By: Ron White
With all the Pizza discussion in Manalapan the past few years and the inevitable comparison to Brooklyn Pizza we felt it was time to settle this once and for all. 8 Pizzeria’s were selected based on their ability to deliver to all those in Manalapan. There was also a guest appearance from L&B. The pies were all ordered within minutes of each other and ALL of them arrived within the half hour and many at the same time. (Pretty funny actually) Every person who took the orders was nice on the phone and each pie was delivered and cut into 16 slices. There were no disappointments. To be fair, we opened the contest to the first 16 people that had an interest. We had tasters that where born and raised locally and Brooklyn kids like myself, that grew up on pizza by the slice. While the winner won’t be much of a surprise to anyone who has tried them, I did find the least favorite to be a disappointment as they are one of my preferred places locally. That said, what I did find rather interesting is that each place was actually rather GOOD so even last place doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them a chance. Pies were rated Best to worst with 1 being the best and 5 the worst. Each pie had the box top flipped over and were numbered. With the exception of two places that had their names on the side no one knew which one they tasted. I copied the comments word for word so as you can see not everyone had the same opinion. In fact, the same place often received the opposite opinions from testers. As you can see we were a hard to please bunch. To be fair, we only selected local places that deliver and ordered on a Friday when they are at their busiest. Pick-up places are not included. Not one person thought L&B lived up to the hype. So on with the results!
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First Place: DISQUALIFIED ($13.38) (Sadly it was uncovered that this participant knew about the contest ahead of time, no others did thus the results are not valid for the winner)
Received: 6 (1) 3 (2) 3 (3) 2 (4) & 2(5)
Notes: Basil, watery sauce, Very nice sauce, well-seasoned, Bland, Good, good basic pizza, not too blah, flavorful, crust tolerable, bland, crust undercooked, not much flavor to sauce, crust burnt.
Second Place: Sal’s (Carlo’s) ($12.80)
Received: 4 (1) 4 (2) 2 (3) 2 (4) 4 (5)
Notes: Plain tasting, Good, Taste like cardboard, too much salt, crisp, nice sauce, good firm crust, not too impressed, Bland, cardboard, burnt, worst cardboard, had to chew, good, no flavor, bland.
Third Place: Cuccina Alessi ($15)
Received: 3 (1) 4 (2) 4 (3) 2 (4) 3 (5)
Notes: Bland, cheese?, nice crust, soft crust, nice sauce, too much oregano, like cheese & crust, awful, messy, too oily, not much taste, good, best so far, nice seasoning, good crust.
Fourth Place: Luigi’s ($12:50)
Received: 2 (1) 4 (2) 3 (3) 3 (4) 4 (5)
Notes: crispy crust but thick cheese, not tasty, too much cheese, worst looking, too much bland cheese, salty, crisp, nice flavor, OK, like sauce, Bland, Too much cheese, but tastier sauce, tasty sauce, thick, too chewy, crust good,
Fifth Place: Villabate ($12.80)
Received: 2(1) 2 (2) 4 (3) 6 (4) 2 (5)
Notes: Tough crust, sweet sauce, good balance of sauce & cheese, sweet sauce, sweet taste, wine, doughy, cheese plain, not bad, crust too chewy, cheese just OK, eh-no flavor, crust too tough, not much taste, chewy, sweet sauce, sauce a little too tangy.
Sixth Place: Tre Color ($13)
Received: 1 (1) 1 (2) 5 (3) 5 (4) 4 (5)
Notes: tough crust, thicker crust, salty, salty, salty hard, dough not crisp sweet, good seasoning, nice flavor- crust could be crispier, chewy, card board hard to chew, too thin with a lot of cheese, OK not so good,
Seventh Place: Molino’s ($15.52) Most expensive of those tested
Received: 1(1) 4 (2) 4 (3) 3 (4) 3 (5)
Notes: crust tough, thin crust, A Friday pizza, Thin, overall good, card board, Ick, Taste like cardboard (circled LEAST FAVORITE), Awful texture bland, too thin and hard, <(we should all have that problem),Thin pretty good, too thin too crispy.< (Jersey tester)
Eighth Place: Emilio’s ($12.31) My favorite place for wings! Just done right every time
Received: 0(1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 5 (4) 5(5)
Notes: Thick crust, cheese, not tasty fake, not the best looking, Nice basil taste, not overdone, a little thicker, doughy – bland, Ick, cheese OK, too much cheese, crust eh, cheesy, tasty, soggy, thick, sauce is tangy, no flavor.
