Which is pretty hard to do when their head is up their *** all the time.
New Pizza place in Ames
- Thread starter bmuff
- Start date
Is this owned or franchised by the old Godfather's owner from Omaha who wants to get back into pizza business after a hiatus with green Burrito?
- Mar 27, 2006
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To each his own. You said it, depends on what you're looking for.
My suggestion if you're looking for a Brewers-like place: it took me a few years to realize that The Cafe even has a bar, but if I'm in the mood for a quiet more upscale place, I'd rather hide out there. It's a pretty small place, but they've got everything you'd want as far as booze selection, the bar tenders are very polite, conversational, and knowledgeable. Plus you can get Cafe food rather than cheese-balls and spin dip. I think if Brewers improved the food selection a bit that could help them.
A new menu is imminent, but you can order a chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries. There are more new/different things (like large pizzas) but I'm not sure about all else.
And, yes, we frequent The Cafe bar, although not as much as Brewers.
No kidding. I was excited when I first heard that a bar was coming to that area. I mean, with all of the people in the area, it had to succeed, right? Well, not if you do it wrong. The bar is snooty, boring and expensive. I'll deal with expensive if the place is cool or fun, but Brewers is neither. And you can tell that by how few people are in there. A good establishment would pack them in with what little competition there is in such a populated area. But not Brewers.
The right way to have done it would have been a real martini bar or a sports bar or an irish pub. Get some live music in there for sing alongs. Have some specials or events. Instead, people in there seem pretty sedate when I've been there. And the owner...don't get me started. He once booted my sister-in-law for smoking outside...not in the roped off seating area, but in the alley. And this was before the smoking ban.
No offense to Ms3r, but that place sucks. I'm surprised someone hasn't opened up a competing place and ran them out of business.
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Opens Monday. Sounds pretty cool, college towns can never have enough good pizza joints. And they didn't rip the name off of 'Godfathers'.
Opens Monday. Sounds pretty cool, college towns can never have enough good pizza joints. And they didn't rip the name off of 'Godfathers'.
Don't get me wrong, I wish the guy well. I just think that it will likely be overpriced. If not, why wouldn't they post a menu on their website?
In this economy, people are going to want the best value. I love Great Plains' quality and Jeff's just has awesome deals. I'll eat Black Market once for sure, but if it doesn't taste as good as Great Plains and/or it doesn't have better deals than Jeffs, I probably won't eat it again.
In this economy, people are going to want the best value. I love Great Plains' quality and Jeff's just has awesome deals. I'll eat Black Market once for sure, but if it doesn't taste as good as Great Plains and/or it doesn't have better deals than Jeffs, I probably won't eat it again.
I went there today. It is a tad pricey, but the pizza is very very good. And the menu is on their website.
Just went tonight, as well. I was not aware that the Chicago Deep Dish did not have sauce and had tons of tomatoes on it (I'm not a fan), so I wasn't impressed as I probably would have been if we'd gotten the stuffed crust. The crust was fantastic, however, and the breadsticks were good. A 12" and 6 breadsticks MORE than fed four of us - two were guys, and one was a pregnant friend of mine. I could only eat one slice.
- Mar 27, 2006
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i was also impressed. this is not a college pizza place, so if that's what you are expecting you will not find it. They are definitely shooting for the Somerset crowd, which is honestly fine by me. Four of us ate for $30. And we had some left over. That's right around what you would spend at Great Plains for similar. Wide variety on the menu. They were absolutely packed tonight, yet the pizza arrived in exactly the amount of time that they said it would, almost to the minute. We ordered a deep dish all meat combo. Overall, the pizza was great, with lots of toppings and cooked perfectly. the star of the show, however, was the crust. I think it's a corn flour based crust, which had really good flavor. One thing to note is that their deep dish pizza does not come with sauce. i think that one of their other styles is sauceless as well. It's something that I will probably ask for when we go back, and we will be going back.
- Mar 23, 2006
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Have you ever had Giordano's pizza in Chicago? That is the gold standard for Chicago deep dish pizza.
Gosh. Are we going to debate the best Chicago style deep dish. I am tired of hearing the Uno vs. Giordanos vs. Gino's vs. Lou Malnatis debate.
IMO they are all good in their own ways lol.
I do like the deep dish that is smothered with cheese and loaded with crushed tomatoes on the top.
Did Black Market not do this on their deep dish?
I guess another question is have is was the Chicago Deep Dish at the level of any of the notable Chicago places?
So I went to the Black Market Pizza website and saw that they do make Chicago Deep Dish the correct way which is good.
Here are my thoughts:
I also will say that it def. looks like you are paying the Sommerset tax at that place too. $23 for a Large Cheese Chicago Deep Dish for example.
I think I pay $18 or so at Felix and Oscars in Des Moines, and in downtown chicago you can get a Large Cheese for between $17 and $24 in downtown Chicago, it really make me wonder a little.
I will go and check them out for sure, but it seems to be overpriced on the Deep Dish front.
On the regular pizza front I'll compare the medium size
Jeff's Pizza Shop: Specialty Pizza for $16. On Monday's you can get two of them for the price of one (perfect for Monday Night Football). That's 28 inches of pizza for $16!
Great Plains: I get a large specialty for about $18
Black Market: $15-$19.5 for specialty.
I guess with normal pizzas it's about what Great Plains is at.
I will try it out, but I don't see how a place that is priced similar to Downtown Chicago on Chicago Pizzas, and priced relative to the more expensive place on normal pizzas will do all that well in Ames, IA. Especially since it's in a location that many do not notice. I have a friend that lives in Sommerset VERY close to Black Market and he had no idea it was opening...
To me, you gotta have good deals to build a customer base. Jeffs has good deals which is why I always order them now. Great Plains doesn't, but it's so established, and I only eat there a few times a year. Actually, Great Plains has a pretty good lunch special with pizza by the slice. I think you can buy 2 very filling slices for $5 or so.
I will try it as did many others. I just think the pressure is really on to wow everyone that comes in, because they just aren't putting themselves at a level in which one would be a regular. They are more at that level in which it would be an "every once in a while" place, much like Great Plains is to many.
Here are my thoughts:
I also will say that it def. looks like you are paying the Sommerset tax at that place too. $23 for a Large Cheese Chicago Deep Dish for example.
I think I pay $18 or so at Felix and Oscars in Des Moines, and in downtown chicago you can get a Large Cheese for between $17 and $24 in downtown Chicago, it really make me wonder a little.
I will go and check them out for sure, but it seems to be overpriced on the Deep Dish front.
On the regular pizza front I'll compare the medium size
Jeff's Pizza Shop: Specialty Pizza for $16. On Monday's you can get two of them for the price of one (perfect for Monday Night Football). That's 28 inches of pizza for $16!
Great Plains: I get a large specialty for about $18
Black Market: $15-$19.5 for specialty.
I guess with normal pizzas it's about what Great Plains is at.
I will try it out, but I don't see how a place that is priced similar to Downtown Chicago on Chicago Pizzas, and priced relative to the more expensive place on normal pizzas will do all that well in Ames, IA. Especially since it's in a location that many do not notice. I have a friend that lives in Sommerset VERY close to Black Market and he had no idea it was opening...
To me, you gotta have good deals to build a customer base. Jeffs has good deals which is why I always order them now. Great Plains doesn't, but it's so established, and I only eat there a few times a year. Actually, Great Plains has a pretty good lunch special with pizza by the slice. I think you can buy 2 very filling slices for $5 or so.
I will try it as did many others. I just think the pressure is really on to wow everyone that comes in, because they just aren't putting themselves at a level in which one would be a regular. They are more at that level in which it would be an "every once in a while" place, much like Great Plains is to many.
I think you making a mountain out of a mole hill $30 for a loaded chicago style pizza isnt bad whereever you are.
Besides who gets just a cheese pizza's
Besides who gets just a cheese pizza's
Exactly, it takes alot more "stuff" and longer too cook and prepare. Not to mention it will fill you up a whole lot more...
