Clark S.
Yelp
I finally got a chance to grab a Bocce Club pie on Saturday and am happy to report it was as tasty as before they closed for a few weeks!
I called around 5pm on a Saturday to place an order for pick-up, but I received the "busy" tone the first couple of times I tried dialing their Bailey Ave. location. After waiting ~2-3 minutes, I was finally able to get through but was placed on hold for another ~2-3 minutes. Afterwards though, a pleasant woman answered and took my order and credit card information with ease and told me my order would be ready in ~45 minutes. When I arrived to pick-up my order though, there was a line of cars wrapping around the block - not a good sign.
I ended up waiting in this line an extra 30 minutes or so, with one car having the audacity to cut in front of me... When I finally arrived at their pick-up area, it took them another ~5 minutes to get my order out to my car. No customers are allowed to enter into their pizza shop but you can park and wait in the parking lot if you want to. The first time I experienced their curbside pick-up, before they closed for a few weeks, it was great - fast and efficient! This time though it seemed that maybe a customer arrived too early and then sat in the curbside pick-up queue line and clogged the process up. I hope that the next time I come here though, they have contingencies for those situations in place. I did notice the staff wearing masks and gloves so no concerns there.
Onto the pizza though - I ordered a half (9", six slice) cheese, pepperoni, bacon, black olive, green pepper, and onion pizza. Boy, was it tasty! Their crust is quintessential Buffalo-style with being a little more on the doughy-side but not too thick, with a great chew and crunch on the end. Their red sauce is laid on generously and is leans toward the sweeter side. The amount of toppings on the four inner slices are generous and were very fresh. I love the crispness and taste of fresh green peppers and onions with the pepperoni and bacon and throwing the black olives in there, with their salty, bitter taste, really brought a great balance to the pizza. Plus, I really like the soft texture of the black olives and their size allows them to be really piled on! :)
The only suggestions I have would be I wish there was more cheese on the pizza and I would've like to have seen the toppings be distributed evenly on the two end slices, but still, the pizza itself is excellent! I also recommend that when you bring their pizza home, you throw it in your oven, at 380 degrees or so, for about 10-12 minutes to heat it up - I know that sometimes they undercook the pizza a little bit so this allows you to crisp it up how you like. The size of the half is perfect for a single person with a "healthy" appetite - I'm able to eat the whole thing, no problem, but I usually don't have lunch prior to grabbing a pizza. In addition, the prices here are very affordable compared to a few other local pizza shops around.
Overall, Bocce Club Pizza is back and better than ever! They need to work on their curbside pick-up a little more to handle outliers, like people who show up too early, to ensure they don't see a line of cars waiting to get their orders but I'll definitely be back again soon.
