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| - For being a pizza-rich town, we've been surprisingly short of wood-fired options. Now all of a sudden there are two, maybe a third on its way in downtown. This one is a franchise and doesn't surprise me that it's a bit mediocre. We tried it out after its first month of being open, figuring the kinks would be shaken out by then. It was a busy football night, but late, after the initial dinner crowd was winding down. We were seated by the hostess then abandoned for about 20 minutes, even though the place was not so busy that all the tables were filled. She was just distracted yakking with a pal. When finally discovered about to leave, we were assigned a harried but competent waitress (who was tipped well for catching up for us). No obvious manager around, and certainly not the type that would pitch in and clean the messed-up bathroom or pick up paper or other droppings on the floor near us.
Anyway, the whole premise of a wood-fired oven seems like false advertising, because it looks like there's a gas flame burning in the back of that oven, with a small pile of wood thrown on the side to dress it up. And the results are not really up to what one expects from this style of preparation. The crust is not as thin and lightly prepared as classic neopolitan, and of the two pizzas we ordered, one was decently charred, the other pale an unfinished. That was the margherita, which can be excused for its drab tomatoes for this region and season, but the cheese should have been closer to a fresh buffala style rather than low moisture and stretchy/chewy.
The appetizers were fine, really enjoyed the hummus and crust "chips", and the caesar salad was also fine. But overall this is not the wood-fired pizza destination I wish it would be. Sure, we can't expect a Pizzeria Bianco in this sized town, but something as good as Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana (Henderson NV) should be possible. So far, the best option is actually the Dragonfire pizza truck, but they also have some issues with not quite "getting it". But they do have a really good crust going, and you can't go wrong with their basic pepperoni pizza.
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