Attempt #99 - Monica's

The Venue

Venue Outside

303 2nd St,

Coralville, IA 52241

(319) 338-7400

Venue Inside

Menu

Monica’s is a well-known long time standing Italian restaurant on the Coralville strip.  They are known for their Italian food in general; however, I was surprised to see as much pizza offered, since many high-end Italian places tend to limit the amount of pizza offered.  The restaurant was clean, the wait staff was attentive and friendly.  Traditional bread and olive oil was offered as an appetizer.  Table and booth seating was available.

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Average

Menu:  http://www.monicasonthestrip.com/menu.html

Participants: 7 (plus 4 children)

Pizza Ordered: 6

Sizes Offered/Ordered: 16” Large, 10” Medium, 7” Personal

Crusts Offered/Ordered: Average

Pieces Cut: Triangular

Sausage and pepperoni (Megan Gustafson) - Led the nation in scoring two years in a row and was not only 1st Team All-American but national Player of the Year this year. A 70% shooter, and Big Ten All-Defensive team as well. Iowa's all-time leading scorer and rebounder, our Greatest of all time, and a wonderful person too. Fellow seniors Hannah Stewart and Tania Davis earned hefty places in her circle of glory as Iowa's best team in decades. Sausage and pepperoni (Medium 10”, $18.95).

Margherita Pizza (Peter Jok) - Peter is one of the great pure shooters in Iowa history. He won the 3-pt shooting contest this year at the Final Four, led the Big Ten in scoring this year as an All-Big Ten first team selection and opponents couldn't stop him when he got on a roll without roughing him up. I foresee a long NBA career. Margherita Pizza: tomatoes, basil and roasted garlic. Great traditional Italian pizza, perfect for our oven (Large 16”, $27.95).

Crab and Artichoke Dip, $18.95

White Pizza (Acie Earl) - A lightly-recruited 7-footer out of Moline, Illinois, he used great coaching from Dr. Davis and plenty of smarts and perseverance to have a tremendous career at Iowa (23 records still); as a 12 year pro, including 4 in the NBA; and continues that success today as a teacher, coach, Realtor and entrepreneur. White pizza: Alfredo sauce instead of pizza sauce, spinach (tossed in garlic oil), chicken, feta and provolone and mozzarella cheese (Medium 10”, $18.95).

Crab and Artichoke Dip (Sam Logic) - Only player in NCAA history with 1500 points, 900 rebounds, 800 assists and 200 steals. And Iowa's best defender all four years. Arguably the best player in Iowa history and one of the most impactful players in national history. Her unselfishness on the court was matched by her unselfishness as a person--when she worked summers at Bob's your Uncle everybody loved her. Crab and Artichoke dip: our crab and artichoke dip instead of pizza sauce, with provolone and mozzarella, shrimp and bacon (Medium 10”, $18.95).

Sausage and Pepperoni, $18.95

Taco (Jarrod Uthoff) - Jarrod is going to play in the NBA a long time. He was Iowa's first consensus All-American in 53 years... Think about that; our best player in 53 years. And the Academic All-American of the year nationally as well. Unselfish, family-oriented, and a two-way player every trip. Along with Matt Gatens my fave Hawk ever. Taco pizza: Refried bean & taco sauce instead of pizza sauce, ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes and taco chips (Medium 10”, $18.95).

Supreme (Matt Gatens) - We have waited patiently for Matt to get his pizza (against NCAA rules until you complete college) since 9th grade when we first predicted stardom at Iowa. He's been amazing as a leader, a defender, a shooter, a guy who embraces wholeheartedly playing the right way and sacrificed personal stats for it, and above all, a role-model as a man with integrity, character and virtue. My favorite Hawkeye ever. 'Nuff said. Supreme: Pepperoni, Italian Sausage, Mushroom, Green Pepper, Black Olives and Onion (Medium 10”, $18.95).

Margherita, $27.95

The Verdict

Sauce: The red sauces were a hit, however, the white sauces weren’t always as consistent.  The artichoke dip sauce comes to mind as been a bit lacking.

Cheese: An acceptable consistency.

