Sal & Sons Pizza & Pasta-Closed

Sal & Sons Pizza & Pasta
1520 N Mountain Ave
Ste A-101
Ontario
(909) 984-2300

Yes, another review of a pizza place with Sal or Sal's in it's name!  This time it is Sal and Sons Pizza & Pasta in Ontario.  The other pizza places with Sal or Sal's in their name are, Two Sal's in Montebello-which is now closed, Sal's Pizza and Bagelry in La Verne, and Sal's Pizza in Alta Loma. I found out about Sal & Sons Pizza and Pasta from a review by David Allen.

Sal & Sons Pizza & Pasta is located in a very diverse shopping center just south of the 10 Freeway and Mountain Ave. exit.  There is also a Chinese, Mexican, and an American restaurant (A wings place called Wing Nuts.  I reviewed their Costa Mesa location, but have not been to this location) in that same shopping center.  There could be other restaurants, but those three I noticed.  Sal & Sons is a large sized, casual restaurant.  You order at the counter and they will bring your food to your table.  I was surprised how busy they were at about 3pm on a Sunday afternoon.

 

Sicilian two topping- mushrooms and jalapenos, $24.46.  This pizza had 16 slices, with lots of cheese and a mild tasting sauce.  There was a decent amount of toppings and the toppings were pretty fresh.  But, the crust was the worst part of the pizza.  The crust was too crispy for the slices from the sides and the slices from the middle were soggy.  

Service was good.  The lady was friendly and helpful.  But, one interesting thing about Sal & Sons is they consider toppings like broccoli and spinach as two toppings.  Not sure why because mushrooms are more expensive at the supermarket than broccoli and spinach!  

Standing on a soapbox now:  This is something I don't understand about the pricing at pizza places.  If you order a veggie pizza, the veggies are what the restaurant decides-most have mushrooms, bell peppers, olives and tomatoes.  Well, if most toppings are priced the same, why can't a customer substitute any of the toppings?  Say instead of olives, you want jalapenos?  I mean if you delete a topping they still charge you the same price.  So why not allow the customers to substitute a different veggie topping on a veggie pizza?

I thought Sal & Sons was ok.  Maybe their regular pizza is better, but I don't think I'll be back any time soon.

Nonno's Pizzeria

Nonno's Pizzeria
15870 Soquel Canyon Pkwy, Ste E,
Chino Hills
909-597-9977

So, I'm craving pizza tonight and I remember a friend mentioning that Nonno's Pizzeria in Chino Hills has been on her list of places to try.  So, a quick search to get directions and I'm off to most southern part of Chino Hills.

I arrive to an nearly empty parking with and Nonno's is another take out only pizza place, like Sal's Pizza. Funny, I passed by Nonno's other location in Upland on my way to Sal's and placed it on my list of places to look into. 

Silician pizza, with sausage and I asked for four sliced to be just cheese.  I liked the crust, with it's nice velvety inside texture and the firm outside.  The cheese was plentiful and the sauce was well balanced, though some my think it is on the bland side.  But, the sausage was bland and lacked flavor.  It was just unseasoned meat.  But, I really didn't like the amount of sausage on the pizza.  They also had a one sausage piece to slice ratio and that sucked.  It made this pizza a very bad value.  I mean I might as well go to Little Ceasar's and get their $8 pan pizza.  From a local pizzeria I'm expecting a lot more.

Service was ok.  I placed a phone order because I didn't want to wait around for the pizza.  The guy was friendly on the phone, but clueless when I asked for the four slices to be just cheese.  I mean it can't be that tough to leave four slices without any toppings!  I mean it won't cost anymore time or actually saves them money.  What would be the difference if I asked for half cheese and half sausage?  Four more slices would not have sausage!  So what's the big deal about having only four slices just cheese?

Overall the pizza was pretty good, not great, but the high price tag and the small amount of toppings on the pizza makes it a very bad value.  I won't be back to Nonno's. 

Hard Times Pizza-Moved

Hard Times Pizza
2664 Griffith Park Blvd
Los Angeles
323-661-5656

Silver Lake has some very good pizza places; see my reviews of other pizza places in Silver Lake-Tomato Pie Pizza Joint, Nicky D's Wood-Fired Pizza, and Garage Pizza. I've passed by Hard Times Pizza tons of times, in fact I ate at the Cafe Ravo that used to be next door.  So I was in the area and decided to finally stop in for a slice of pizza.

Hard Times Pizza is located in a small strip mall next to the now closed Cafe Ravo.  Parking can be tough to find with it's small parking lot.  It's a small place with a few tables inside.   One wall is filled with Polaroid pictures of customers.  Why?  Who knows.

Regular thin crust cheese slice, $2, and Sicilian cheese slice, $2 .  Normally I hate ordering slices because you don't know how long the slices have been sitting around.  Anyways the regular thin crust was a bit too well done when they reheated it.  You can see the char marks.  But, the sauce was pretty good, it's heavy on the oregano, but I like it.  The was a good amount of cheese on the slice.  Now the crust wasn't good.  They say thin crust but it's really a regular crust.

The Sicilian cheese slice had the same charred marks.  But, the crust was pretty soft and had a nice texture.  Of course it had the same sauce.  This maybe worth getting freshly made.

Service was below average.  The kid never greeted me.  I wish restaurants who properly train their employees on customer service.  Greet the customers is basic customer service.  "Hi, how can I help you?"  Simple and easy.  I mean a 70 year old is greeting customers are Wal Mart, a punk kid can't do the same at a restaurant?  He wasn't helpful or friendly.  I mean who owns this damn place and/or trains their employees?

I know I have tough standards for customer service but I don't apologize for them.  It's terrible that so many restaurants don't train their employees well and/or just don't care.

While the Sicilian slice had potential, the bad service will keep me from coming back.  I can go to Tomato Pie or Nicky D's and get better pizza and much better service.  Why would I come back to Hard Times?