Ball Park Pizza | 5055 East 10th Street | Visited: Friday, December 21, 2012

ballparkpizza.com/

Intro

We've driven by this place dozens of times because it's just down the street from the Emerson Theater, which is where Wesley's band plays every now and again.  

You never know with pizza places, and although this place didn't look overly promising, we wanted to keep open minds (and mouths). Plus, it's another opportunity to eat n' blog.

So, when we dropped Ginger off for a recent show, we decided to give Ball Park a try.

Atmosphere & Service  

Well, if you're a loyal follower of our blog (hi, mom!), you know that our last review was for Napolese Pizzeria. And even though Mapquest tells me that these two restaurants are only separated by 8.04 miles, they couldn't be further apart. 

We were just going to carry out our pizza, but when we told the manager that we were going to eat it in our car while waiting on Wesley, he pulled back a curtain to reveal a clandestine dining area. He turned on the lights and the heat and welcomed us back (in time, actually).

 
The employees (one of them was the owner, I'm sure) were very nice and helpful. We were going to order half Home Run pizza and half cheese, but he said he it wouldn't cook evenly. So he suggested a large and a small, which was an affordable alternative. He also forgot to ring up our cans of soda, but gave them to us for free. Service was very, very good.

Pizza (breadsticks)

I did take a photo of the breadsticks, but somehow the picture got deleted from my phone. They were a little more "garlic bread-y" than "bread stick-y", but the marinara sauce was served cold. I'd give them a C or C- for the sticks alone.

For our main course, we ordered one cheese and one "Home Run" pizza (sausage, peppers, olives, etc.). When we walked in, I think I saw the guy behind the counter pulling crusts out of a bag, as if they were prepared ahead of time and frozen. And the crust tasted that way, too.

I will say,  the more slices I had, the less terrible it tasted. Kind of like cheap beer, I suppose. However, I wouldn't describe their pizza as "tasting good". The cheese pizza was dull and boring (the crust really dragged it down) and the Home Run, although better than the cheese, but was still a sorry excuse for a frozen pizza, let alone something purchased from a pizza place. 

 

 

I would consider this place a typical "hole in the wall", but without the unexpectedness of delicious, authentic food. The pizza and the atmosphere were both underwhelming. Again, I would commend their employees for their friendliness, but that's certainly not enough to warrant a second visit. 

Verbatims from Benjamin: 

RE the breadsticks: They taste like Cheese-Its. The sauce is cold.

RE the pizza: It's hot!

Verbatims from Sophia:

RE the breadsticks: They good.

RE the pizza: Not as good as the "blueberry pizza" (see our Some Guys review).

Rating (out of 8 possible slices, with 4 being average)

Dad: 2.5 (an extra .5 for the good service)

Benjamin: 6

Sophia: 5

Receipt: I normally include a photo of the receipt, but we ordered at the counter and they didn't give us one. The meal was pretty cheap for two pizzas and sticks: $28ish.