Attempt #123 - Tomaso's Pizza (Cedar Rapids, IA [1st Ave])

Venue Inside

 

The Venue 

2706 1st Ave SE,
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
(319) 364-4313

 

Tomaso’s moved their world headquarters from Center Point Road to 1^st Ave around the post-covid era.  The restaurant has plenty of booth and table seating.  They were able to accommodate our party of 14 by combining the three center tables into one large party table.  The table design was a continuous tree truck when put together, super cool!  

Menu

Typical Tomaso’s fashion, you have to get your own drinks, silverware, plates, etc… The staff was super friendly and accommodating.

 

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Thin, Chicago, Detroit

Menu:  https://www.tomasos4me.com/cedar-rapids

Participants: 9 (5 children)

Pizza Ordered:  5

Mombo Combo (Large, Detroit, $36.99)

Sizes Offered/Ordered: XL (16”), Large (14”), Medium (12”), Small (8”)

Pieces Cut: Triangular

 

1.    Mombo Combo – Pepperoni, fresh mushrooms, hand-sliced onions & green peppers, California black olives & Italian sausage (Large, Detroit, $36.99).

2.    Veggie Combo – Fresh Mushrooms, hand-sliced onions & green peppers, California black olives, broccoli florets (Large, Detroit, $31.99).

3.    Chicken Veggie Delight – Chicken, onions, mushrooms, green peppers, artichokes, and tomatoes (Large, Chicago, $36.99).

Veggie Combo (Large, Detroit, $31.99)

4.    Half Cheese/Half Pepperoni (Large, New York Thin, $28.99).

5.    2x Cheese Breads ($7.99)

 

 

Verdict

Sauce: The sauce is on top for the Chicago/Detroit’s, and it appeared a little light on some of the pies.

Cheese: Good quality of cheese and maybe enjoyed a side order of Cheese Bread.

Crust: The crust was great on the Detroit’s.  In fact, the Chicago curst in my opinion was even better!  The flavor has more of a robust profile compared with the Detroit, although I did miss the caramelized cheese along the edges that the Detroit has.

Half Cheese/Half Pepperoni (Large, New York, $28.99)

Toppings: The toppings on Mombo Combo were great, lots of flavor.    

 

Final thoughts:  If you haven’t been to Tomaso’s yet, please check it out.  It is a staple in Cedar Rapids, despite its high prices.  Compared with prior attempts at the Center Point Rd and Marion (now demolished) locations, this one scored lower overall - #15. However, the quality of the pizzas was spot on, and worth a visit if you haven’t been in awhile.

 

Here are our ratings, where 1 = worst and 10 = best.

Overall 8.75

Chicken Veggie Delight (Large, Chicago, $36.99)

Cheese 8.88

Topping 8.25

Sauce 8.00

Crust 8.25

Venue 8.88

Favorite: Mombo Combo

Attempt #122 - Pizza Plus [North Liberty, IA]

Venue Outside

 

The Venue 

515 N Dubuque St,
North Liberty, IA 52317
(319) 378-6924

 

North Liberty's first and finest pizza. Family owned and operated since 1993. 

Venue Inside

This longtime local favorite has a heavy carry-out/delivery presence in the area, but they do offer dine-in seating.  They offer booth as well as table seating, but be advised that the restaurant only holds about 30 people, so on a busy night, it might get crowded.  

 

Venue Inside

The Pizza

Menu

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Thin

Menu: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=2450664268318185&set=pcb.2450667474984531

Participants: 8 (4 children)

Pizza Ordered:  5

Veggie

Sizes Offered/Ordered: XL (16”), Large (14”), Medium (12”), Small (8”)

Pieces Cut: Triangular

 

1.    Half Pepperoni Half Cheese (Large 14”, $19.40).

2.    Spaghetti (Large 14”, $23.75).

3.    Veggie (Large 14”, $23.75).

4.    Gyro (Large 14”, $23.75).

5.    Taco (Large 14”, $23.75).

 

Taco

 

Verdict

Sauce: Classic Italian sweet tomatoes sauce with even consistency.

Cheese: The cheese solidified very quickly once the pizza cooled. They used one primary variety.  The consistency was evenly distributed on each pie across our sample size.

Crust: The crust was crispy yet had chewiness to it.  It was flimsy on the overloaded pies, such as the spaghetti and taco.

