The staff of The Polytechnic performs many services over the course of a year. We keep the campus informed about events both in Troy and elsewhere, highlight the accomplishments of our athletic teams, and provide a forum for community members to express their opinions.
One task, though, stands out above all others—we act as a vanguard for the sleep-depped, hungry student masses, plumbing the depths of a foul and frightening realm: Troy pizza.
The turnout was larger than usual this year; perhaps the pollers were hoping for safety in numbers. Each of the 17 people participating was required to take at least one bite from each pie that arrived—no matter how nasty it looked—rating it on crust, cheese, sauce, temperature, grease, appearance, and “taste,” which was their overall opinion of the pizza. These seven categories were averaged together to produce the “overall” rating.
Fifteen different pizzerias were polled this year. From each establishment, an order was placed for their largest New York—style plain cheese pizza. Toppings are not included in the survey due to the added expense and the impossibility of getting 17 different people to agree on any selection.
A newcomer to the poll took the top spot this year: Gino’s, on Fourth Street downtown. Its 6.10 overall rating is hardly a ringing endorsement, but it was enough to beat out the other pizzerias polled. Gino’s took top scores in cheese, appearance, and taste, and at $8 for a 16—inch pie, the price is right as well. The major downside is that, though only a year old, the place is popular—it took nearly an hour to get our pizza on a Friday night.
Previous winners did well this year: I Love NY, last year’s winner and the most consistent parlor in the city, slipped to third place because of a seriously burned crust, and 1999 winner Congress Street rebounded from a poor performance last year to grab second place.
Also making drastic improvements this year were Notty Pine and Papa John’s—Notty Pine was last in the 2000 poll, but had the best scores for crust and temperature this year, while Papa John’s moved up from 13th place with the best sauce in this year’s poll.
The other chain establishment, Domino’s, dropped like a rock this time—they had the best grease rating in the survey, but uniformly abysmal scores otherwise. After eating this pie, one pollster commented “I can no longer feel my stomach.” Another lamented, “It’s like Boboli, but worse!”
Though no one pizza really stood out above the rest, there was very clearly one pie that was worst in show: Carol’s, on Pawling Avenue. The level of grease was truly impressive, with multiple people describing it as “a pond.” Carol’s had the lowest score in every category but temperature, and even took the longest to arrive. One reviewer described it as the worst pizza ever, and someone else went even further than that—“This isn’t pizza.”
The restaurants surveyed were chosen based on a number of factors. Delivery to the RPI campus was a must, and pizzerias that have repeatedly done poorly in the poll were eliminated this year. Also, establishments that had unpaid advertising bills with The Poly were removed from consideration. From the places remaining, a list was drawn up that represented a balanced mix of pizzerias well known on campus and places that most RPI students probably haven’t encountered.
Though Gino’s came up with the best quality pie, sometimes students don’t much care what they get. If you are looking for food right now, try the Notty Pine—15 minutes after I hung up the phone, the pizza arrived. Mango’s, O’Leary’s, I Love NY, and Congress Street also delivered their pies in a timely manner. Slowest were Papa John’s, Gino’s, and Carol’s—the mass of orders on Friday night had these places swamped.
A few places deserve special mention. O’Leary’s, Terminal Tavern, and Domino’s all were very accurate in their time estimates—frequently I won’t mind pizza taking a while, as long as I know up front that it will. On the other end of the scale was DeMeo’s (formerly Inferno) on Campbell Avenue. Though this was one of the first places called, their pizza never arrived at all.
More often for students, time is not nearly as important as price or quantity. Terminal Tavern offered the cheapest pizza on the list, although pizza can be had for less in Troy if you are willing to pick it up. Terminal also provides the most pizza for the money, followed by O’Leary’s. The chain establishments—Domino’s and Papa John’s—offer the least pizza for the scarce student dollar—they had the smallest pies.
In the end, our pollsters, fresh off of sampling 15 different pizzas, all came to one simple conclusion: Order Chinese instead.
