Attempt #118 - Chad's [Cedar Falls, IA]

Venue Outside

 

The Venue 
909 W 23rd St,
Cedar Falls, IA 50613
(319) 242-2263

 

Chad’s is the Home of the Cedar Valley's favorite Pizza & Broasted chicken! 2021 Best of the Fest.  This place looks like a well establish hole-in-the-wall bar/restaurant right across from the University of Northern Iowa (UNI).  

Venue Inside

This is the perfect place to find some of the best za in the city!  There was bar, chair, and booth seating available; however, a pool table was in the middle of the room, so there wasn’t a ton of room.  I could imagine you may want reservations during the school year to get a table.

 

 

The Pizza

Menu

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Average

Menu: https://chadspizza.com/.../2022/08/CF-2022_Menu_PROOF3.pdf

Participants: 4 (5 children)

Pizza Ordered:  4

Sizes Offered/Ordered: Jumbo (16”), Large (14”), Medium (12”), Small (9”), Mini (7”)

Pieces Cut: Rectangular

Half and Half to try more varieties

 

1.    Street Taco (half) – Taco sauce , shredded steak, onions, mozzarella, cedar, cilantro, side of limes (Medium, $21.49).

 (Medium, $21.49).

 

2.    Chili Taco (second half) – Chad’s original taco pizza smothered in our homemade chili (Medium, $21.49).

 

Street Taco/Chili Taco, Medium, $21.49

3.    German (half) – We’ve made a believer out of every person who said they didn’t like sauerkraut after they’ve tried a slice of Heaven. This pizza features our signature sausage, pepperoni, onions, and sauerkraut (Medium, $21.49).

 

4.    Brat (second half) – The only thing that could make this one better would be enjoying it at your favorite ballpark.  Topped with mustard, drizzle, hearty slices of bratwurst, and loads of sauerkraut (Medium, $21.49).

 

5.    Pepperoni - Classic Pepperoni on a pizza (Small, $9.99).

 

6.    Fish and Chips – Tater sauce, codfish, mozzarella, fries (Small, $14.49).

 

 

Verdict

Brat/German, Medium, $21.49

Sauce: Sweet marinara sauce, and the taco sauce was pretty mild.  The fish & chips sauce was thick and it made it quite filling.

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 medium thickness; although certain pizzas had thicker crusts (the Fish and Chips was thick, whereas the small pepperoni was medium/avg).

Toppings: The toppings were great in general.  Some of them needed more flavor (such as the Chili from the Chili Taco).

Fish and Chips, Small, $14.49

 

Final thoughts:  I was very surprised at this college pizza joint. They had like 50+ specialty pizzas with the most variety I’ve EVER seen on a menu!  Although the cooking time was a bit long, the pizzas were pipping hot when they came out. By far this beats out Mesa and the Wedge in Iowa City.  The toppings were of much higher quality and the pizzas were all tasty.   In fact, I would say this is my favorite pizza joint to date, so if you are in town it’s worth the wait!

Pepperoni, Small, $9.99

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

Overall 9.00
Cheese 8.63
Topping 9.00
Sauce 8.25
Crust 8.25
Venue 9.00

Favorite: Brat

Attempt #117 - The Pines Pizza & Pub

 

Menu

The Venue 

4100 River Ridge Dr NE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
(317) 200-5350

 

The Pines Pizza & Pub is revamped Vitos and 42^nd with a new owner. High and low top table seating as well as a full bar.  Numerous Tvs are positioned around the dining area, so the restaurant which provides a sports bar feel, but more of a white-collar vibe.

 

The Pizza

A1 | Taco ($27)

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Average

Menu: https://order2.silverwarepos.com/app/flanoson42nd#!/menu

Participants: 7 (5 children)

Pizza Ordered:  4

Sizes Offered/Ordered: One size

Pieces Cut: Rectangular by request

Half and Half to try more varieties

 

1.    Taco (half) – Your favorite taco pizza.  In-house sauce topped with tomatoes, lettuce, chips, and cheddar. No beans ($26).

Sausage/Pepperoni | Pepperoni

A1 Bacon Cheeseburger (second half) – Yeah, we said A1steak sauce! Coupled with our pizza sauce, bacon, beef, onions, and our signature cheese. Add jalapenos to give it that extra kick! ($24).

 

2.    Supreme (half) – Sausage, pepperoni, onion, mushroom, black olives, green pepper, and sauerkraut ($24).

Meat Lovers (second half) - Sausage, bacon, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, and ground beef. Because why not have one when you can have ‘em all? ($24)

 

3.    Crab Rangoon (half) – Your favorite takeout appetizer on a pizza. Imitation crab, cream cheese, & pizza cheese topped with our sweet chili sauce ($24).

