Attempt #5 - Naso's

The Sicilian pizza

The Venue

453 7th Avenue,

Marion, IA

(319) 377-9066

Naso’s has a very laid back atmosphere, with dim lighting, a bar, and some tables packed around every which way.  If you go, you better go early, because Tuesdays are ½ price pizza nights.  So a large one-topping pie is roughly $5…not bad.

The Pizza

A closeup of the Sicilian pizza slice.

This pizza reminded me a lot of the pizza from Sip ‘N Stir.  It was thin crisp crust (with an exception of the pepperoni…that was soggy from all the grease).  The sauce was sweat, maybe a bit too sweat for some.  The cheese slid off the pieces so you had to be extra careful.  One plus about Naso’s was they had a large assortment of topping combinations to choose from.  We ordered a pepper (pepperoni, with red and green peppers) pizza, one called the Sicilian Mafia (sausage, artichoke hearts, onion, tomatoes, etc…), and a plain pepperoni.  My personal favorite of the

The Verdict

The Spicy "Peppers" pizza!

Pepperoni pizza

Although this pizza is thin (as I’ve noticed this is how a lot of Iowans prefer their pizzas), the price is very reasonable on Tuesday nights.  I would suggest going then and giving it a try before committing to the full price.  From my personal preference as a thick crust kind-of-guy, I would look elsewhere.

Attempt #4 - Tomaso's Pizza World

The Venue

Tomaso's Pizza World
1111 7th Avenue

Marion, IA

(319) 377-6102

 
Tomaso’s pizza is the self proclaimed best pizza in town.  They are confident enough that if you don’t agree, you can tell them and they will return your money.  Although they offer just pizza, they certainly do a good job at it.  They have a small dining area where you can serve yourself a soft drink while waiting 20-30 minutes for your pizza to cook.  They offer Parmesan cheese and red pepper to garish your pizza, along with salt and pepper.  You’ll be picking up a Styrofoam plate, and a plastic cup also for your dining in experience.  Also, they did offer a cookie square that had Easter M & M’s in the crust.  Yum.

1 Large Sausage

1 Large Pepperoni

The Pizza

They offer three types of crusts—New York (thin), Chicago (thick), and Detroit (cornmeal, fat-free crust with no-lip [the cheese is caramelized to the edge of the pizza]).  We ordered a large sausage pizza with Chicago crust, and a Pepperoni with the Detroit crust.  The actual thicknesses of the pizzas were similar, with the only difference being that the Chicago had a lip around the edge.  I enjoyed the breadiness of the lip; however, the center of the sausage pizza was soggy.  The pepperoni’s crust was a bit crispier than the Chicago’s, which made it much better (in my opinion).  The sauce for both of these pizzas was served lightly on top of the cheese, so the pizza was mainly a piece of cheese bread.  Naturally, being from Wisconsin, my wife LOVED that part of the pie.   Out of the 5 attendee’s we were pretty divided on which pizza was the victor in this case.  The sauce was good…a hint of spice with a rich tomato flavor.   My only complaint is that there wasn’t more of it!   

The "Chicago" crust sausage

The "Detroit" crust pepperoni

The Verdict

The total cost was $47 for five pop’s ($2 each), and two large pizza’s.  We had a $5 coupon, so that helped a bit.  They frequency mail those to your house, if you sign up for their mailing list. 

Tomaso’s Detroit style pizza still remains my personal favorite “classic” style of pizza in town.  My personal view if that the crust and cheese combination is simply wonderful! 

The "Detroit" Pepperoni (Left) and the "Chicago" Sausage (Right)