I don’t know how you are over the holidays, but after spending hours in the kitchen making food for family and friends, I was ready for a simple dinner. And, in our house, an easy dinner means ordering pizza.
Along with my family of three, we had four guests over, and when it was time to order pizza, everyone, of course, had their own opinions about which Coronado restaurant’s pizza is the best. That led me to the most brilliant dinner decision ever – rather than just order pizza from one of our favorite restaurants, why not order pizza from all of our favorite restaurants? That way we could taste test multiple pizzas, and settle the debate once and for all, deciding which Coronado restaurant has the best pizza.
To keep the pizza taste testing as legitimate as possible, we decided to only order cheese pizzas. After all, cheese pizza, while seemingly the least complex pizza to make, is in fact the least forgiving pizza. With a pizza that comes with pepperoni, sausage, peppers, mushrooms, and additional toppings, the extras can mask the true flavor of the basic cheese pizza, and hide its flaws. A cheese pizza with no toppings has nothing to hide behind, making it easier for self-proclaimed pizza “connoisseurs” such as myself to judge it and compare it to other cheese pizzas.
We ordered pizzas from five Coronado restaurants. Before the big reveal on the “winners”, let’s first review each of the respective contenders, listed below in alphabetical order.
Coronado Brewing Company:
Most people associate Coronado Brewing Company with its handcrafted beers, but CBC, as it’s known locally, has an extensive menu, which includes a variety of pizzas.
CBC does not offer delivery, and to place a to-go order, a customer must be present. My husband ordered the Just Cheese pizza from the menu. Just Cheese is described on the menu as “marinara, 4 cheese blend, basil.”
From the time the order was placed at the bar until the time the order was received, eleven minutes passed. An 11.5 inch pizza cost $14.04 with tax.
Domino’s Pizza (Team Coronado):
As someone who’s lived all over the country, I’m fairly certain I’ve eaten Domino’s Pizza in every state I’ve called home. Here in Coronado I rarely think about ordering Domino’s since there are so many other local options that aren’t a national chain.
We ordered the Hand-Tossed Pizza, described as “robust inspired tomato sauce, cheese, garlic-seasoned crust” on the menu.
While ordering online is an option, I chose to call to place my order. From the time the call ended to the time my doorbell rang, 31 minutes had elapsed. A 14 inch pizza cost $12.11 with tax, and with the additional $2.99 delivery fee, the total was $15.10.
Fire + Fly Artisan Pizza:
Like CBC, Fire + Fly Artisan Pizza does not deliver. I tried repeatedly to call ahead to see if I could place an order, but no one answered so my husband went in person to place an order. From the time his order was placed to the time he received the pizza, 22 minutes had passed.
[CORRECTION: Fire + Fly partners with the UberEATS meal delivery service app for a delivery option.]
From the “Fly Solo” portion of the menu, we ordered the Cheese Pizza, described as “cheese and sauce” on the menu. With tax the 11 inch pizza cost $7.51.
As soon as my husband brought the Fire + Fly pizza home, I opened the box so I could take a picture of it. I’ll admit that I was a bit disappointed to observe that some of the edges of the crust were burnt. With that being said, however, I will share that I have had Fire + Fly pizza before, and the edges in the past were not burnt so I will chalk up the charred bits of pizza crust on this particular order as a mishap.
High Tide Bottle Shop & Kitchen:
High Tide Bottle Shop & Kitchen allows you to order online, but I chose to place my order by calling. On their website, High Tide, as it’s known, boasts, “We deliver booze!” Since I didn’t want my pizza taste testing skills to be impaired in the slightest, I opted not to take advantage of that perk (this time.)
We ordered the Cheese Pizza. On their website, High Tide advertises, “Our PIZZA… Hand tossed east coast inspired thin crust done So-Cal style.” Even though they offer a 14 inch pizza, I ordered the 20 inch pizza because in order for High Tide to deliver, the minimum order must be $20. The 20 inch pizza cost $19.14 with tax, and with the $3.00 delivery fee, the total was $22.14.