Crust: Flakey.  Something seemed off to me on this, it seemed…premanufactured.

Toppings: Average, bland toppings.

Taco, $18.95

Final Comments/Considerations: The pizza was good; however, given the high cost for the pizza, myself and others felt disappointed.  Some of the pizzas felt too bland and generic – given all of the fancy naming conventions, I would have expected a higher level of quality toppings or different flavor twists.   

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

Overall 8.21

Cheese 8.57

Topping 8.29

Supreme, $18.95

Sauce 8.43

Crust 8.29

Venue 8.71

Favorite: Taco

White, $18.95

Attempt #98 - Costco

Menu

The Venue
2900 Heartland Dr,
Coralville, IA 52241
(319) 545-3200

Costco is a Iowa City/Coralville favorite among the locals for their large quantity deals.  Where else can you buy patio furniture, purchase a hearing aid, get a new set of tires, and buy a new iPhone all under one roof? Costco only sells to those who have purchased a membership, but you can get into the food court if you just want to eat there without a membership.  Lots of seating and cheap food and pop make these purchases much more wallet friendly, compared to elsewhere in the store.

Pizzas

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Average

Menu:  https://www.costco.com/warehouse-locations/coralville-ia-1111.html

Participants: 4 (plus 3 children)

Pizza Ordered: 1

Sizes Offered/Ordered: 18” whole, or by the slice

Crusts Offered/Ordered: Average

Pieces Cut: Rectangular (by request [Party Cut])

Box

Half Pepperoni half Supreme – ($9.95)

The Verdict

Sauce: Decent sauce, not sweet.

Cheese: OK.

Crust: Chewy crust, but not overly thick - average

Toppings: Average, bland toppings.

Final Comments/Considerations: Costco packs a super affordable pizza that is pretty average.  Its much better than Hy-vee’s burnt pizza, or Sams’s under cooked pizza; but I wouldn’t go out of my way to try it.  Compared with its rival, Sam’s Club, it seems superior according to my taste buds.

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

Half Pepperoni, Half Supreme ($9.95)

Overall 6.50

Cheese 7.50

Topping 6.00

Sauce 7.25

Crust 6.75

Venue 4.75

Favorite: Supreme

Attempt #97 - Marquee Pizzeria

Venue Outside

The Venue
920 E 2nd Ave #123,

Coralville, IA 52241
(319) 333-1018

Venue

This restaurant opened up in the Iowa River Landing district in Coralville, Iowa.  The pizza - 100% naturally leavened dough, housemade mozzarella, & high-quality ingredients cooked at 900 degrees in an all wood fired oven from Modena, Italy.   

The bar - expansive, 20 beers on draft, over 15 wine options.  House cocktails.  Open late night. 2 for 1 happy hour everyday 3-6pm. 

The vibe - backyard pizza party.  Garage door goes up when the weather is awesome. 

Venue

Inspired by a backyard get together with friends and family, we wanted Marquee to be both fun and welcoming.  If an upbeat vibe, sharing food, a full bar, and eating with your hands sounds fun., come party.   

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Thin

Menu:  https://www.marqueepizzeria.com/foodmenu

Menu

Participants: 7 (plus 2 children)

Pizza Ordered: 9

Sizes Offered/Ordered: 11” Individual

Crusts Offered/Ordered: Thin

Pieces Cut: Triangular

Margherita - Tomato, mozzarella, basil 11

Grandma’s Hands - Tomato, iowa pepperoni cups, mozzarella, caciocavallo, calabrian oil 12.5

Crudo – Black pepper, caciocavallo, mozzarella, parmigiano, laquerica prosciutto, lemon vinaigrette tossed arugula 14

The Falco - Tomato, red onion, breadcrumb, garlic, basil, pork sausage, parmigiano 14

Vice City - Smoked mozz, sausage, pepperoni, pickled pepper sauce, hot honey 16

Keeping it Local - Pesto, goat cheese, caramelized onion, red pepper, confit tomato 13

Kids Sausage

Grandmas Hands

Wulfenstein - La quercia speck, roasted mushrooms, mozzarella, black pepper, oregano 14.5

Kids Sasuage

Kids Cheese

The Verdict

Sauce: The sauce had a great flavor to these pies, they knocked this out of the park

Cheese: The cheese was consistent and fresh!

