Pizza Restaurants

Memories of playing Joust and bank shots into the 50 slot of skeeball. Childhood memories of the robot band and the big purple Elvis bear robot in the side room. Dig dug, Defender, Rastan, Operation Wolf, Firefox (from the movie with Clint Eastwood), Burgertime, Galaga and the thousands of other choices to spend our precious tokens. The pizza coming in the room with the long tables, the ball crawl, the hidden area under the stage and more and more cool things that Chuck E Cheese brought to me when those things were like finding $20 to me is now.

All photos from Chuck E Chese in Concord here.

Now later in life this feeling isn’t completely lost, and neither is the huge choices with little money spent. Now this is the option that parents need to remember on a Saturday of Sunday afternoon located in Concord. For the past month this has been the $2 getaway for my 2 year old and a getaway from spending any amount of money to enjoy ‘watching her enjoy”. The games are different are far less important. The 1980s were the highpoint of arcade games in history and Chuck E Cheese was essentially the first modern arcade franchise. The times have changed the appeal of games and the $1 per game pricetag has lessened the appeal. Chuck E Cheese hasnt changed too much but the backbone role of the arcade games in their business model has changed.

You still get a number of games to play, most of which are not the simple chase and shoot games of the 80’s. The games are now generally prop associated action games form dancing to firefighting. Chuck E Cheese now more features items that are free with the goal of their business model relying more on bringing them in for free and selling them food and services.

At the location in Concord you have essentially 75% of the space used in play areas for the kids. The main play area looks like giant hamster world. The secondary and enclosed area for free play is for kids age 3 and under and is a free way for your kids to socialize and play without a dime from your entertainment fund.

If you havn’t been back to see Chuck E, or you havn’t thought to share what was likely so cool for you back int he 80’s and 90’s then get back there with $2 and enjoy the afternoon. If you have kids age 2-4, they can play most the day for free or ride a few 1 token rides. If your kids are a bit older you may part with all of $5 for what they will enjoy immensely. You owe it to pass on what you once thought was “totally awesome”, and they would now find to be “pretty cool” as well.

if you eat a lunch right before leaving you can get out without getting pinched for the somewhat elevated but generally tasty pizza prices. This is how I have been able to budget some extra money for my own eating and reviews.

Tony’s Pizza

WT Harris Blvd
1530 Overland Park Lane Suite 1/104
Charlotte, NC 28262
All Tony’s Photos Here

Well it was about time to expand upon the very limited exposure to Pizza in Charlotte I have had. The goal of any pizza mission and the aspects of a good pizza “joint” are as follows. Keep in mind the goal is to find a great affordable weekly place that you can reward yourself and the kids with. A Pizza “joint” of choice will become familiar like a glove to you as you are a part of a neighborhood and a good pizza place is a important part as well.

1. Should be affordable with good coupons to be found regularly.
2. Should make great Pizza the way you like it.
3. Should have friendly Italian or New York accented staff or owners.
4. Should have the smell and feel of flour on the floor, red vinyl booths, red pepper shakes and the bell behind the door when you walk in. If you have a pizza joint you love then you understand this feeling that is exclusive to pizza places.
5. Should be good enough in variety of foods to provide alternatives equal to the pizza they make (ie: calzones, meatball subs)

Well off to Tony’s for the first time and to this newly opened Tony’s location on WT Harris. This is another anchor storefront in this new apartment neighborhood just past Harris Teeter and near RT 85.

Addressing this in a systematic way using the above bullets Tony’s hits and misses on some key points. All in all you will se we were pleased with the stop and thankful for their friendly staff.

Firstly, looking at the pricing it is a bit high though comparable to other real hand tossed pizza in the area. With mediums at about $13 for a cheese that’s a bit more than one would like to drop everyweek as it comes to 17+ with toppings. Keep in mind that a medium here (like DaVincis) is much larger than a normal medium and can be viewed as almost a large. I hate to grip about a few bucks but the place is 2-3$ higher than ideal though not out of the ordinary for a restaurant of this type.

