The Brookdale

1990’s college type bar vibe, but apps are all the rage here. The mozz stick is famous for being the size of Barry Bonds’ ______. The French onion and plain slice are really swell, but the place should have a better command on its idenity for pizza and purpose.

Good bar pie with some sweet sauce. Some type of mix between Detroit style and a bar pie I guess? Either way it works.

This is one of the best pizzas in the area.

While some may consider this to be a bar pie, it actually falls into a special category I call “Tavern Pie.” Slightly bigger than personal pizza size but a tad thicker, heavier & heartier than a normal bar pie. Judging by the encrusted burnt cheese around edges, this is a well done pan pizza. The dough is buttery & flaky with very good crisp and a tremendously crunchy crust. The cheese to sauce ratio is on point and also produces contrasting salty & sweet tastes. The cheese is somewhat thickish and retains a lot of salty grease, while the sauce is equally thick and sweet, providing a terrific balance of the opposing flavors. Overall, this is a unique pizza with a very sneaky pleasant aftertaste; the first bite doesn’t grab you right away but the deliciousness definitely sneaks up on you as you continue consuming the pie. Aside from a little too much oil and high salt content, this is a solid pizza to pair with a few beers and one of the better “Tavern Pies” in Jersey.

So first off the sauce is violently sweet. This pizza does not abide by the rules at all which I kinda like but it just wasn’t the style I expected. That being said the dough was good feels like a pizza press like Ralph’s uses was how they make it and the caramelized cheese added great flavor to the crust and cheese itself tasted great but was overpowered by the sauce from the sweetness ratio was good tho. Salt is added as a garnish almost and not bad, also a little bigger than a personal pizza. As far as bar pies are concerned it doesn’t fit the identity cuz it doesn’t have the zip but if you go into it thinking to try something outside the box and a different take you’ll like it. The saying you win some you loose some, this fits in the middle lol.

Bryce: 9.2 Grant: 7.8 Kim: 8