Toppings: The toppings on veggie was great, but the Gyro’s meat was excellent.  The taco toppings were a bit bland; I can think of better Tacos in Cedar Rapids (Parlor City/Happy Joe’s anyone?). 

 

Gyro

Final thoughts:  The Gyro’s meat and tzatziki sauce combo was the clear winner within our large sample size.  You may want to call ahead if you want your order ready in time, and they get a busy line of orders.

 

Here are our ratings, where 1 = worst and 10 = best.

Overall 8.00

Cheese 7.38

Topping 7.75

Sauce 7.75

Half Pep Half Cheese

Crust 7.88

Venue 6.00

Favorite: Gyro

Spaghetti

Attempt #121 - Red Robin [Cedar Rapids, IA]

 

Venue Outside

The Venue 

4625 1st Ave SE,
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
(319) 378-6924

 

Red Robin came to Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 2006. Recently in the past twelve months they stated offering Donatos pizza at this location. The restraint has bar, booth, and table seating with plenty of fun things to look at. The Cedar Rapids location has done several remodels through the years to keep itself fresh and relevant. Although the establishment wasn’t too busy, the waitress was not present much of the night.  Often times we had to go hunt her down to get what we needed. Additionally, the check was not split up as requested, which was a minor inconvenience.

Menu

 

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Thin

Menu: https://www.redrobin.com/location/red-robin-cedar-rapids/menu

Participants: 6 (4 children)

Pizza Ordered:  5

Sizes Offered/Ordered: Large (12”), Cauliflower Crust Only (12”), Small (10”)

The Works 10" $13.49

Pieces Cut: Strips

 

1.    Very Vegy On Gluten Free Cauliflower Crust - Freshly cut Roma tomatoes, green peppers, yellow onions, fresh mushrooms, baby spinach, green olives (12” only, $19.99).

2.    Founder's Favorite - Family-recipe pepperoni and sausage, shaved ham, banana peppers (Small, $13.49).

3.    Serious Meats - Hardwood-smoked bacon, family-recipe pepperoni and sausage, shaved ham, ground beef (Small, $13.49).

4.    The Works - Family-recipe pepperoni and sausage, freshly cut green peppers and yellow onions, fresh mushrooms (Small, $13.49).

Signature Pepperoni 10" $10.79

5.    Signature Pepperoni - Family-recipe pepperoni and smoked provolone cheese (Small, $10.79).

 

 

 

Verdict

Sauce: For thin crust pizzas, they didn’t overdo it on the sauce.

Cheese: This was okay, but was pretty forgettable.

Serious Meat 10" $13.49

Crust: The crust was cardboard on all but the veggie.  The veggie cauliflower crust was crisp and tasty.

Toppings: The toppings on all but the vegie was not great. Honestly, I’ve had plenty of better frozen pizzas than this.

 

Final thoughts:  If you like veggie pizza, order one with cauliflower crust; otherwise order a burger.

 

Here are our ratings, where 1 = worst and 10 = best.

Overall 5.80

Founders Favorite 10 " $13.49

Cheese 5.20

Topping 5.60

Sauce 4.20

Crust 6.00

Venue 6.40

Favorite: Founder’s Favorite

Very Vegy 12" $19.99

Attempt #120 - Maddi B's [Shueyville, IA]

Venue Outside

 

The Venue 

1202 Curtis Brg Rd NE,
Shueyville, IA 52338(319) 848-4040

 

Maddi B’s is located in the heart of Shueyville, and is only a carry out restaurant. Chad, the current owner has operated it since the pandemic in February of 2020. The location serves sandwiches, salads, pizzas, as well as some desserts.  Carry out pizza is a very common thing, but they will bake it upon request.  Since our order was during a heat advisory, I had them not cook our pizzas, and instead brought them home to be baked. By the way, their editable cookie dough is pretty delicious, especially paired with some ice cream.

Venue Inside

 

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Average

Menu: https://www.maddibs.com/menu

Participants: 8 (11 children)

Pizza Ordered:  4

Venue Inside

Sizes Offered/Ordered: Large (16”), Medium (14”), Small (12”)

Pieces Cut: Rectangular (by request)

 

1.    The Heater – Arrabbiata, sausage, red onion, marinated red pepper, pepperoni, jalapeño, mozzarella cheese blend, buffalo drizzle (Large, $22).

