Ravenna Pizza Twitter/X Food Review

Salsciccia Pepperoni at Ravenna Pizza

Self-advertised as “crispy, light & airy,” @ravennapizza’s Roman-style pizza lives up to its promises. Generous toppings & a crust (long fermented dough) to-die-for. 1/4 pie (2 squares, $7) is plenty and the sausage crumbles… next level. A- Oven-Roasted Fries ($4.50) were just that, oven-roasted (visibly) crispy but pedestrian in taste. C- I’d opt for their wings next time, and there definitely will be a next time(s.) Super friendly staff, and clean, comfortable interior (love that night shot of the @ParcoColosseo.) 

Grade: B+ (The kind of place you want to visit often.)

Big Tony's Pizzeria & Dive Bar Twitter/X Food Review

Pepperoni & Cheese Pizza at Big Tony's Pizza

Quick lunch at Big Tony’s Pizza 🍕 in Clarendon. Former home to Bronx Pizza, only smaller inside. ($4 Cheese & $5 Pepperoni) Pizza is below average ft. subpar, underdone ingredients atop a flimsy, paper-thin crust with almost no tomato sauce (?!) D- $4 Fries are a super value (you get enough to feed 2-3 people.) They’re crispy (twice fried) crunchy, & piping hot with decent taste, but not my preferred style. C++ 

Grade: C- (After midnight curve)

Di Fira Pizza Twitter/X Food Review

Build-Your-Own-Pizza with Sausage & Red Onions at Di Fira Pizza

Pizza Fail 

A word (or two) to the wise: Stay clear of @wonder's pizza... evidently any pizza. Already home to the abysmal Detroit Brick Pizza Co., Wonder has outdone itself with the somehow worse Di Fara Pizza @difara. When I arrived to pick it up, I was (nicely) told they had to place it in two boxes (b/c they were out of large ones, and Di Fara's pies are a whopping 16") That's actually the good news. The bad is everything else. For starters, it had a strange & unpleasant odor that I couldn't associate with any of the pizza ingredients (scary.) Overall, cold, with almost no red onions, very little sausage, and globs of so-so cheese on about half of each slice. The other half featured over-chewy, thick, underdone crust and a stingy splash of tomato sauce with little else. The latter bordered on disgusting/inedible, while the former only reminded us to never (ever) order it again. Toss in flavorless, wilted basil + zero char on the bottom, and you have DC's new worst pizza. $22.95, and we barely finished one slice each.

Grade: F (Wish we could grade lower.)

Pizza Hut Twitter/X Food Review III

Sausage Personal Pan Pizza at Pizza Hut

Pizza Dud

Some foods travel well, some do not. @pizzahut provides the latter in (what can best be described as) a terrible lunch. Best of the lot? $5.95 Lemon Pepper Fries that live up to their promised flavor (lemon, lemon, 🍋) but not enough to overlook the disgusting duo of cold, stale Breadsticks ($8.76!) & a $7.52 Sausage Personal Pan Pizza that’s both undercooked & underwhelming. If you’re keeping score… disgusting, terrible & underwhelming = not good.

Grade: D (lemon proves a fun twist for fries.)

My Own Pizza Twitter/X Food Review

Supreme & Cheese slices at My Own Pizza

When did pizza get so… dull? I’m not sure when (although late night giant slices leap to mind) but it’s sadly all around us. That includes @ShopTysons where My Own Pizza reminds us just how blah a slice of 🍕 can be. A supreme slice (sausage & pepperoni) sets you back over $6 with tax, but I dare you to remember it. The sausage was pretty zesty, but everything else (cheese, crust, sauce) tasted of nothing. That said, the <$5 slice of cheese predictably had nothing going for it either, unless you count a tiny bit of visible char. $11.32 for 2 boring slices of pizza? Never again.

Grade: D (for dull.)

Frankly Pizza Twitter/X Food Review

Cheese & House-made Sausage Pizza at Frankly...Pizza!

Been a while since my last visit to @FranklyPizza and, sorry to say, not as good as I remember. Kept it simple with a Cheese & House-made (pork) Sausage Pie ($18) 12” & flimsy/undercooked with surprisingly little char & even less flavor. Cheese & tomato sauce? Meh. Chewy crust (except in the middle) but thank goodness for some of the best, zestiest sausage I’ve had in years (and plenty of it.) Superb service (thanks Quincy) but the pizza 🍕 just wasn’t on par. P.S. Lovely patio seating.

Grade: C

Detroit Brick Pizza Co. Twitter/X Food Review

Spicy Pepperoni Pizza at Detroit Brick Pizza Co.

