Italian Pie
Backstory
A local chain of pizza specialists, the Italian Pie has been expanding rapidly around New Orleans for the past few years, and is now selling franchises in other nearby cities. The first one opened in 1992 on the edge of the CBD, near City Hall, and immediately grabbed a large take-out business. The locations since then have been full-fledged restaurants.
Dining Room
Most of the restaurants have full service in pleasant, bright dining rooms. Most Italian Pie locations are slicker and better looking than most pizza parlors.
Why It's Essential
The success of this burgeoning local chain of pizza shops rests on a menu that aims at a mainstream taste for a clean, pretty pizza, big portions, and flexibility in its combinations. Also here are pasta dishes, salads and sandwiches. While all are similar, some locations are owned by franchisees who might alter the menu a little, with a resulting blip in consistency. The Italian Pie is a great place for families, because the prices are low, the portions large, and a child's palate is more or less where they're aiming.
Why It's Good
What makes everything happen at the Italian Pie is the quality of its pizza dough. It's baked to a soft, bready consistency, and accompanies just about everything on the menu. It's hard to say no to freshly-baked bread right out of the oven, and Italian Pie uses that appeal for all its worth. However, the use of conveyor-belt ovens makes the pizzas a good deal less than exciting. Too puffy for my tastes. They also have a way of overloading the pies, but again that's something that grabs Joe Average.
Most Interesting Dishes
<em><strong>Starters</strong></em> Baked chicken wings<br /> Spinach and artichoke dip<br /> Garlic bread<br /> Salads: Grilled chicken, Italian, Mediterranean, Greek, Caesar<br /> Wrap sandwiches: roasted chicken, roasted eggplant, spinach and artichoke, grilled chicken, barbecue chicken, meatball<br /> Italian special sandwich<br /> Turkey or club foccacia<br /> Roast beef poor boy <br /> Muffuletta <br /> Roasted eggplant sandwich <br /> <em>Pizza, topped as you like or house combinations, particularly:</em> <br /> Spinach artichoke<br /> Mediterranean<br /> Roasted eggplant<br /> Barbecue chicken<br /> Sundried tomato and pesto<br /> Muffuletta pizza<br /> <em><strong>Entrees</strong></em> Lasagna<br /> Seafood stuffed ravioli<br /> Four cheese ravioli<br /> Chicken parmesan or cacciatore<br /> Chicken cacciatore<br /> Spaghetti and meatballs<br /> Shrimp scampi<br /> Fettuccine alfredo<br /> Venetian chicken (panneed, stuffed with spinach and artichokes)<br /> Gulf shrimp pasta<br /> Calzones<br /> <em><strong>Desserts</strong></em> Turtle cheesecake<br /> Tiramisu<br />
Deficiencies
Although it makes for better uniformity, the conveyor-belt pizza oven makes a much less interesting pizza than the old-style brick-floor ovens.
For Best Results
The best pizzas are the basics, as opposed to options like getting every meat in the house. The pizza is distinctly better than the pasta (which is not bad) and incomparably better than the salads and sandwiches.
Bonus Ratings
1
Environment
1
Service
1
Value