Crudo

Kids Cheese

Crust: Thin but bready on the edges.

Toppings: The toppings were moderate which made the pizza a bit soggy.

Final Comments/Considerations: Marquee pizza has a great beer and pizza selection that ranks highly in my book.  The topping are fresh and they are going for a Napoli style with much success.  Eating their pizza warm is KEY, otherwise it can be wet and slimy if it cools.  Although I liked Bastas better, take some time out of your day and try it out,

Margherita

Vice City

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

Overall 8.44

Cheese 8.57

Sauce 9.14

Topping 8.00

Crust 7.86

Venue 9.71

Favorite: Vice City

Wulfenstein

The Falco

Keeping It Local

Attempt #96 - Cedar Ridge

Venue Outside

The Venue
1441 Marak Rd NW,
Swisher, IA 52338
(319) 857-4300

Cedar Ridge made its way into Iowa with its wines, bourbon/whiskies, and now pizza.  They offer cafe style dining. You place your order at the tasting bar and their staff will give you a table number for the food to be delivered wherever you choose to sit— in our large event center, the elegant tasting room, or outside on one of the patios or lawn.  Wood-fired pizza is a special on Wednesday: buy one get one half off.

Venue Inside Bar

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Thin

Menu:  https://www.crwine.com/visit-us/dining/

Participants: 7 (plus 2 children)

Pizza Ordered: 6

Sizes Offered/Ordered: 7” Individual

Crusts Offered/Ordered: Thin

Pieces Cut: Triangular

Venue Inside

Classic Margarita - House vodka margarita sauce with sliced fresh mozzarella and pulled field basil ($14)

Four Cheese Pepperoni - House vodka margarita sauce and pepperoni, with shredded mozzarella, muenster, cheddar, and grated parmesan ($15)

CRV Club - Shredded chicken, chopped cherrywood smoked bacon, sliced red onion and creamy herb dressing ($14)

Three Little Pigs - White BBQ dressing with smoked pulled pork, ham, chopped cherrywood-smoked bacon, and fresh mozzarella, dusted with our special spice mix ($15)

Menu

Smoked Gouda & Braised Ribeye - Smoked gouda cream with roasted garlic ribeye and caramelized onion, finished with a tangy balsamic reduction ($15)

The Verdict

Sauce: The sauce on some, like the CRV was excellent (although it was a CREAM sauce!). Overall, a good job on this area. 

Cheese: The cheese was not consistent on many of the pizzas.

Crust: The crust was a typical thin, brick oven type. The bottoms were burnt on a few pizzas, which make for inconsistent slices.

Toppings: The toppings were light, as you don’t want to weigh down the small personal pizzas and make them soggy.

Final Comments/Considerations: The outstanding view is breathtaking. The pizzas were good, especially paired with the drinks.  We ordered the Classic Margarita to clear our taste buds at the end, which was an excellent move.  The Smoked Gouda & Braised Ribeye, CRV Club, and Classic Margarita were each excellent.  I would suggest stopping in next time, preferable a Wednesday, since one person can easily eat an entire pizza.

Slices

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

Overall 7.71

Cheese 7.29

Sauce 7.71

Topping 7.71

Crust 6.57

Venue 8.86

Favorite: CRV Club

CRV Club

Four Cheese Pepperoni

Three Little Pigs

Blanca

Smoked Gouda & Braised Ribeye

Classic Margarita

Attempt #95 - Hy-Vee Edgewood Road, Cedar Rapids

The Venue 

5050 Edgewood Rd NE, 

Cedar Rapids, IA 52411

(319) 378-0762

Venue Outside

Hy-vee serves many foods daily in its cafeteria style deli area near the front entrance of the store. Booth and table seating is available. One good thing is that on Tuesdays and Thursdays, there is $1 per slice for pizza.  

Menu

This prompted us to try it out and how does it compare against well-established pizza restaurants.