Mixed bag at Detroit Brick Pizza Co as my @wonder tour continues. The local king of Detroit style pizza is @LittleBeastCafe, which catches all the little (pun intended) details. DBPC’s Spicy Pepperoni Pizza seems a little… rushed. It was underdone, and light on cheese and pepperoni. The former is slathered in a sweet (not spicy) tomato sauce (that gets cold fast.) What little cheese there is went without notice (I literally couldn’t tell you what cheese it even was. (Mozz & provolone for the record)) There’s so much sauce, you’re forced to use a knife & fork, and the only spice comes from the tasty/zesty pepperoni, which is sparse. That said, those pepperoni cups are delicious: I just wished for more. The crust has potential (nice & fluffy) but it’s underdone as well. I prefer Alanza Pizza, and it’s a lot (almost half) cheaper.

Grade: C- (Underdone & way too much sauce.)

Alanza Pizza Twitter/X Food Review

Pepperoni Pizza at Alanza Pizza

First hiccup at #Wonder in Rosslyn, as bad customer service sets the wrong mood for Alanza Pizza 🍕 You know the type of “worker “ who doesn’t want to be there, yet there they are… front & center with indifference & (bad) moodiness. What a shame, as the 12” Pepperoni pie (only $10.49) is really good. The cheese is generous & (unbelievably) gooey. A! It’s also covered in crispy pepperoni, which helps offset a relatively pedestrian (but serviceable) crust that may have benefited from a little more char. Overall, a solid B that could have been a notch higher, with any kind of positive service. Fingers crossed 🤞 this was only an off day.

Grade: B

90 Second Pizza Twitter/X Food Review

Margherita Pizza with Sausage & Onions at 90 Second Pizza

Lickety-Split

Fast food doesn’t necessarily conjure up thoughts of culinary bliss, but Georgetown’s 90 Second Pizza 🍕 more than holds its own… and at a substantial savings ($10.99 + $1 toppings.) Talia & I ordered a Margherita pie with Sausage & Onions before heading next door to see @FantasticFour. It’s fast indeed, and the results are (mostly) impressive. San Marzano tomatoes 🍅 produce a robust sauce & their mozzarella/parmesan blend is gooey & tasty. Sausage was plentiful & zesty. Nice char as well. Not so good? The edges were doughy (especially compared to the interior pie,) cheese & onions sparse, and overall, a bit too flimsy. However, for the price, quality & speed, it rates a solid B.

Grade: B

Cleveland Park Bar & Grill Twitter/X Food Review III

NY Style Sausage Pizza at Cleveland Park Bar & Grill

Moving On Up

Cleveland Park Bar & Grill closed its doors last December. It was a sad surprise, but instead of disappearing for good, they merely moved down the block a few doors, taking over the upstairs of @FatPetesBBQ. Their pizza 🍕 has changed (for the better) with an 8” pie with 1 topping for only $12.50. As for the pie itself, the cheese is otherworldly (although a tad underdone.) It’s thick, gooey & delicious. Sausage is plentiful, well-sized & zesty. The crust had a nice char on top (in spots) and ok on the bottom. Tomato sauce is fine, but not all that memorable. Luckily the cheese alone transcends the overall grade to a B+.

Grade: B+

Mamma Lucia’s Pizza and Mamma’s Bagels Twitter/X Food Review

Cheese & Sausage/Pepperoni pizza at Mamma Lucia's Pizza

Cheese & Sausage/Pepperoni slices at @mammalucia_. A+ customer service that’s “in the blood” and worth coming back for (exclusively.) Luckily the pizza’s good too. $4 & $4.50 respectively, and jumbo sized, piping hot out of the oven. Gooey cheese and foldable crust (with tiny bubbles tucked inside) and just enough grease to make it interesting/tastier. Needs a bit more sauce, but the meat toppings are full of flavor! If you like NY-style, you’ve found the right place. 

Grade: B+

Gordon Ramsay Street Pizza Twitter/X Food Review

Pepperoni Pizza at Gordon Ramsay Street Pizza

Late Night Perfect Toppings

Late Night Perfect Toppings at @GRStreetPizza. Great play at @ShakespeareinDC, followed by (hands down) the best tomato sauce ever put on a pizza. 12” Pepperoni ($20.50) has a nice char on top (but not on the base) so I had leftover crust, but the toppings (dynamite pepperoni, fresh mozzarella & spicy chorizo) are top-tier, bordering on sheer perfection. A- and I can’t wait to have it again. Sidewinder Fries ($7.50) fun, twisty shapes, nice & hot but meh flavor B- Nice atmosphere inside + great music (Escort, HNNY)

Overall Grade: B+

Timber Pizza Co. Twitter/X Food Review

Margherita at Timber Pizza Co.

