With about sixty locations covering the San Francisco Bay area and beyond, Pizza Guys seems to be the “little chain that could.”
I found them by accident tonight, punching in “pizza” on the Tom Tom, and ending up at a place around the corner from a “Pizza Guys” locale – my first stop looked far too scary, even for an adventurous soul like me, so when I spotted PG in the strip mall across the street, nestled between a nail place and a liquor store, I thought I would give it a try.
The window was plastered with specials and bright photos of product. The staff (take-out only) was affable and helpful. Not being a regular or local, I appreciated that they told me about their specials, so I didn’t end up ordering a single pie at an excessive price. Seems the standard offer for them these days (as almost every chain) was two loaded large for $20 plus a free 2 liter of soda.
I stood, seemingly staring at the menu board for a few minutes, while also spying the prep table. Process? Dough ball, sheeter, ladled sauce, moundsful of shredded cheese, ample enough toppings. The workers followed hygienic methods and the place looked clean. A conveyor oven is used.
I went with a 12″ Italian sausage, pepperoni, and linguica, they said “about 15 minutes”, and I walked next door to a gas station that had a sheet taped over the brand name on the street, bought some bottles of water, and noted that they had one of those “fell off the truck” shelves of cigarettes – brands one has never heard of at 1970 prices. Ah, the changing landscape of America’s burgs.
I went back to PG and watched the hustle of the delivery guys and the comings and goings of people picking up. You get the free 2L soda when you pick up, or you can have a pint of ice cream. This applies for each item over $10, I believe it was, so if you pick up two pies, you are well equipped to follow up their ingestion with root beer floats.
The pie was done on time, I returned to my motel room to inspect. Puffy crust rim, slight char on crust and linguica, ample enough cheese, with a texture that said “real.” (Real California Cheese? Where’s the contented cows? LOL)
There’s a bit of ‘hang’ as I pick up the slice, to take my first bite, assuming a Domino’s or worst quality, but after the horrid coney pizza in Wichita, I was starving for even mediocre pie.
I was pleasantly surprised! Pizza Guys is GOOD. Way beyond my expectations. Hand pulled Italian sausage was fennel flavorful. Cheese had a nice pull, melted touch. Pepperoni and linguica had just enough spice to have a little bite, and the crust was chewy and had flavor! A nice buttery-salt blend, that made it extra appealing to me. (MMMMMMM, butter……………..and…………..salt….).
He like’s it! Mikey likes it! And so did BurgerDogBoy.