Reuben | Crab Rangoon ($25)

Reuben (second half) – Classic Reuben sandwich on a pizza ($24).

 

4.    Sausage & Pepperoni (half) and Pepperoni (second half).

 

 

Verdict

Sauce: The sauce had good consistency with the appropriate pizza.  The crab/taco were light on sauce, where as your traditional pizzas were a lot heavier.   

Slices

Cheese:  The cheese was way better on our fourth pizza, with a lot more to chew through.  It was excellent!

Crust: The crust was on the thinner side, but no cracker thin. Did a good job not burning it; however, it a little soggy on a few pizzas.

Toppings: Heavy on the toppings, which wasn’t a bad thing.

 

Final thoughts:  The Crab Rangoon was the crowd (and personal) favourate due to its richness of cheese and tangy sauce.  The Supreme was also a lot better than the meat pizza due to its robustness of flavorful toppings.  The top seller is the Taco, which wasn’t quite a good as Happy Joes. With Fongs now closed in Cedar Rapids, this is one of the few places you can go to get a decent Crab Rangoon pizza.   

 

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

Overall 8.14

Cheese 8.86

Topping 8.71

Sauce 7.86

Crust 7.71

Venue 8.86

Favorite: Crab Rangoon

Attempt #116 - Barrel House (Marion, IA)

Menu

 

The Venue 

295 Tower Terrace Rd
Marion, IA 52302
(317) 377-5792

 

Barrel House is a franchising chain based out of Davenport, Iowa.  They serve mainly the midwestern part of the United States and are growing closer to the coasts.  The restaurant boasts that it is an upscale place to eat, drink, socialize, and be merry.  Inside, it has bar seating, booth seating and indoor and outdoor tables. This location in Marion even had a robot server, which can deliver food to a table and sing happy birthday. The Gazette published a story about the Barrel house’s newest member of its team, the robot, a few months back. It was brought on to fill staffing demand due to labor shortages.

BBQ Pulled Pork with Bacon

 

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Average

Menu: https://order.barrelhousepub.com/barrel-house-marion/menu

Participants: 5 (7 children)

Pizza Ordered:  3

Sizes Offered/Ordered: one size

Pieces Cut: Rectangular

 

1.    BBQ Pulled Pork with Bacon

2.    Double Cheese, Half Pepperoni

3.    Sausage, Black Olive, Mushroom, Green Onion

 

The Verdict

Sauce: Sauce sweet and flavorful. The red sauce was great on both the pep and the sausage pizzas. The BBQ sauce on the pulled pork was great as well.  Of the components of the pizza, the sauce stood out most to me.

Sausage, Black Olive, Mushroom, Green Onion

Cheese:  The extra cheese on the pepperoni was awesome.  I still felt they were a little light on the cheese though.

Crust: Average crust the leaned on the thicker side. 

Toppings: Tasty toppings, lots of flavor.

 

Final thoughts:  Because the place is a chain, and it didn’t have any gourmet pizza offerings, I had low hopes. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the pizza was.  The sauce was sweet and very tasty.  The BBQ pork flavor combinations was simply awesome, even some of our picky eaters (the kids) dug in!   

 

Double Cheese Half Pepperoni

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

Overall 7.25

Cheese 6.60

Topping 8.50

Sauce 7.50

Crust 7.50

Venue 7.25

Favorite: BBQ Pulled Pork with Bacon

Slices

Attempt #115 - Spare Time

 

Venue Outside

The Venue 

4601 1^st Ave SE
Cedar Rapids, IA  52402
(317) 249-6001

 

At Spare Time, you can eat, bowl, and play arcade games, laser tag, escape rooms, and more.  The restaurant caters to the adult crowd with a high-top bar. Gas lit fireplace, and several booth and individual 4-man dining tables. The video game arcade had the kids busy for as long as the credit card was loaded, the bowling alley in the back was pretty fancy, and the escape rooms/laser tag was nearby. 

Menu

Overall the establishment was very clean, and new looking (despite being about a year old). Architecturally, it almost felt as if you were in a casino without the machines.   

 

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Thin

Menu:  https://www.sparetimeentertainment.com/cedar-rapids/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2022/10/Iowa-Menu-July-2022-v2-SM.pdf

The Corleone, 16 inch, $20

Participants: 8 (7 children)

Pizza Ordered:  5

Sizes Offered/Ordered: 16”, 28”/ 5x 16”

Pieces Cut: Triangular

 

1.    The Corleone - Sliced salami, pepperoni and Italian sausage with banana peppers, mozzarella & parmesan cheeses(16", $20).