Cheese, Large, $17

2.    Philly – Bianco, grilled steak, portobello mushroom, red onion, bell peppers, mozzarella cheese blend, provolone cheese, pecorino romano (Large, $22).

3.    County Rocket – Bianco, spinach, mushroom, red onion, tomato, mozzarella cheese blend, arugula, pecorino romano, mike’s hot honey (Large, $21).

4.    Cheese – (Large, $17).

Country Rocket, Large, $21

 

 

Verdict

Sauce: The pizzas were not very saucy, and I think could have used a bit more on some of the pies. 

Cheese:  The cheese was bubbled as it cooked, and it as on the lighter side of placement.

Crust: The crust bready and rich.

The Heater, Large, $22

Toppings: The toppings were fresh, but some, like the Country Rocket, could have used more hot honey.  I was secretly rooting for that one, but I was a little disappointed by the lack of flavor as compared to the Lincoln Winebar’s arugula pizza.

 

Final thoughts:  The pizza was bready, and had a lot of flavors. The Heater had the most flavor, with its sweet buffalo sauce, paired with the flavorful spicy topping made this one the winner.  The pizza itself wasn’t terribly spicy, but it did have a little kick.

Philly, Large, $22

 

Here are our ratings, where 1 = worst and 10 = best.

Overall 7.43

Cheese 7.43

Topping 8.00

Sauce 7.43

Crust 8.14

Venue N/A

Favorite: The Heater

Attempt #119 - Herb N' Lou's Pizza [West Branch IA]

 The Venue 

105 N Downey St,
West Branch, IA 52358
(319) 643-7373

 

Venue Outside

West Branch, Iowa is singularly famous for being the birthplace of the 31^st President, Herbert Hoover in 1874; which contains the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum and National Historic Site. The restraint is named after him and his wife, Lou Henry. The restraint has table and booth seating. For those walking in for the first time, it is important to stand in line immediately to place and pay for your order THEN find a seat.  They provide a ticket stub and will call your number. Our group arrived at 6:30 on a Friday evening; which is likely the worst possible time; however, as a result, we waited 2 and a half hours for our order. Our group was disappointed in the slow service.

 

 

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Average

Menu: https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=524401383020243&set=a.2389895317751434&type=3

Participants: 5 (3 children)

Pizza Ordered:  3

Sizes Offered/Ordered: Large (14”), Medium (12”), Small (10”), Mini (6”)

Pieces Cut: Triangular

Menu

 

1.    Evan O’Neil Special – Garlic butter sauce with mozzarella and cheddar cheese (Large, $19.25).

 (Medium, $21.49).

 

2.    Lite Lou – Mushroom, onion, green pepper, and black olive (Large, $19.25).

 

3.    Chicken Bacon Ranch – Homemade ranch sauce, garlic chicken, bacon, mozzarella and cheddar cheese, topped with homemade ranch (Large, $19.25).

 

 

Verdict

Lite Lou [Veggie], 14" Large, $19.25

Sauce: This was a hard one top judge, as the Chicken Bacon Ranch had ranch dressing, the Evan had no sauce and the Lite Lou had a small amount of marinara sauce.  From what I did taste, I wasn’t too impressed as it tasted like it was out of a can.  The ranch was homemade in house, which was worthy of a higher vote in my opinion.

Cheese:  The cheese was thick, and paired with the crust, it made the pizza go a lot farther than we thought it would just by looking at it.

Crust: The crust was of average to thick; although it tasted a bit manufactured.

Toppings: The toppings were plentiful and had a well-balanced placement on the pies.  On the veggie the topping continually slid off.

Evan O'Neil Special, 14" Large, $19.25

 

Final thoughts:  The long waiting for the pizza was draining on the team, as we were running out of patience.  The pizza was decent, but nothing to write home about.  The crust tasted a bit cheap and processed; although the toppings were plentiful.  The veggie lacked flavor, although the Chicken Bacon Ranch was very flavorful. This spot is a local’s favorite in the area.  However, I’d rather order from another place. 

 

Here are our ratings, where 1 = worst and 10 = best.

Overall 7.00

Cheese 7.80

Topping 8.00

Sauce 7.20

Crust 7.40

Venue 7.00

Chicken Bacon Ranch, 14" Large, $19.25

Favorite: Chicken Bacon Ranch