Pizza Pizza

Pizza+Pizza

Just outside the great state of New York, home to the New York style pizza, Connecticut is home to many great pizza joints. Along the coast, Waterford houses a delectable array of family-owned restaurants, a total of 9. If your family is not craving Chinese food from the Crystal Mall this Friday night, don’t worry, we have you covered. We decided to rank the various restaurants based on three factors: the price point, the topping to crust ratio, and the environment of the establishment. 

In order to fairly compare the quality of our experience, we decided to order the same slice at each place we went. Cheese was the obvious way to go. First up, we took our 2003 Volvo to a joint the town knows as “Supreme.” Quite fitting, because the name of the restaurant? Supreme Pizza. Right away, we noticed the busy atmosphere. They are running around making everything run faster. Most of the restaurant, due to the pandemic, is to-go. They have opened a window to do payment and food exchanges. As far as taste goes, the cheese pizza was saucy and filling, and the ratio between the ingredients was proportional. Supreme Pizza definitely provides the family-owned experience you’re looking for, with a fair price point. Their small cheese is a humble $8.99.

Next up was Waterford Pizza Palace, right next to WHS. While the corporation is small, our pleasure was immeasurable. They were fast and on top of it. The inside of the establishment looked like a cool pizza joint, with red walls and good music. The pizza, though piping hot, provided an experience that cannot be forgotten. The stretch of the cheese was impeccable, and the distribution of the sauce was perfect. It tastes like pizza you would get in a New York City resturaunt. Even the price point can’t be beaten, with a small coming in at just $6.99. With a price like that, who could resist?

Let’s see if Crown Pizza deserves a royal review. Unfortunately, the inside of Crown Pizza has been closed off to the public, leaving just a drive-thru for our open-minded eyes. Luckily, our experience with the staff provided enough information for us to realize the kind and welcoming atmosphere Crown had to offer. The correspondence between the sauce and cheese was definitely above average. The thick crust beautifully complimented the flavor of the sauce., which was sweet. Murphy Ryan, journalist and self-proclaimed food critic, described the cheese as “a delicate mountain of dairy.” The price of the small cheese pizza at Crown was $8.99, making Crown and Supreme the easiest to compare between the many pizza joints. 

Last, but certainly not least, was the loveable Illiano’s. Located at a busy intersection, the hustle and bustle of the restaurant adds to its charm.The people working behind the counter are the nicest humans and give everyone who walks in a sample of pizza, even during the pandemic.  The thickness of the crust at Illiano’s was very different from Crown, almost resembling a flat-bread. The flavor and texture of the cheese was the real kicker here, compensating for the lack of crust. The sauce is tangy and the cheese is salty which makes for a great combo. Greeted at the counter with a plethora of free samples, we felt welcomed immediately as customers and pizza connoisseurs. Definitely bringing down their ranking was the fact that Illiano’s smallest size is a medium, unless you’re willing to purchase an individual slice. One slice of cheese pizza runs for $3.25, which is just about half the price of the entire small pizza from Waterford Pizza Palace. The full medium cheese pizza at Illiano’s comes in at a whopping $14.00, definitely overshadowing the delicious taste. 

As for the rankings, Waterford Pizza Palace had the best accumulation of features. Being both the cheapest and the most memorable, it wasn’t difficult to rank them a solid 9.5/10. Illiano’s, despite being the most expensive, was carried to a score of 9/10 by its superb taste and the character of its business. After a lot of careful consideration, we decided that both Supreme Pizza and Crown Pizza have tied for a score of 8.5/10. Their matching price was not the only thing that brought us to this conclusion, it’s also attributed to the delicious, but not quite irresistible, flavor. It is important to add that we looked at both Italian and Greek pizzas. Greek pizza is puffier and filled with more oil, where Italian is usually flatter and the crust is harder. We are so glad we could give criticism and reviews to the residents of Waterford!