I asked one of my friends from Harrisburg if he had tried Hawthorne's pizza and he told me to save my money. Even though I asked for his opinion I still like to give a restaurant the benefit of the doubt. Knowing a restaurant can have a "bad day" I'll give a place three tries.
So I decided to give them a try and stopped by yesterday to pick up their version of a deluxe style pizza. They call it an "Elizabeth". I also added banana peppers. For an 18" pizza I thought it felt a little light in the box carrying it out to my car. Turns out that was one of the worst pizza's I've ever wasted my hard earned money on. Almost as bad as Domino's. In my mind, a good pizza should start with a really good quality hand made crust, which this had - no complaints there, and then top quality ingredients, including the cheeses and especially the sauce.
Well, at least they got the crust down pat. As far as the ingredients, what few there were, just didn't taste like top shelf ingredients, plain - for a lack of a better definition. In my opinion the sauce was just wrong. Quality wise I'd rate it right up there with Papa's Johns, the little 'pizza-pizza man', Domino's - or Pizza Hut. I don't have a problem paying close to $25 for a pie but at the very least I expect decent quality. I didn't get that at Hawthorne's. Will I give them two more tries? Maybe - probably - but it won't be for their pizza! Maybe Fuel Pizza will come to Harrisburg some day :)