Knead a slice of pizza?
CUISINE- Doug Bell samples and ranks five pizza shops surrounding the North Penn area for those in “knead” of a good slice.
Ask any student at North Penn High School where to get the best slice of pizza, and you can get about 30 different answers. That is because there are over 30 pizza places that fall within the North Penn School District. To figure out which place is best, I had to create some criteria.
First of all, I excluded chain pizza places such as Domino’s, Papa Johns, and Pizza Hut. Also, I only tasted “regular” pizza, so that ruled out any artisan or wood-fired pizza that you would find at The Mill, Olce, or Jules. The third criteria was that the pizza place must be within a 20 minute drive of North Penn High School. Finally, the last piece of criteria was that I would only be trying one slice of plain cheese pizza from each place.
With my criteria set, I then had to decide on five pizza places to rank. I read reviews on Google and Yelp, and I also asked many of my peers. I narrowed it down to these five places: Italian Delight, Boston Style Pizza, Tony’s Pizza Palace, Five Points Pizza, and Frank’s Pizza. After visiting each of these fine establishments, I have ranked them from fifth to first.
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Frank’s Pizza
5.Frank’s Pizza
Location: Lansdale, PA
Price: $2.39 per slice (Cash or Credit)
Restaurant: The building itself is a bit hidden behind West Main Diner, but is easily visible from Main Street. In a way, this adds to the “cool factor”, especially since the interior of Frank’s is the nicest of all the places I visited. Not only were the booths very comfortable to sit in, but the service was great as well.
Takeout? Yes
Delivery? Yes
The Slice: There is nothing wrong with the slice of pizza I got at Frank’s, but there was nothing that set it over the top. It was not very crispy, and it was a little on the sweet side. The sauce was good, but the cheese left something to be desired.
The Crust: Same deal as the rest of the slice, it was good, but not great. The crust was a little on the thicker side and was not very crispy at all.
Boston Style Pizza
4.Boston Style Pizza
Location: North Wales, PA
Price: $2.05 per slice (Cash or Credit)
Restaurant: Of all the places I went to, this was most clearly a ‘sit down and eat’ kind of place. The atmosphere inside was nice, and it had more of a regular restaurant feel than a typical pizza place. The service was very good.
Takeout? Yes
Delivery? Yes
The Slice: This was the smallest slice I had from all of the five places. A little greasier than I prefer, this slice made up for that by having a very crispy dough. The Boston Style slice is a different type of pizza than a typical Italian pizza place, but that does not devalue it in any way. Overall, this was certainly a sufficient slice of pizza.
The Crust: Just like the rest of the dough, the crust was very crispy. I found it to be very delicious and it topped off the rest of the slice very well.
3.Italian Delight
Location: Lansdale, PA
Price: $2.40 per slice (Cash or Credit)
Restaurant: Styled with the colors of Italy, Italian Delight truly has the look and feel of a pizza place. The booths were not the most comfortable things in the world, but certainly not a deal breaker since my pizza came out pretty quickly.
Takeout? Yes
Delivery? No
The Slice: Just like the Frank’s, Italian Delight had a less crispy dough than I prefer. Where Italian Delight really succeeded was with the cheese and sauce. The distribution was even throughout the slice and each bite tasted just as good as the other.
The Crust: Crispy on the bottom and soft on top, the crust at Italian Delight was very good, and easily my favorite part of this slice.
Five Point Pizza
2.Five Points Pizza
Location: Montgomeryville, PA
Price: $2.39 per slice (Only cash when buying a slice, credit can be used for everything else)
Restaurant: The interior of Five Points Pizza can be described in one word: plain. There is nothing wrong with that, but it certainly makes Five Points more of a takeout place than a dine-in.
Takeout? Yes
Delivery? Yes
The Slice: Easily the biggest slice of pizza out of every place. The dough was nice and crispy, and the cheese was very gooey. With a very thin crust, the size of the pizza was deceiving and left me craving more.
The Crust: Crispy on the bottom, softer on top, this crust would have only been better if it was a little thicker.
Tony’s Pizza
1.Tony’s Pizza Palace
Location: North Wales, PA
Price: $2.50 per slice (Cash Only)
Restaurant: With no televisions, plastic bucket seats, and a family friendly atmosphere, Tony’s was an instant hit for me. On top of the classic look, the service at Tony’s was phenomenal. My slice was ready in less than two minutes.
Takeout? Yes
Delivery? No
The Slice: By far the best balance of everything that I tried. The cheese and sauce were distributed very well, and the dough was perfectly crispy. To add to the flavor, there was some light sprinkling of oregano on top.
The Crust: The crust was crispy, but thicker than five points. I found Tony’s crust to be the most satisfying of all the slices I sampled.
Overall, my experience at each of these five pizza places was satisfactory if not excellent. There is no going wrong with any of them, but by far the best tasting slice was Tony’s Pizza Palace. There is no doubt, however, that if you are yearning for a slice of pizza, the options are endless in the North Penn Area.