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Average

Menu:  Posted in the store

Menu

Participants: 5 (plus 3 children)

Pizza Ordered: 0, ordered slices

Sizes Offered/Ordered: Large (12”?)

Crusts Offered/Ordered: Traditional, Tuscano, Thin

Pieces Cut: Triangular

Pepperoni

Sausage - Tuscano

Bruschetta

Supreme

Meat Lovers

The Verdict

Sauce:  This was decent on some, but weird on others (I'm looking at you, Tuscano Sausage).  On some pizzas the sauce was dried out.

Cheese: The cheese was great on the pepperoni.  A lot of chew on.  

Crust: The crust was burnt on half of our slices. This was unacceptable. 

Toppings: Dried out due to the heat lamps. Even the pepperoni's seemed to have little flavor left.

Final Comments/Considerations: The outstanding freshness of all the pizza warrants t

If you are in a hurry and need a cheap $1 slice (Tuesday or Thursday), go for it.  Otherwise, avoid this and order Chinese from Hy-Vee.

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

Overall 5.20

Cheese 4.80

Sauce 4.40

Topping 5.60

Crust 1.80

Venue 0.00

Favorite: Pepperoni

Burnt bottoms

Slices (Meat Lovers, Sausage, Bruschetta, Supreme)

Attempt #94 - Bo Mac's

The Venue 

219 16th Ave SE,
Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
(319) 826-3154

Venue Outside

Bo Mac’s is a new restaurant in the New Bo (New Bohemonia) neighborhood of Cedar Rapids, IA. It is an area which received a lot of funding to rebuild after the flood of 2008. A hipster, trendy area of town, it makes sense for a unique pizza/bar/ restaurant to be located. It is next to Tornadoes, a longtime classic Cedar Rapids bar known for their hamburgers. The establishment had table and booth seating, a small stage for musical performers, and a bar area. Behind the restraint, the owner has plans for a Bo Live! Music club in the future, as

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Average

Menu:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/TheBoMac/menu/

Menu

Participants: 9 (plus 2 children)

Pizza Ordered: 4

Sizes Offered/Ordered: Large (12”?), 7” Individual

Crusts Offered/Ordered: Average

Pieces Cut: Triangular

Pepperoni – Pepperoni (Large, $10.95)

Margherita – Fresh Mozzarella, Pesto, Tomato, Garnish with Asiago Cheese (Large, $10.95)

Mushroom Medley – Shiitake, Button, Oyster, Portabella, asiago cheese (Large, $12.95)

Mayan – Sliced tomatoes, roasted garlic, chorizo, pepper jack cheese, onions, bell peppers, serrano peppers, cilantro, and parmesan cheese topped with Pico de Gallo (Large, $11.95)

The Verdict

Mushroom Medley

Sauce: Usually I’m a sauce guy, but the sauce was the one part of the pizza that I felt lacked the most and thus may have held the overall rating down below a 9.0. It was good, but just not amazing – Average. 

Cheese: The cheese was tasty and noticeable fresh. It was my personal favorite part of the pizza.

Crust: The crust was a typical stone oven average that was hand tossed and made from scratch in the restaurant-they aren’t pulling any stops with the prepackaged shortcuts here.

Toppings: Fresh, the pepperoni was noted to be fresh from the stick which stands out against the pre-processed meats that you often find. The heavy use of Parmesan cheese by default on the Mayan was delicious.

Final Comments/Considerations: The outstanding freshness of all the pizza warrants t

he place a try. If you like mushrooms (as many Czechs do), give the Mushroom Medley a try, you won’t be disappointed. They have lots of good local beers on tap aside from the pizza, so it’s a win-win.  

Margarita

Personally, I liked Basta’s down in Iowa City better, but for those who don’t want to drive that far, and potentially have to wait, I would suggest this place.  The selection of pizza is slightly limited, as they have only 6 gourmet pizzas to choose from, since they are starting out.

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

Overall 8.50

Cheese 8.44

Sauce 8.89

Topping 7.33

Crust 7.89

Venue 8.00

Favorite: Mushroom Medley

Pepperoni

Mayan