2.    Meatlovers – Pepperoni, crisp bacon strips, sweet Italian sausage and ground beef (16", $20).

3.    Chicken Bacon Ranchero – A tempting creation of ranch dressing, crisp fried chicken, bacon, and cheddar jack cheese with a chipotle ranch dressing drizzle (16", $19).

Pepperoni, $17

4.    BBQ Bacon Chicken – BBQ sauce base with cheddar jack cheese, bacon pieces, red onions, and tender crispy chicken pieces (16”, $19).

5.    Pepperoni (16”, $16).

 

The Verdict

Sauce: This was the lowest scoring category at 3.86, which is of no shock to me. On some of the pizzas it was as if they forgot to put it on, and others, it was too little where it was dried up. 

Cheese:  The cheese was standard processed mozzarella which also lacked flavor.

Meatlovers, 16 inch, $20

Crust: This crust was too flimsy to be a fulfilling, bready style.  It was not crisp, as some thin pizzas are made.  It tasted a bit gritty in some cases.  I am unsure what kind of flour they used, but I would suggest a different one. 

Toppings: Sausage tasted way too sweet on the meatlovers.  Overloaded with too much bacon on the CBR and BBQ pizzas. Other than that, the toppings were okay.

 

I will state that the pizzas above were way better than the pizzas that are included with the children’s birthday parties.  I would almost classify those as uneatable. One bit, and you are left with an off-taste in your mouth!  Thankfully, we didn’t try those today, I’ve had it back in July, and it had me nervous to simply come back to Spare Time.  It reminded me of Chuckie cheese as a kid where even as a kid, you knew the pizza was bad, but it didn’t matter because you liked playing the games.  

Chicken, Bacon, Ranchero, 16 inch, $19

 

 

Final thoughts:  Spare time is a great place to lighten your wallet while your kids play some games.  However, I would order the burger or maybe that $15 sundae bowl next time. 

 

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

Overall 5.86

Cheese 4.71

BBQ Bacon Chicken, 16 inch, $19

Topping 7.00

Sauce 3.86

Crust 6.29

Venue 9.14

Favorite: Corleone

Slices

Attempt #114 - Pearl Street Pizzeria & Pub (10462 Olio Rd Fishers, IN 46040)

 

Venue Outside

Menu

The Venue 

10462 Olio Rd
Fishers, IN 46040
(317) 336-8703

 

Family owned small business with 15 years of experience being in the service industry.  They have a environmentally conscious approach to running their business, such as using bio-degradable products, and LED lighting, etc…  The Fishers location that we were at had both able and booth seating with a trendy restaurant all located in a (newer?) strip mall. 

Quattro Formaggio (Hand Tossed, 8 Inch, $13.70)

 

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Average

Menu:  https://pearlstreetnew.securetree.com/Geist/Menus/Pizza-Calzones/

Participants: 3 (0 children)

Pizza Ordered:  3

Sizes Offered/Ordered: 8”, 12”, 16”/ 3x 8”

Pieces Cut: Triangular

 

1.    Stuffed Portobello Mushroom - Sliced portobello caps, sausage, ham, bacon, red onions and mozzarella (Signature Pan, 8", $14.70).

Spicy Hawaiian (Signature Pan, 8 Inch, $14.70)

2.    Spicy Hawaiian - Pineapple, spicy capicola ham, spicy Thai-chili sauce and mozzarella. Topped with fresh cilantro (Signature Pan, 8", $14.70).

3.    Quattro Formaggio - Olive oil, garlic, asiago, mozzarella, parmesan and ricotta cheeses. Topped with fresh parsley (Hand Tossed, 8", $13.70).

 

The Verdict

Sauce: Sauce was a little too sweet for my likings, but it was well distributed. 

Stuffed Portobello Mushroom (Signature Pan, 8 Inch, $14.70)

Cheese:  The cheese was pretty light, and left more to be desired.  I LOVED the cheese around the crust on the pans, but it should have been more.  Lacked flavor.

Crust: Firm bready crust was a great asset to each pie that we ordered. 

Toppings: Tasty toppings, lots of flavor.

 

Final thoughts:  Next time, I wanted to try the pear pizza.  This place has two locations, so you know they are doing something right!  Lots of unique pizzas with a larger Italian menu.  Will definitely return!   

 

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

Overall 8.67

Cheese 8.67

Topping 9.33

Sauce 9.00

Crust 7.71

Venue 7.29

Favorite: Spicy Hawaiian