We next think about the overall taste and how well this pizza sat with our crew at home. The Pizza is very comparable to DaVincis in Davis Lake,which is popular with alot of people. You can see a nice close up of the Pizza we had right here which was with mushroom, ham and sausage. The pizza was a slight shade thicker than DaVincis which i enjoyed. If you see an old post of ours we complain about this “pursuit of thin” that many restaurants are on. “Thin” isn’t the answer to “good” and a nice “bready” crust is sometimes a much better pie. I liked the pizza slightly thicker than DaVincis though it lacked spice for my taste and agreed on by all that had it. A little garlic in the sauce and black pepper would have gone a long way to making this a great pizza. Keep in mind that we had somewhat bland ingredients, but the sausage was a bit bland as well. After eating a second slice we had wished we got pepperoni on the pie as it was a bit plain tasting. All in all its was good, perfect thick and folding but perhaps needed a bit more flavor and we will get onions and pepperoni next time to remedy this.

Third aspect above is the ownership. The owner or manager who spoke to us while we waited was friendly and cool, we thank him for being so. He is originally from Sicily, is prepared to address you order in English, Italian and Spanish and was about my age friendly and about what you would hope for.

A pizza “joint” is chatty and social like a barbershop, and if you don’t like the people its hard to make it the “place”. So props to a cool staff and taking the time to talk with us.

Aspect #4 which is the way a pizza place is in your mind was a real hit for me. The black and red Vinyl booths, rows of red pepper and framed sayings and whatnots all over the walls was right on target. After work or a game this place excelled in the way it felt to take a load off. Better than DaVincis, which we use as a measuring stick it seems, I liked the layout and casual “80’s Pizza Hut” feel of this location. If you are on lunch this is a nice place to get a seat and a slice.

The final aspect which is the variety of the menu was another strong mark for Tony’s. Tony’s has alot of the New York favorites that you just can’t get too many places. Enjoy ground beef topping, green olive topping, subs, salads, calzones and most impressively white pizza and thick style pies. White pizza is such a great changeup that a real place you call your “own” really needs to make it well. The addition of thick crust pies like up north also makes for some great crusts you can dip and eat too. The menu has a great variety, better than DaVincis, and should provide endless lunch and dinner change-ups if you live nearby.

Well that covers a good time out with my girl grabbing our first Tony’s from WT Harris. We like the layout alot and the comfortable feel of this location. The pizza looked great, was a bit plain less than extraordinary, but pretty good. I know everyone has opinions on Pizza, but if this had a few shakes of garlic and onion pwder and perhaps black pepper in the sauce it woulda hit home perfectly.

The variety of the menu was impressive and had every old favorite you could want. This nice looking menu was also a huge plus. This morning I was enjoying the cold slices from our good sized medium pie and really wished I had gotten onions on it.

I think its safe to say I will make time to try another one from this friendly place with decent pie and a nice huge menu of choices. If the Stromboli turns out to be great it could qualify as the “joint” for me.

Pane E Vino
2 Stars

By: Diana Reis
13016 Eastfield Road suite 300
Huntersville 28078
704-947-8900
Menu Features: Pizza and Pasta

Restaurant Review For Pane E Vino

It was a Sunday night and we were uncertain where to Eat so we drove around to find something new to try .

We had an Idea thet we wanted Italian and we passed a few places before arriving here. As we stood outside reading over the menu they had posted by the door a gentleman opened the door and handed us two menus and smiled and said Hello.

We decided to go in and give it a try as when the door came open the smell of the sauce was delicious. We were seated and handed our menus by this gentleman. Who I assume was one of the Owners. A few moments later a waitress came with some bread and took our drink orders. When she brought our drinks I asked for some more butter for the bread. About 15 minutes later we got our Pizza , it had great sauce and cheese and the toppings were good but the crust was TOO thin. Almost overcooked. We never saw the waitress again , she never checked on us, never brought the butter I asked for.

