Twenty-
Sixth Stop: The
Flying Pizza
Date:
February 23rd, 2012
Location:
9563
Fields Ertel Road Mason , OH
Ranking: 23
In
gathering the basics to start off this post, we were surprised to find that The
Flying Pizza was ranked #23. After all
the pizzas we've had across the last year, it just doesn't seem to be better
than half of the entire list.
Perhaps
it was us; perhaps we just didn't order well.
When you enter Flying Pizza, you step in front of a large counter where
you are meant to place your order, and behind which the staff prepares dough
and bakes the pies. As usual, we had no
idea what we wanted to order. We started
to peruse the menu but, honestly, both of us felt a little rushed with the
pizza attendant waiting in front of us with a pen and order pad in hand. He was very nice, though, and told us about
the two types of pizza that the pizzeria offers: Neapolitan and Sicilian, the former meaning
"New York Style" and the latter being thicker-crusted and generally
cut into square pieces. Both were
appealing, but after our adventurous turn at Ferrari's (Thai and Mediterranean , remember!), we were both in the mood for
some standard NY, wedge-shaped slices of pizza.
We
grabbed a little booth while we awaited our lunch order, which the server had
promised to bring to our table. This
place has a pretty New York-y vibe, and definitely exhibits an atmosphere of a
traditional pizzeria. It is clean and
casual, with the long counter between dining area and kitchen space, and white
tiled floors. Black and white photos of New York
 |
| The view from our seats, looking toward the entrance |
Our pizza
came, and the giant slices were spilling off the sides of their paper plate
beds. Additionally, 6-7 breadsticks were
piled on a separate plate, dotted green with herbs and drizzled with (I assume
olive?) oil. From the overall looks of
things, we were ready to dig in.
 |
| With nacho cheese as yellow as Courtney's phone! |
Immediately,
Robyn felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment as she looked at her
order. Everything looked fine…except for
the mushrooms. While neither of us is
sure precisely how the pizza was made, it appeared that the mushrooms were removed
from the can, drained, and then plopped onto an already cooked pepperoni
pizza. Maybe this is just a personal
preference, but Robyn likes her mushrooms to show a little evidence of having
been cooked. The flavor and texture are
pretty appalling to her otherwise, which is why she decided to dump most of
them onto the plate instead of into her mouth.
Other than that particular aspect, Robyn thought the rest of her pizza
was okay. The thin crust had a good chew
with a crisp bottom. The pepperoni was
sliced thick, and added a welcome flavor to the slices. The breadsticks were also a highlight for
her, after the letdown of the mushrooms.
While dunking our breadsticks, both of us enjoyed the unconventional,
processed, gooey sludge known as “nacho cheese” more than either of us would
like to admit. Also, when this is one of
the highlights of your meal, you know there must be some room for
improvement.
 |
| Bleh |
Perhaps
it wasn't the best thing ever, but Courtney enjoyed her pizza. The slices were huge, thin, and allowed her
to fold it before taking a bite. This
helped to contain the pieces of sausage, which were piled atop each slice, and
constantly spilling when she picked one up.
The crust is good - thin and just sturdy enough while still being
bendable. The cheese is nice and greasy,
and the flavor beckons you to take another bite. Going back to the sausage, though: similar experience as with Robyn's
mushrooms. It really seemed to be school
cafeteria or frozen pizza sausage. Maybe
it wasn't, but the look and taste certainly recalled those less-worthy
varieties.
On your
way out, you or your inner child may want to snag one of the Blue Bunny frozen
deserts from the case in front of the counter.
We opted out, with little room for anything other than the pizza in our
bellies. Also on the way out, you need
to be careful with your leftovers— the “to-go” packaging is prepared at the
counter by sliding your greasy paper plate (the one you ate from!!) into a
paper bag and rolling the ends of the bag shut, creating an awkward, floppy
triangular prism. And on a non-related
pizza note, Robyn would like to add that she was very impressed with the size
and cleanliness of the women’s bathroom.
It was probably one of the cleanest restaurant bathrooms anyone has ever
set foot in!
 |
| Weird, right? |
 |
| Ta-da! |
So,
again, perhaps we just didn't order well.
We are having the delayed realization that pizza-by-the-slice and combo
deals might not be the way to go at some places (though Goodfellas in MainStrasse sure
does it well). Flying Pizza has a pretty
lengthy menu that provides a substantial list of the standard pizza
ingredients, plus some less common ones (like Ricotta cheese and sliced
meatballs). If you go, go for dinner,
and order a whole specialty pie or develop your own concoction of different toppings. Trust us that the Neapolitan crust is a good
choice, or try the Sicilian which, based on photos, looks pretty tasty
itself. Though the pizza we had on our
visit wasn't particularly our favorite, we'd give it another shot.
