Toby suggested we go to lunch at La Luna in Boca Raton the other day. I have never been to this pizza place, which is located on 5030 Champion Blvd in Boca Raton, 561.997.1165. They seem to advertise quite a bit in the local pennysavers, but I never thought to go and try it since it just seemed like the type of place that caters to more of the early bird crowd.
It is easy for anyone to misjudge how amazing an upside down pizza tastes right out of the oven. Normally, one would have to go to Brooklyn to enjoy a fresh, hot out of the oven, upside down Sicilian slice. This is no longer the case.
Nino’s of Boca Raton located on 7120 Beracasa Way, Boca Raton, FL – (561) 392-9075 is testing out this upside down Sicilian style pies (also known as Red Pies) for anyone who walks in and asks for one of these special pies, saying they are friends of Lapp or WorstPizza.com. These pies cost a couple of dollars more then the regular Sicilian pies there (which are still very well priced for the quality and taste).
This is different then the other upside down pies you might have had with me, if we have had the opportunity to meet and eat there together. The other kind that I previously had at Nino’s was an upside down grandma style pizza. This is regular, thick Sicilian style crust that has sliced mozzarella cheese melted into the dough, on top of a tasty coating of extra virgin olive oil. On top of the cheese, can be found a layer of sweet sauce that meets the roof of your mouth, so smooth, and hot, that it is unlike any pizza you have previously encountered.
Many might argue that this pizza was originated in Detroit, but that is a fight that they will have to battle out with the New Yorkers. Places like Spumoni Gardens, Rosas’s and numerous others have been serving this style pizza for decades. Others refer to this as cheesebread with sauce on top (Mr. Waffle), but once you taste it, I think you will find it hard to classify as anything but delicions.
Nino’s will not be offering this pie for long. They will test it out on my readers and ask for honest reactions. If you all think it is worthy of the menu, then they will include it. This is crowdsourcing for Pizza. And what a great pizza to try it out on. Also, the owner, Marco, would love to hear what you think he should call this pie after you eat it.
Nino’s gets 7 out of 8 slices for this remarkable pizza.
<a href=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/12/771613/restaurant/Miami/Jons-Place-Boca-Raton”><img alt=”Jon’s Place on Urbanspoon” src=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/logo/771613/minilogo.gif” style=”border:none;width:104px;height:15px” /></a>
We noticed something new the other day at Pizza Time in Boca Raton. On the display counter were a half dozen or so of these new looking pizzas. They called them Margherita pies and told me they are so addictive he guarantees I will come back for them. Guess he didn’t realize I don’t really like chunky sauce, and thick fresh mozz cheese, but we tried it anyways.
Even when the pie came out baked, it didn’t look like the thick mozzarella cheese baked right, and when I bit into it, it was almost the consistency of taking a piece of cheese out of the refrigerator and eating it (just a little warmer). I was told that they go through like 20 of these pies a day, and people consider this the best pizza in South Florida. Personally I disagree! I think Pizza Time in Boca Raton has some amazing pizza, and would actually pick it over some of the other establishments that are closer to me. Their Sicilian is great, and they have a version of an upside down Sicilian as well.
For the price of this Margherita pie, it just isn’t something I will try again. But if you like chuncky tomato sauce, with loads of basil, (as you can see we only got half with basil, since I don’t like it) and you like thick cut fresh mozzarella cheese, then you might really love this pie. The crust however, was exceptional. I would like to get a pie with this crust, and their regular sauce and cheese. This is one of the few times, that my expertise might be off. And just because I didn’t really care for it, does not mean it isn’t as good as others say. Jim agreed with my sentiments as well, and said he wouldn’t pay the price again. If you go there and try it please leave me a comment about why you like/dislike this pie. I, for one, will continue to get their traditional pizzas instead.
Pizza Time gets 5 out of 8 slices for this Margherita.
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Since the pizza was so good at Dominic’s I the other day, I tried Dominic’s II out in West Boca Raton the other day. Dominic’s II Pizza is located in the Home Depot shopping center on the corner of Glades and 441. 9834 West Glades Road 561.487.6325. I believe the owner of Dominic’s II is brothers with the owner of Dominic’s I.
