Attempt #21 - Brickside Cafe'

The venue...

The Venue

1705 Boyson Road

Hiawatha, Iowa 52233

(319) 294-5252

Large (16"),  Supreme ($17.99 or $9 on Monday's

Large (16"), BBQ Chicken ($17.99 or $9 on Monday's

Brickside Cafe’ is a locally owned family restaurant that opened up around 2 years ago.  The restaurant is known for its deli sandwiches and brick oven pizzas.  The atmosphere consists of one large open room, where you can see the pizza being made in the authentic brick oven, two flat screen TV’s, and a sandwich making line separates the consumers from the employees.  You are expected to get your own drinks, and the wait for pizza takes around 20-30 minutes, so be prepared.  They offer 13 specialty pizzas with one, uniformly thin crust, and one size (large).  On Monday’s all pizzas are half off, meaning that the normal price of $17.99 comes down to $9.00.  Check out there their pizza menu here.

The Pizza

 Chicago Style:  No

Large (16"), Greek ($17.99 or $9 on Monday's)

Crust Thickness:  Thin

Large (16"), Carnivore ($17.99 or $9 on Monday's)

Our group consisted of 9 participants; so we ordered five large specialty pizzas.  Each of these large pizzas cost us $9 each.  They come in large (16”), square crusts.  All of their crusts are lined with corn meal, giving it a grainy texture.  This also prevented the dough from getting greasy.   

Carnivore - Pizza sauce, beef, Canadian bacon, pepperoni, sausage, cheese (Large, $17.99, Monday's it is $9.00).

Greek - Caesar dressing, mozzarella cheese, black olives, red onion, ham, tomato (Large, $17.99, Monday's it is $9.00).

BBQ Chicken - BBQ sauce, shredded chicken (Large, $17.99, Monday's it is $9.00).

Taco - Refried beans, salsa, beef, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, chips (Large, $17.99, Monday's it is $9.00).

Supreme – Pizza sauce, cheese, beef, Canadian bacon, pepperoni, red onion, black olives, red and green peppers (Large, $17.99, Monday's it is $9.00).

The Verdict 

Large (16"), Taco ($17.99 or $9 on Monday's)

The pizza was cut into small rectangular slices.  The crust was excellent, with the delicious corn meal breaded on the outside, making the pizza taste heartier.  The toppings were sparse compared with other establishments.  One participant commented that it was the best thin crust pizza they had in a long time, but they would have preferred a deep dish pizza option.  The sauce was a little spare as well; some pizzas such as the Carnivore brought out the sauce flavor more so than the supreme.  The BBQ Chicken’s sauce was very mild which was shocking, and the Taco was a bit bland and rather dry (in comparison to the Chrome Horses or Happy Joe’s).  The Greek received a lot of positive feedback because we choose the option that used Caesar dressing as the sauce (the other option was Ranch).  Overall, the Greek and the Carnivore were most people’s favorite pizzas!  If you prefer classy, brick oven pizzas with the authentic Sicilian homemade feel, give the Brickside Cafe’ a try…it is a surely a rarity for Iowa. 

Here are our ratings, where 1 = worst and 10 = best.
Overall = 8.06
Cheese = 7.89
Toppings = 6.56
Sauce = 6.67
Crust = 9.00

Venue = 7.83

What's left after five pizza's?