a very friendly atmosphere. The woman that served us was cordial and prompt. There weren’t that many groups of people in there when we arrived. We noticed that there were a few families that came and went. The neighborhood that Gusto’s is located may have played a part in that. There were cute little fun facts that were posted on the walls as well as a TV that was small enough not to distract you but big enough to not be annoying when trying to watch it. The music was an enjoyable dance techno mix that we all enjoyed. Overall, clean, well lit, and friendly.

Service

The waitress was quick to come to our table to serve us when we sat down. The seating area wasn’t the largest but it didn’t seem to be trouble if it got busy. We saw a delivery man going in and out so their main business must be from deliveries. We all ordered water except for Josh who got a Snapple. She provided a cup of ice for the Snapple which was a plus for Josh. We also thought that the crushed iced that came with our drink was a step up from cubes. We ordered two cheese pies which arrived on a double decker pie holder that we thought was pretty cool. Before we left, we took a peek behind the counter and noted that true Italians were at work. A bonus point to Gusto’s.

The Pizza

Our two cheese pizzas were quick to arrive which is what we would expect from a cheese pizza. The slices were even unlike our previous pizza experience. This is a crucial point for me. I like to have fair and equal representation for my cheese slices. There was no cheese drag when we took the slices from the pie plate. Everyone hates that person that takes all the cheese from all the slices when they try to take their own. The bottom crust was crunchy and not soggy. There weren’t that many bubbles of cheese. An even cheese surface is always visual appealing and tasty. The grease was moderate and not overwhelming. I remember not having any drip drip drip from my grease. Our first bite provided us with a good flavor. The taste of the cheese and the sauce was very good. The crust was solid, but “it doesn’t overstay its welcome”. This pizza may have been the best pizza we have tasted so far.

Overall

All together, Gusto Pizzeria currently has our top spot on our list of pizzas we have tried. The price for two cheese pies was around $20 which is a very reasonable price. Service was good and the pizza was top notch. There was only one really big problem. Since Josh is the only Jewish person on our team of Pizza tasters, he is the only one that keeps Kosher. That means that he can not have meat and dairy together in a meal. He ended up with a small piece of peperoni on his slice. While this may not be a problem for anyone else, this was a big problem for our Kosher Keeper as well as our Valiant Vegetarian that we also have on our team.

My Pizzadelphia Key Points

-Good service
-Family Friendly
-Good price
-Damn tasty cheese pizza
-A Small problem with meat sneaking in

Our first pizza place was Best House Pizzeria, we needed to know, was it really the best?

At 8:58 pm we were sitting in John & Vince’s apartment watching The Office and waiting for the pizza ordered at 8:10 pm to arrive. At this point we were all starving. John did not get the much awaited call until 9:22 pm. Their advertised delivery time was 45 minutes.

First impressions…

Josh thought it was sour while Dan thought it was sweet. We were all kind of thirsty. The cheese to sauce ratio was good. Good crust, not greasy. The first bite was a bit disappointing, but it got better.

The second piece was much better than the first. However, it was no longer hot which was disappointing. The box was generic, the cheese wasn’t stretchy and it made me want ice cream.

Overall, this was not a great experience. No one was excited to bring the extra slices home.

Would we order it again? Probably not. Was it the best? Definitely not.

John, Vince, Mervin, Josh, Dan and I, all with incredibly different tastes and opinions, plan to get pizza from every pizza place in Philadelphia.

This blog is to keep track of the places we visit and pizza we try.