Dining Out - Pizza @ Christies
Pizza at Christies
Set in the middle of a local set of shops that are on a road parallel to the main road, it's one of just a few of the shops that aren't currently 'for lease'
After doing a couple of rounds of shopping here I'd collected a few vouchers on my receipts, and one of them included 2 large pizzas and a garlic bread for under $20, which after looking at some reviews online seemed like a pretty decent deal, even though they are a bit of a drive from here (under 15 minutes, but not by much).
After a bit of indecision, I ended up selecting their Seafood (Prawns, oyster and anchovies) and BBQ Chicken Hawaiian (Chicken, ham, pineapple and BBQ sauce) for my pizzas and proceeded to wait for my order. It can't have taken too long to make up, as I was home inside of 45 minutes from heading out. They're only a small shop, and it seemed like there was only 2 staff in the shop (and one delivery guy came and went while I was there), but they weren't very busy either, with just one other walk in customer while I was there.
Take a guess which is which... It really does look like all the toppings are on one pizza
The garlic bread was decent. One of the normal 8 slice ones that come wrapped in foil. The seafood pizza wasn't too bad, but it was certainly nothing special, and far from the best seafood pizza I've had. I also suspect the 'oysters' were actually 'mussels', and I also suspect they were canned (not really too surprising, and I expected that when ordering). The prawns however were sparse and dry, and the anchovies seemed completely lacking.
I think the anchovies found their way onto the wrong pizza though, as they were very present on the BBQ Chicken Hawaiian. This wasn't a bad thing, as I love anchovies, but it doesn't speak well for their ability to make 2 simple pizzas at the same time without making a pretty noticeable error. For a lot of people, this would have more than spoiled the whole pizza for them and seen them ringing through a complaint. Even with the addition of the anchovies, the pizza wasn't as good as I expected though.
As is my way with pizza, there was plenty of leftovers for the next couple of days, and I found that the Seafood was not great reheated (expected), but the BBQ Chicken Hawaiian improved when it had been cooled and reheated.
I did like their base, which was reasonably thin without being flat, and had a nice crust to it, but there was quite a bit of disappointment from my visit as they were far below what I'd expect from a place with the star ratings they get in the various places. (4/5 stars being the lowest rating). It was at least all edible, and not the worst pizza I've had, but it wasn't better than dominos, and even with the voucher it was vastly more expensive.
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Upgoats made by the talented @ryivhnn
Hello! I love that you have a clear schedule on when it’s dining out, cooking or board gaming now haha i like a bit of structure!
Yeah this doesn’t seem too good especially if it’s not any better than Dominos...going to run and check out your Charcoal Kingdom post now as I’m craving a good charcoal chicken!!!
Now I've just got to stick to the schedule. and probably change 'cooking' to 'miscellaneous' since I haven't done a specific cooking in a while. Yesterday's post is delayed, hoping to get to it today. Tomorrow's will be delayed as it's a driving day.
Oh yeah. Great little chicken shop that it is.
Ooh ok. Well I look forward to seeing what’s cooking! Drive safe :)
I think this week it's a serve of exercise trips, and probably accompanied by either leftovers curry or salmon and chips as they're things I've made lately
I had a good chuckle reading this. Pineapple and anchovies, and a large dash of tobasco sauce is all a pizza needs imo. I was going to be good today and start a new ‘diet’, but nah, tomorrow... Pizza tonight! :)
Good to hear. I must try that interesting combination, though I'd throw some ham on it as well, and possibly a tomato based sauce too.
BBQ Chicken sounds delicious that photo looks somewhat of a lazy created pizza. I don’t think I’ve ever had sea food on my pizza before. Always interesting to see how differences around the world. That is a shame at that price point they could not create and provide a high quality pizza.
There are quite a number of pizza places in my area. Most I consider being trash. They tend to be just giant puddles of grease. People swear by them and I never want to consume another pizza from such places.
I always enjoy a pizza with a decent amount of sauce that has a good flavor profile. I also prefer crust that has some extra flavor on it or in it. If a place can nail those two aspects of a pizza I have high hopes for the rest of it.
I think that's a great way of describing it. Lazy. It really felt like they were just phoning it in and relying on past success. Well, as a new customer, I won't be returning. I imagine their shopper docket vouchers might be because of a downturn in trade as regulars stop coming because they've discovered better/cheaper elsewhere.
I also like seeing what others do with pizzas, but as I've gotten older (and since I re-visited Italy as an adult foodie instead of just briefly as a kid) my taste in pizza has changed quite a bit. I used to love cheap, deep-pan, with everything on it. These days, I'd much prefer a tasty base with a well flavoured sauce and some good quality toppings. I don't expect it from the take away chains, but if you're over $10 for a large pizza, you have to be offering something decent and/or different. I'd have been better off getting pineapple added to the BBQ Chicken at one of the chains.
On the plus side, they weren't puddles of grease, which I agree is a plague on most pizza places
Many here somehow enjoy the $5 pizzas from a place I shall not name as I have thankfully forgotten the name of it. I tend to just call it “pizza bread” as it just has this awful thick toast like crust with some toppings on the top.
Pizza is one of those things I never thought I would be picky about but it turns out I am highly critical of it. Even worse when you try a new place and you can’t help but think a cheap frozen pizza you buy at the store for half the price or more was far superior.
In my area restaurants have issues holding onto good cooks. So they tend to have many that just phone it in. They know if they get fired they will just find another place. They don’t seem to pay enough and are often times in need of someone who just can do something they accept lazy people who don’t care about the customer or the quality.
I’ve had people swear to me such and such place they went to years ago was the best food they ever ate. Than you go and it’s just awful. Most of the time it seems to be changing of the cook. The really great ones that often make or break a place get hired away to better places over time.
I grew up with home made pizza. It wasn't until many years later that I learned my mum used a composite dough that's mostly similar to a scone dough to get the semi-deep pan, but light and fluffy crust. Somehow (student poverty I suspect) I got to the point where $5 pizza was 'great', because it was the cheapest meals. Then somehow I became a foodie and my desire for some kind of quality has seen me struggle to have the 'cheap' options. And then I went to Italy for a month... I'm still shocked I can eat some of the dross we have that seems to be thought of as good and authentic!
As for the good cooks not staying, it's tough for the pizza (and other 'cheap take away' foods) to maintain staff since it's reasonably easy to get a better paying job. One of my local chicken places has staff wanted signs up pretty much every other month, though it seems the main cook is also the owner, so not going anywhere. Likewise with the kebab/pizza place I like near home.
And often the other staff are just there because it's better than unemployment, so they're working and applying elsewhere the whole time. Sometimes even while working...
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