Of the three restaurants which delivered our pizzas, High Tide Bottle & Kitchen had the fastest delivery time with it arriving on my doorstep exactly 28 minutes after I placed the order.
I liked how on the box it says which person made the pizza. (Thank you, Matt.) It’s a nice touch that gives it a hometown flair. Even though my name was misspelled, I still liked how it said the pizza was created especially for me.
Village Pizzeria (Orange Avenue Location):
Even though I live near Ferry Landing, I decided to place my order via phone so I had to order pizza from the Orange Avenue location rather than the Bayside location. I could have ordered online, but since I had already placed my other two orders over the phone, I wanted to stay consistent in my ordering style with those restaurants that offered delivery.
Village Pizzeria advertises on its menu, “All our pizza dough is made with bottled water imported from New York. Pick your style of crust: original NY style, thin crust, or Sicilian style.” Even though I’m Sicilian and absolutely love Village Pizzeria’s Sicilian pizza, we ordered an 18 inch original, NY style cheese pizza. With tax the pizza cost $21.31, and with the $2.95 delivery fee, the total was $24.26.
The Taste Test:
Because Coronado is a small “island” town, those of us in the taste testing group, which ranged in age from nine to forty-three years old, decided to give feedback in an anonymous fashion.
Everyone was given a plate with a small slice of each pizza. I was the only person who knew which pizza came from which restaurant, refusing to confirm or deny as people guessed.
As everyone sampled the five slices, they were each given a small slip of paper, where they were asked to select one of the five pizzas in each category. Categories included best crust, best sauce, best cheese, and favorite pizza.
Coronado Brewing Company won best crust and best cheese, and tied for best sauce with Fire + Fly. Receiving 5 of the 7 votes, Coronado Brewing Company’s pizza was also voted as the favorite pizza! (See additional information below for voting charts, speed of time between order being placed and pizza being received, and a cost analysis per square inch of pizza since each pizza was a different size.)
So what was it about CBC’s pizza that made it such a hit? One person shared, “It has a crispy crust that’s moist at the same time. I also really liked how melty the cheese was.” Another explained that it was her favorite because “it reminds me of New Jersey, and I liked the crust.” One gentleman selected CBC as his favorite, explaining, “It had a softer texture. I enjoyed it, and my taste buds definitely responded most to that pizza over the other ones.” Even though someone else didn’t score CBC’s pizza as number one in any of the individual components categories, he still selected it as the pizza he liked best because “it really reminded me of the east coast, where I’m from.” To one taster, the real difference that set CBC’s pizza apart from the others was the use of fresh basil, which gave the pizza a blast of flavor which seemed to be lacking in some of the other choices.
The person who voted for Fire + Fly pizza as her favorite said, “It didn’t have too much sauce or not enough sauce. It had the perfect amount of sauce and cheese. The crust was nice and crispy. It was perfect!”
Of the Domino’s pizza that one member of the taste testing group picked as the favorite pizza, that person said, “The crust wasn’t burnt, and it had the right amount of cheese and sauce.”
While I could share some negative feedback about specific pizzas, I will leave it that no one disliked any of them, just some pizzas were preferred over others. When you think about it, there’s really no such thing as bad pizza, is there? One person shared that while she liked a certain pizza, there was so much cheese on it that she “could barely taste the sauce.” I felt the opposite about another pizza, thinking that it didn’t have enough cheese, making it dry. The sauce to cheese ratio is definitely key!
After the taste test was over, everyone helped themselves to seconds, including those pizzas that weren’t voted the favorites in any particular category. While we still may not all concur on which Coronado pizza is the best, we can all agree that we are very lucky to live somewhere where there are so many tasty options! And, while I may have missed some places on island that serve pizza, please rest assured that my work is never done. I vow to continue my research!
Additional Information:
