UtahDinersGuide.com

Review by Dan Purdon

All-you-can-eat pizza places are typically near the bottom of the Pizza Restaurant Totem Pole.  I must confess, that’s the first thing that came to mind when I saw this restaurant, and it’s a good part of the reason that it took me so long to get around to visiting it.  But I kept hearing good things, and pretty soon I couldn’t keep away any longer.

My wife and I headed into Pizza Pie Cafe on a particularly hungry Wednesday night.  We paid for the two of us, and the bill came to a lean $14.  We grabbed a table next to the big line of pizzas.  At first, everything looked as expected.  There was a standard salad bar, a big line of various pizzas set up buffet-style, and another section for dessert pizzas.  But then something threw me for a loop: there was an entire to-order pasta bar as well!  You just tell the server what kind of pasta you want, and they boil it up for you.  Then you pick between five different self-serve sauces to go on top.  I sampled the spicy sausage, roasted red pepper, and carbonara sauces over bowtie pasta.  My favorite was the creamy spicy sausage sauce - I’d definitely go back for seconds on that one.

On to the pizza.  First I sampled the “Hillbilly” pizza, which is their all-meat specialty.  I must say, I was genuinely surprised at the quality - I didn’t expect this from $7 all-you-can-eat pizza.  The dough was fresh, soft and chewy.  And the ham, pepperoni, sausage, and bacon on this went together very nicely.  Many times the big delivery pizza guys will overdo the meat and it just ends up tasting like a bunch of salty beef and bacon.  But Pizza Pie Cafe’s version was just right.  It had plenty of meat to give you a little of each flavor in every bite, but it wasn’t overwhelming.  The other flavors were just as nice, too.  The favorites were all there, including Hawaiian, Alfredo, and BBQ Chicken.

As we began to wind down, I wandered over to the dessert pizza rack to finish off the meal.  I grabbed one raspberry and one cookie dough slice.  Again I was impressed at the quality of flavor - the raspberry pizza had a nice berry spread with a light glaze and graham crumbles over the top.  It tasted like a warm fruit tart.  And the cookie dough was one big gooey doughy mess of deliciousness.  Like s’mores, except in pizza form.  And with cookie dough.  It was an extreme guilty pleasure that I will be sure to repeat the next time I visit.  (And for this quality of pizza at that good of a price, there will definitely be a next time).

Pricing: Inexpensive, $5-10 per person

Pizza Pie Cafe 2235 N University Parkway