I am always amazed at how pizza can taste different from place to place. You would think with the same name, that the ingredients would be the same as well. My previous experiences at Dominic’s I have been amazing. The Sicilian there is has just been fabulous, and I have gone back a couple of times and experienced the same quality. The same used to be the case for Dominic’s II. In my previous review of Dominic’s II, I found the pizza to be extremely tasty and relatively good! Maybe it is because I ordered a slice from the counter. This time however, I ordered a whole Sicilian Pie, and just didn’t think it was as great as it was the previous time. Don’t get me wrong, even on a bad day they are much better then some of their competitors. The pie just tasted kind of blah. There wasn’t a generous amount of cheese, and the sauce wasn’t as sweet as it usually is. The crust was still pretty decent, and I cannot really comment negatively on it.
I am guessing this was just an off day for Dominic’s II, so I will continue to frequent Dominic’s I for a while instead. In a couple of months I will go back to II and see if it has gotten better.
Dominic’s II gets 5 out of 8 slices.
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Always eager to try new places I was excited when the Pizza Expert invited
me to Augy’s Pizza 1501 Northwest 2nd Avenue, Boca Raton, FL One Block North of Glades Road (561) 368-1330. We weren’t originally planning on going there, but it was late and their pizza buffet was over (please see Oct 17
2008 post for more info as to why).
We walked in and I was overwhelmed by how dated the place looked. And I can eat at any whole in the wall, but this was something special. To say they
need to redecorate is to imply that it was once decorated. It was like that
’70s show. Worse was the salad bar and hot buffet. I have never seen such
a nasty looking bucket of food in my life. I wanted to turn around and get
as far away as possible. What was the Pizza Expert thinking? Where had he
taken me?
But we weren’t there for the décor, salad bar or chaffing dishes of hot food. We were there for the pizza. A large, fresh, hot Sicilian pie. And it was delicious!!! Although it was Sicilian style, it was not very thick. The crust was light and airy! More important, it was crispy and had a wonderful char in the corners and edges. Truly delicious. I am not one to ever complain about too much sauce, but that was a problem with this pie. All the sauce was in the middle and some slices were drenched. But the ones that weren’t had the most wonderful combination of crust, cheese and hint of sauce.
I also want to give a shout out to the staff. Although rough around the edges, they were very nice, attentive and friendly. They made us feel at home, which is saying more than most places. I would definitely go back, but I would still avoid the buffet. As we said last year, ONLY EAT THEIR PIZZA WHEN HOT. And try the Sicilian. You will find a 6 of 8 slice experience.
This pizza tasted great. Let’s start off with that. The Dominic’s located by the turnpike on Glades, 8177 West Glades Road 561.487.3186 has to be the best of the Dominic stores. We will review the Dominic’s II later in the week, but for now we will focus on Tony and this location he runs.
On this visit, my son and I went to grab a couple of slices before going to some stores. Since we were heading out west, I suggested we go to Dominic’s Pizza. When we sat down I ordered 2 Sicilian slices. I could not believe how good they tasted this trip. The cheese tasted incredible, there was a perfect amount of sauce under it, and the crust was crispy, yet airy. I never had such an amazing slice like this before. We have since gone back 3 times, just to get Sicilian slices during the weekend. I keep forgetting to find out what cheese he uses on the Sicilian pies, because it tastes great, and he uses the perfect amount.
Dominic’s I by the turnpike, could easily have one of the best Sicilian style slices in Boca Raton. If you can get past all the nagging, complaining, patrons who pack this place nightly, you are in for a treat. The owner happens to be one of the few of his kind around these parts. He actually remembers who his regulars are and makes sure he sends over something to the table to thank them for waiting patiently and coming back. That is a very classy thing to do, and something 99% of the other pizza owners down here neglect. This must be why there is always a wait there after 5pm.
Dominic’s Pizza gets 6 out of 8 slices!
<a href=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/12/1458832/restaurant/Miami/Dominics-Pizza-Boca-Raton”><img alt=”Dominic’s Pizza on Urbanspoon” src=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/logo/1458832/minilogo.gif” style=”border:none;width:104px;height:15px” /></a>
Big City Pizza in Boca Raton recently renovated the inside, cleaning it up about and adding some Italian Character. This is a welcomed change, considering the previous space looked a little run down, and aged. Many of us thought Big City Pizza was going to move across the street into another shopping center, but instead they stayed put and started to renovate. Big City Pizza is located on 222 Yamato Road, near the Panera Bread. 561.997.5656
There is new paint on the wall, new menus posted, and the place has a great new look and feel to it. The owners tell me many other changes are planned for the future and some should be noticeable soon.
The pizza I had there today was great. There was something about the way the cheese tasted today on the regular slice (they had no sicilian today) that was outrageous. The guy behind the counter told me they hadn’t changed anything, but this visit gave me one of the best slices I have had there, or at many other places for that matter. The cheese:sauce ratio was perfect, and even though the pie just came out of the oven, the crust held up decently.
