The Pizza Diaries: Angelo’s Pizza

Since we started the Pizza Diaries series, we knew we’d have to go to some places that aren’t our favorite. We also knew we’d get to go to all of our favorites and finally get to try new ones we were excited about. For this edition, we went to Angelo’s Pizza which is not our usual first (or second or third) choice for pizza.

This may shock you (because it has shocked literally everyone we’ve told) but we generally aren’t fans of Angelo’s. We know, how can we live in Lakewood and not like Angelo’s? We used to live down the street from them and we only went once or twice because it’s just not our type of pizza. We know exactly what we don’t like about it: the sauce. It’s just too sweet. We both dislike sweet sauces and can always detect even the slightest sweetness of it on a pizza. But, it in the interest of science (that’s what this is right?), we’re giving it another go.

Angelo’s is located on Madison Ave. in Lakewood. There is usually a wait, but there are plenty of bars in the area where you can grab a drink while you wait. The big thing that Angelo’s is noted for is half-off pizza on Monday’s. It’s dine-in only and you’re limited to one pizza per person. The wait is crazy for this on Monday’s and we have more thoughts on this later.

For this pizza journey we knew exactly who we wanted to join us. Our friends Michelle (you’ve probably seen her on Instagram) and John love Angelo’s. They don’t even live in Lakewood, they live in the Flats. They could travel anywhere for pizza but they often decide on Angelo’s. We hoped by going with them we could see what all the fuss is about.

Michelle and John eat pizza probably twice a month. It would be more but they’ve been trying to eat healthier. Very admirable. Michelle describes herself as a pizza addict, pizza is always her craving. John says he’s a pizza aficionado. Fun fact: they come from Chicago so they’re go to pizza was always deep dish! Usually, it was Pequod’s. Michelle’s favorite is pepperoni sausage with half mushroom and John’s is the pepperoni sausage.

What We Ordered:

• Small Deluxe Pizza
• Small Baked Potato Pizza
• Breaded mushrooms

Sauce
The red sauce is precisely the reason we don’t like Angelo’s. As stated above, stuff is too sweet man. We had to try it again to see if we still had the same thoughts, and sure enough we still aren’t fans. Although, the amount of sauce on this particular pizza was rather light, so we found this pie more enjoyable than pies past. Now the garlic butter sauce on the baked potato pizza was delicious, but it could have been more garlicy. It’s just enough and super flavorful but its rare we go to pizza places and order these types of specialty pizzas. Michelle would have liked more sauce and thinks the red sauce is just the right amount of sweet. John also would have liked more sauce on the pizzas, especially on the back ends by the crust.

Crust
John liked the buttery, flaky crust. Beard was also a fan, especially since the toppings go right up to the edge. Michelle and Broad both like crust the least on pizza and both dip it in ranch when its available. So they did that here and enjoyed it. The crust has a good amount of thickness but honestly, it’s not too memorable. One of the pizzas we ordered was deep dish. When they came out we honestly couldn’t figure out which one it was. We all agreed a deep dish pizza should look significantly different than a regular pizza, and these were pretty similar.

Toppings
The toppings were all flavorful and fresh. We all agreed the sausage was our favorite. They were blended well together on both pizzas. We all agreed that something was missing on the baked potato pizza, perhaps fresh chives. It’s also good it came with sour cream because it seemed a little dry. Michelle would have preferred fresh mushrooms on the deluxe. Crispier pepperoni would have also been nice, but it was still delicious.

Cheese
Michelle and Broad thought the pizzas could have used more cheese. They seem to not focus on cheese, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They primarily focus on the toppings and they’re pretty on point. John thought it was the right amount of cheese and thought maybe a sharper cheese should be on the baked potato pizza. We think that would have been a nice twist.

Overall Experience
We sat on the patio and it was the perfect summer evening. Normally there’s a wait but we got super lucky and got a table right away. The waitress gave us great recommendations. We were also there for happy hour and the drink specials were exactly what we needed. Oh and the breaded mushrooms were super tasty, they were probably our favorite part of the meal.

Next Day Deliciousness
From past, personal experience the baked potato pizza does not heat up well the next day. Something about potatoes reheating just doesn’t work. Michelle and John have had Angelo’s the next day and said it does hold up. They especially like the meat lover’s pizza the next day. She likes to reheat hers in the oven and John likes it cold. We did not take any of the deluxe home (finished it there, like bosses), but we imagine that would hold up pretty well.

Final Rating
4.25/5 breaded mushrooms. This rating is solely based on this one trip. We don’t like when we have to wait a long time for a table, and we know how lucky we were to snag a spot so quickly here. If we would have waited we prob would have given a lower rating due to cranky hangry-ness. The patio was fabulous and the toppings were fresh and crisp. Unfortunately, our views remain pretty unchanged about their sauce. Another thing we were not thrilled about was the price. This was definitely the most expensive pizza place we’ve gone too and we ordered small pizzas! The smalls were $16.45 and they were very tiny. That’s just way too much money for such a small amount of pizza. So if you’re hitting up Angelo’s, we recommend braving the Monday crowd so you’re not breaking the bank.

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