There’s a new kid on the block when it comes to Austin pizza, and its name is Pizza Paradise. Located at 1921 Cedar Bend, with delivery to Austin’s north side, this pizza parlor isn’t quite the slice of heaven its name implies, but it’s not exactly crap on a stick, either.
Celebrity Intern and I sampled their wares on a lazy Sunday evening when we didn’t quite feel like cooking. We called up, ordered a Chicken Bacon Bleu pizza (large), but were flummoxed by the fact that our phone order-taker informed us that they could only do a thin crust for medium sizes and smaller. Jigga-what? What diff does it make what size the pie? Serious. In NYC, this shit would be no probs, bobs.
Anyhoozle, we said “OK, whatevs,” and had them send out a large pie. We got it within the 40 minute predicted period, and the delivery dude was sweaty, but nice. Granted, he did have to climb 3 flights of stairs to reach us. And called to ask where the eff we were, in relation to the tennis courts (ed note: we ARE way hidden in our complex, and expect these types of frantic phone calls). We tipped generously, and then commenced to chow down!
The nomming was tasty, though not quite the Chicken Bacon Bleu of our dreams. Celebrity Intern complained about the lack of bleu cheese in every bite, and I felt it was somehow too much, yet not enough simultaneously. Perhaps it was the salt content? Rich, but ultimately not satisfying. Celebrity Intern pointed out that the chicken chunks were uniformly rectangular, a suspicious strike against them.
They are no Austin’s Pizza. No offense: the toppings that are there are plentiful, no doubt, but sub-par in quality. The bleu cheese was probably just some moldy cheese they had lying around. It was “clearly out of a can, or perhaps a sack,” according to Celebrity Intern. The bacon was tasty, though super salty.
We would like to see Pizza Paradise go whole-hog with their claims of greatness. Paradise = heaven! Let’s see some hustle, Pizza Paradise.
Overall grade: C-, or 3.2 out of 5 stars.
Related Posts
Tags: 1921 Cedar Bend, Austin, Austin's Pizza, bacon, bleu cheese, chicken chunks, not crap on a stick, pizza, Pizza Paradise, thin-crust pizza
Yeah, Austin Pizza is crap. There are so many better pizzerias in town, thankfully. Good to know of another one.