The Iowan Pizza Chronicles: May 2016

Menu

The Venue

90 Twixt Town Rd.

Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

(319) 377-6386

The Longbranch is known for hosting out of town guests for wedding receptions, karaoke on Saturday nights for the locals, and Taco bar on Wednesdays. What some may not know is that on Tuesdays, they cater to the pizza crowd. One to Two topping, 9” pizzas are only $3 every Tuesday at the Longbranch, so except a moderate crowd.

The bar is typical with stools, but the seating in the restaurant area has tables as well as booths. The western theme of the Longbranch reminds me of a full on attempt of “going western” with the dim lights, dark chipped away tavern themes from a western movie, some cheesy paintings, and toss in a couple of wheel barrows to complete the ambience. The price was very affordable, especially considering on Tuesdays the two toppings were only $3!

You can check out the Facebook page and menu at https://www.facebook.com/Longbranch-Bar-in-Cedar-Rapids-89266516425/

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Average

We had fourteen participants so we ordered fourteen pizzas! They offer two sizes, 9” and 12”. The two topping pizzas were 9” (and only $3 on Tuesday nights!), and the others were 12”. They offered only one type of crust.

2x Pepperoni, Italian Sausage

Italian Sausage, Green Pepper

Canadian Bacon, Sauerkraut

Pepperoni, Mushroom

Pepperoni

Pepperoni and Jalapeno

Pineapple, Canadian Bacon

Taco

Green Pepper, Black Olive

Pepperoni, Jalapeno

2x Philly Cheese Steak - 12”

Chicken, Bacon, Ranch - 12”

Five Cheese - 12, Chef's choice for that night

The Verdict

The pieces came out in rectangular-shaped for the 9” pizzas and triangular shaped for the 12” pizzas. The crust was thicker than I had imagined, however, it was soggy on the larger pizzas in the center. The 9” crust seemed to hold us much better in terms of being crisper and not soggy (the toppings may have weighed the other ones down?). The sauce was bland, although it was nice they provided ranch and sour cream/salsa for the Taco and Chicken Bacon Ranch pizzas. The toppings were average, nothing impressive or oddly unique on the menu. The specialty pizzas (more than 2 toppings, aka. the 12” ones) were ordered off the menu, as it did not provide any suggestions.

Five Cheese*

We had some fun with this attempt and let the chef choose a pizza to make. They choose five cheese*. The fifth cheese was blue cheese, which provided a very distinct taste with the rest of the cheeses, this was a little more than I could handle since I'm primarily a bread and sauce kind of guy. Some participants wondered if the crust was premade (frozen), as they seemed different between the 9” and 12” pizzas. The winner of the favorite pizza was a three way tie! Philly Cheese Steak / Canadian Bacon, Sauerkraut / Chicken, Bacon, Ranch all received the same number of votes. So, if you are in the area, stop on by and let us know which one you enjoyed the best. If its Tuesday, at only $3 a 9” 2 topping pizza, order a few while you are there!

Here are our ratings, where 1 = worst and 10 = best.
Overall 6.92

Cheese 6.67

Sauce 6.60

Topping 7.00

Crust 6.58

Venue 7.00