I was a bit surprised as there were only two other couples there and three waitresses. OH she did come back with the check and I asked for a box for the Pizza and some more water.

This is a place that could make it . There are some things worth trying again. But I will make sure its during the week when mabie better staff is on duty.

Red Brick Pizza

2.5 Stars 

Charlotte Critic
2700 West Mallard Creek Church Rd
Charlotte 28262
(704) 503-7777
Menu Features: pizza,cheap pizza

Restaurant Review For Red Brick Pizza
Red Brick Pizza “Fire Roasted Gourmet Pizza” Well once again I got fooled by an ad that i saw in University City magazine. The people of Red Brick Pizza should sleep well knowing their advertising in that publication worked effectuvely on at leat one person. How I got fooled? I didnt know again this is a local or regional franchise style of location. The name is somewhat deceiving and presents a smaller custom pizza location in the ad. Anyway, off I am ordering a pizza from Red Brick Pizza on Mallard Creek Church road which is in front of Harris Teeter in a nice plaza in Charlotte. I guess I should first point out that people in this area like myself that only travel east to west on Harris to do your shopping and daily runaround, should take a left on Mallard Creek and use this plaza as well. They have a “Cold Stone”, Firehouse, Bear Rock Cafe and this Red Brick Pizza all together in a nice miniture courtyard and it is really a nice little plaza. Well I got the upgraded Pizza hut on this review. Red Brick Pizza is that slightly upscaled fast food franchise that I see is rather popular waround this part of Charlotte. What do I mean by that? Well if Wendys, McD’s and Sonic is fast food, then Boston market, Qdoba and places like this are the slightly above fast food franchises I keep getting tricked into. I had a sasauge, ham and Mushroom large to go and dropped .58. The location was clean, the long blonde haired HS student working there was friendly and nice and the pizza was ok, but I wont be back for that. The pizza was not as good as the Hutt, nor as good as more authentic places that are everywhere. While im not upset to drive out here for a “dominos pizza” in a red box, I wont be buying another. I will though be back for Cold Stone now that I know where this location is. Charlotte Critic Charlottecritic.com

Davincis Pizza Davis Lake

 4 stars

Charlotte Critic
Davis Lake Plaza
Charlotte 28269
Menu Features: slices,pizza,brick oven by the slice

Restaurant Review For Davincis Pizza Davis Lake
Davincis Pizza makes new york style pizza in authentic brick ovens. This is one of the new stores to open in the brand new Shoppes at Davis Lake in Charlotte. DaVincis owner is from New York, and has opened pizzerias all over th country. he is not new to the business and the food is authenitc Italian from New York. Italian is openly spoken by almost every employee in this father/son establishment, as the cook is from Sicily as well. The pizza defies all problems with getting true New York style Pizza, and also breaks the boxes with its incredible size. I witness one cutomer receiving his small pizza asking if he had received the wrong order, since it appeared to be a large to him and to me looking on. The large I ordered on 3 occasions now had to have the edges folded to fit in the extra arge box it is packed in. The pizza itself is excellent thin style pie. The crust is slightly crisp and folds perfectly. My guests for pizza commented on how “thats perfect new yourk style” when he saw how it folded and eats perfectly. The dough is absolutley how I remeber it from my 20+ years in New York as well. This location is pretty new and does not have too much decor yet. They sadly lack televisions and music to make it an afternoon hangout, but the outside courtyard makes it great for summer nights. The location also doesnt offer delivery, and the owner tells me he doesnt plan to. The goal is a sit down simple place with excellent food and authentic service. I have been 3 times now and must say it is the best Pizza NC has to offer for the hungry shopper looking for New York Style Pie. If you want simple, authentic, and not BS pizza yhou get so many other places I highly recommend you stop into DaVincis Pizza Charlotte at the Shoppes at Davis lake and get one of their double large pies to sit in the courtyard and stuff yourself. The sounds of italian New York, and the taste of Italian New York is exactly what will be overflowing from your paper plates.