Well done guys! We wish you much success with the redesign and decision to stay put. After the pizza I had there the other day, you will be seeing me more often. Hope it always tastes this good.
Big City Pizza in Boca Raton, gets 6 out of 8 slices for todays visit!
I have gone time and time again to Tucci’s just to try to find a fault, and I just cannot. Maybe the green shirt the owner wears could be nicer, but outside of that, the pizza has consistently managed to impress me. Therefore I am making the statement that Tucci’s Pizza in Boca Raton, has the best coal oven pizza I have had in this city.
A discounted gift card to Renzo’s Pizza in Boca Raton. This could be a sign of things to come for the economy, or show us how ripped off we were getting previously paying full price, or even just show that Renzo’s pizza was really wholesale quality pizza in disguise?
This is an interesting trend, which I wonder if we will see more of. In my personal opinion, Renzo’s has managed to cheapen its brand by including themselves in a warehouse shopping club. When is the last time you have seen busy restaurants have to offer 20% off cards to get people to dine there? Besides putting themselves in a walmart type of setting, Renzo’s is opening a few places around town currently. Wonder if they didn’t do market research to see what happened to Boboli’s, Roboli’s, Carlucci’s, Sal’s, Rotelli’s, and many others who thought because one place was doing well, that they would saturate the market, and ultimately close down almost every store they opened outside of their original one.
So, one must question what the motivation is to offer 20% off cards at Costco Mr. Renzo? Your stores seem to be busy, and the food doesn’t suck. What would lead you to associate yourself with bulk cheapness? People are normally embarrassed to shop at discount stores, in fear of being seen their by neighbors. Do you want them to feel the same way when going to your dining establishments?
A new place opened up in the former space that used to house Bilotti’s Pizza, or maybe it was Boboli’s Pizza, or maybe even Sal’s. Who knows they all looked alike once inside, and pretty much all had the same crappy taste to them. Another mom and pop shop opened up soon after, but seemed to go out of business just as fast. Now it is Mediterranean Pizza’s turn to step up and try and make this hidden location work. Mediterranean Pizza is located on 8903 Glades Road, 561.488.8883 in the TJ Maxx shopping center. You cannot see it from the road, so don’t even try to look.
My wife needed to go and get something at TJ Maxx, and I noticed that there was a sign that said pizza outside the restaurant, soon after it opened. I ventured in and walked up to the counter to order a slice to go. The waitress, must have asked me no less then 10 times if I wanted to try the Turkish Pizza instead of a “cheese” slice. I said no politely the first 9 times, and by the tenth I just looked at her sternly and said, I ordered a plain slice and that is most likely EXACTLY what I want.
The pizza guy eventually got around to finding a slice of pizza, which seemed to be sitting out for a while, and then piled on some extra mozz cheese on top of it. Right off the bat I assumed that this pizza was stale, tasted terrible, and they were putting on the cheese to hide what was underneath it. Anyways, no other places does this so I thought it was somewhat unique. When the slice came out, it didn’t taste too bad. Since it was laying around for so long, the crust was extremely crisp and managed to have a quality taste to it.
The strange part about this slice was I couldn’t tell if they had any cheese on the slice in the first place, or just left a pie laying around with only sauce and dough? As an expert I should have easily been able to tell this, but once they put the new cheese on, it made it extremely hard to tell. All-in-all it was an ok experience and I figured I would go back and try again.
During my second visit to Mediterranean Pizza, I took my son to get some new taste buds in the mix. We ordered a small plain pie from the un-attentive waitress, and started to wait. Based upon the time I ordered the pizza to when it went into the oven was a long time. This was obviously due to our waitress being unorganized. When the pizza finally came out of the oven it looked really good. This time there was no extra cheese placed on top of it like my previous time. They should learn to be consistent and serve the slices and the pies the same way. I liked how little sauce was placed on the pie and soon took my first bite. My son took his first bit around the same time and we both gave each other a look of disappointment. The dough was well undercooked, and tasted pretty bland. The cheese even didn’t have a great taste to it, and I would comment on the sauce, but like I said earlier, there wasn’t really any. Based on my experience with our server (we were there for over an hour total, for a small pie) and the lack of effort placed into this pie, I will give Meditteranean Pizza 3 out of 8 slices. If they want to put a little more TLC into their pies, they can contact me and I will happily come in again to try it.