Cold as Ice

Margherita Pie at Timber Pizza Co. Ballston. Good value (only $13) but flimsy and underdone, with very little tomato sauce away from the center (making it even flimsier) Nice cheese, but needs salt & more time in oven. Grade: D- (rivals @PapaJohns for worst in area)

Little Beast Cafe & Bistro Twitter/X Food Review

Build Your Own pizza at Little Beast Cafe & Bistro

It's Go Time!

I don't want to live in a world where nobody knows what Detroit-style pizza is. Luckily, I don't have to. Chevy Chase fave @LittleBeastCafe serves it better than anyone else. Their Build Your Own comes with Sausage & Red Onions for a tidy (but super filling) $24. You get a thick, beautifully charred crust that crushes Chicago-style, with some of the gooiest, yummiest brick cheese blend & deep red, robust tomato sauce that will literally bring tears (of joy) to your eyes. Near perfection.

Grade: A

John Dough Pizza Co. Food Review

Pepperoni Pizza at John Dough Pizza Co.

Another day, another (mediocre) pizza. Covering Awesome Con can "work up" quite an appetite, so it's important to have quality options for a late afternoon lunch at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The line for Ben's Chili Bowl was discouragingly long, but not so much at nearby John Dough Pizza Co. In fact, no one was in line... which might explain the aforementioned mediocre moniker.

Pieology Offers Free Pizza During Holidays with App

From our friends at Pieology Pizzeria...

Pieology Rewarding People Who Love Pizza and Gift Giving During Holidays with Free Pizza Using App

To celebrate the holiday season starting November 1 through December 31, 2019, Pieology is rewarding guests who give the perfect gift everyone loves - Pizza.

We, the Pizza Opens in Ballston Exchange

From our friends at We, the Pizza...

We, The Pizza opens October 30th, 2019 at Jamestown’s Ballston Exchange by Nour Sharkas, the latest franchisee to expand a concept by The Sunnyside Restaurant Group. We, The Pizza offers 17 pies by the slice, 12 homemade sodas, chef-made wings and Italian gelato shakes.

Pieology Celebrates National Pizza Month with "Scan, Score & More Sweepstakes"

From our friends at Pieology Pizzeria...

Pieology Celebrates National Pizza Month by Rewarding Pizza Lovers with "Scan, Score & More Sweepstakes"

To celebrate National Pizza Month this October, Pieology is hosting a month-long, national sweepstakes that includes One Grand Prize Winner per Restaurant. With a Grand Prize of Free Pizza for a Year, instant-wins every day and tickets to movie theaters and Six Flags theme parks, there is something for everyone. The Sweepstakes, called “Scan, Score & More,” rewards pizza lovers whenever they check in using the Pie Life Rewards app at their local Pieology Pizzeria.

Bottomless Brunch Comes to All-Purpose Shaw, June 29

The Beltway (Photo: All-Purpose Shaw)

From our friends at All-Purpose Shaw...

All-Purpose Shaw Begins Bottomless Brunch Service, June 29

Bottomless brunch service begins Saturdays, Sundays, and Holiday Mondays June 29 11:00 AM - 2:30 PM

All-Purpose in Shaw will launch a new Bottomless Brunch menu on June 29 that includes bottomless Aperol spritzes, mimosas, bloody marys, and bellinis in addition to some very popular brunch items from the Capitol Riverfront location and some new Shaw-exclusives. Brunch will be Saturdays, Sundays, and Holiday Mondays from 11:00 AM - 2:30 PM.

Bibiana Announces New $20 Pranzo al Bar Weekday Bar Menu

The Panuozzo at Bibiana Osteria-Enoteca (Photo: Ashlie Levy)

From our friends at Bibiana Osteria-Enoteca...

Bibiana Osteria-Enoteca, Ashok Bajaj’s authentic Italian gem, is pleased to announce the addition of a new fixed price menu, available exclusively at their 12-seat bar located at 1100 New York Ave, NW, (entrance on 12th and H Streets), in the heart of downtown Washington. Created by Executive Chef Loris Navone, the new Pranzo al Bar menu allows guests to select one featured pizza, sandwich or bowl filled with a tempting Italian meal. Bar patrons can add a choice of a soft drink, iced tea, or featured glass of Italian wine to their meal followed by a choice of coffee, espresso or seasonal sorbet flavor of the day at the end of the meal for $20 (excluding tax and gratuity.) The Pranzo al Bar menu is available Monday through Friday, from 11:30 AM to 7 PM.