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

Attempt #113 - Gino's East (Dubuque, IA)

 

Venue Outside

The Venue 

333 E 10^th Street Suite 110
Dubuque, IA 5001
(563) 582-3000

 

Alongside the once hustling factories in downtown Dubuque Iowa, Gino’s East among a slew of other businesses has brought new life to the long crumbling warehouse/factory district. Inside the venue is a comedy club downstairs with doors opening at 7pm.  A event center for wedding banquets, a few boutique shops, a bar with a outdoor seating courtyard, and Backpocket brewing with a downstairs beer+arcade, beercade!  Trendy lofts are above along with other fancy restaurants, including Kevin Scharpf’s Brazen  Open Kitchen.  Kevin was in season 16 of Top Chef. The establishment had plenty of seating, booth, high, and low top seating.

 

The Pizza

Chicago Style: Yes

Crust Thickness: Thick

Menu

Menu:  https://www.ginoseast.com/dubuque-menu

Participants: 4 (6 children)

Pizza Ordered:  2

Sizes Offered/Ordered: Deep Dish : 10”,12”, Thin Crust 12”, 16”/ 2x Deep Dish 12”

Pieces Cut: Triangular

 

1. Gino’s Supreme – Pepperoni or Italian sausage, onions, green peppers, mushrooms (Deep Dish 12” $31.50.
2. Italian Beef - Italian beef, sweet peppers and giardiniera (Deep Dish 12” $31.50).

 

 

The Verdict

Supreme 12" Deep Dish $31.50

Sauce: Sauce was well prepared and had a traditional marina flavour.

Cheese: The cheese often slid off the slices.  Great consistency overall not too heavy, but plenty cheesy.

Crust: Soggy pieces that couldn’t hold the slices.  A basic flour crust, with an excellent bready rim.

Toppings: Tasty toppings, lots of flavor.  The spicy Italian beef really exceeded my expectations. Authentic space to vegetables as well.

 

Italian Beef

Final thoughts:  I enjoyed the Italian beef the best.  I hate to say it but compared to Lou Malnati’s, I think Lou has this place beat.  However, if you’re looking for a authentic Chicago style chain to try, this may be your closest option geographically.

 

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

Overall 7.75

Cheese 7.50

Topping 8.75

Sauce 7.75

Crust 7.50

Venue 9.00

Favorite: Italian Beef

Attempt #112 - Vesta (Coralville)

Venue

The Venue 

849 Quarry Rd #100,
Coralville, IA 52241
(319) 338-3782

 

Vesta is a Mediterranean inspired restaurant serving dishes from France, Spain, Greece, Italy and North Africa with an American flair. Vesta seats more than 150 guests, including a private dining area with presentation equipment for meetings. During the summer months, Vesta seats 80 guests for dining and drinks on the patio in front of the Hyatt. High chairs are available, as well as table and bar seating.

The Naked Cheese

 

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Thin

Menu:  https://www.vestaiowa.com/home/menu-2/

Participants: 7 (5 children)

Pizza Ordered:  8

Menu

Sizes Offered/Ordered: Personal (19”)

Pieces Cut: Triangular

 

The Double Don, $16

1. The Naked Cheese – Marinara, Italian cheese blend ($11).
2. Pepperoni.  ($12).
3. Margherita – Marinara, tomato, mozzarella, basil ($14).
4. The Double Don – Double marinara, double ground beef, double mushroom, double Italian cheese blend ($16).

5. 

   Margherita, $14

   Meat-za –  Marina, prosciutto, pork sausage, capicola, roasted red pepper, caramelized onion, Italian cheese blend ($16).
6. Mushroom Lover – Herb roasted wild mushroom, white truffle pickled red onion, arugula, pecorino & goat cheese, balsamic reduction ($16).
7. Custom #1
8. Custom #2

 

 

The Verdict

Sauce: Sauce was tasty and of good quality.

Cheese: Some of the pizza’s lacked cheese (Margherita), while others had excess, so not very consistent.

Crust: A thin crust but it had lots of soggy pieces.

Toppings: I loved the variety of toppings, but I’d like to see more gourmet pizza options, particularly with the Italian meats.

Meat-za, $16

 

Final thoughts:  I enjoyed the Meat-za, and the Mushroom lover was truly unique.  I can’t say I’ve had anything quite like it! Be warned, it is VERY rich with that goat cheese.

 

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

Overall 7.40

Cheese 7.60

Custom #2

Topping 7.80

Sauce 7.20

Crust 8.00

Venue 8.80

Favorite: Meat-za

Mushroom Lover, $16

Custom #1

Pepperoni, $12