Ryan F.
Yelp
Grabbed take-out from Tio Colo on a Wednesday evening. Ordered the Chorizo Personal Pizza and a Mango Ice Cream Sandwich.
Quality
Tio Colo was my first encounter with Cuban Pizza. Now I am definitely a snob when it comes to pizza, so maybe I am being unnecessarily harsh about this different approach, but I just did not like it. I will start with the crust because that is usually what makes the difference to me. The Chorizo Personal Pizza I ordered seemed to use a mix of pan pizza and deep dish pizza techniques. While I appreciated the edges of my pizza, which were crispy and burnt, the actual bottom of the pizza was thick, greasy, and soggy. I found it to be heavy and not airy like Cuban bread, as I expected it to be. Then there is the cheese, instead of relying on just mozzarella, they have combined mozzarella with gouda. I don't know how gouda ended up in the mix, I would have expected queso blanco, but I found it too overpowering. The tomato sauce was very light and I think more could have helped the overall flavor. Finally there was the chorizo on top, which was too hard and only increased the greasiness of the pizza. I would compare the pizza to what I was accustomed to with public school lunches, a thick slice, with strange cheese choices, and so much grease you need to dab it with a napkin. Maybe I need to stick with more traditional styles. All that said about the pizza, the Mango Ice Cream Sandwich was awesome. I loved the sugary cake slices on the outside and the mango flavor ice cream itself was great too.
Quantity
I feel like the personal pizza size is probably large enough to be shared by two, so long as you both also order an ice cream sandwich. It may seem small, but it has a very thick crust which ends up being filling.
Value
The prices were reasonable, with the personal pizzas costing between $5-$7 depending on the toppings. Full sized pizzas looked to be around $15, which still did not seem to be that bad.
Ambiance
Tio Colo is located in Hialeah, a little shop in the middle of a bunch of warehouses. The shop is small and other than a counter and two couches there is not much to say. Behind the counter is the list of pizza choices and flavors of ice cream sandwiches. After you order you grab a seat and wait for the pizza to come out. The walls are painted a bright pink and they did not have music playing during my visit. My personal pizza only took about 7 minutes to come out, but it probably is best to order ahead of time, just not too much as it does not seem like a pizza that will hold up well over time.
Crowd
As I waited for my pizza, two other individuals stopped in to grab pizzas to go. For a small shop at a strange hour, it seemed like a good amount of business.
Service
They had one guy behind the counter and even though Spanish was clearly his primary language, I had no issues at all communicating my order. He also checked in on whether I wanted my pizza crispier and made sure it looked good to me before I headed off. Solid service from a small shop.
Parking
The pizza shop is located in a row of odd stores with a private parking lot directly in front of it. The spots seemed small and the entrances and exits required some precision turning, but parking was still pretty convenient.
Extra
My first foray with Cuban pizza was not what I would consider a success. Maybe it is because of my own preconceptions of pizza, but the style and flavor of the pizza at Tio Colo were just not enjoyable to me. And while I enjoyed my Mango Ice Cream Sandwich, it was not enough to merit a repeat visit.