Sac's Place - Disappointment in a Box

Sac's Place - 25-41 Broadway, Astoria 11106
718.204.5002
N/W Train to Broadway
www.sacsplace.com

A lot of people have raved about Sac's coal oven pizza and although I've had it once already, it was just a quick bite that wasn't truly savored. Dan and I decided to give this place a real try and ordered their much-talked-about coal oven marinara pizza with sauteed peppers.

We ordered this pie to go and I do realize that with take-out, quality sometimes suffers but this pizza didn't meet any expectations--low or high. I'm sorry to report such disappointing news and I hope that it was a fluke but our anticlimactic pizza was also coupled by sloppy and inefficient service. First though, the pizza...

Marinara Pie with Sauteed Red Peppers:
As I mentioned, I was so looking forward to this pizza. After all, they boast high quality ingredients such as homemade mozzarella and Italian San Marzano tomatoes baked in an authentic coal oven. Naturally, I was expecting the best--crispy crust, light-tasting toppings and a hot pie. However, the pizza we got didn't have any of this foretold goodness.

First off, it wasn't hot, it was barely lukewarm (granted we were 5 minutes late for our pick-up so we'll take partial blame but 5 minutes shouldn't make such a difference). The crust wasn't crispy at all, in fact it was too weighed down by toppings, making it soggy. Dan reheated it on our pizza stone at home and that improved it slightly but overall it still wasn't as crispy as it should've been. The seasoning also needed help and we had to reapply salt, pepper and oregano to improve its bland taste. I think you get the point, Sac's pizza made for a disappointing end to a long week.

Service and Cost:
Sac's is divided into two sections, the restaurant and the take-out counter. I walked into the restaurant by mistake and got a glimpse of the atmosphere. It seemed quiet, nice and well run. Now the take-out area was something else. There was a long line of waiting customers and one person seemed to be doing all the work--reheating the pizza and ringing up the customers. This just didn't seem fair and I'm guessing that the quality of our pizza suffered for this reason. The guy wasn't too friendly but how could you blame him? I'd be crabby too if I had to serve a long line of customers while another "colleague" stood next to me chatting up a customer like he had all the time in the world. Not right.

In terms of the cost, Sac's is expensive. We paid $15.50 for a 14" crappy pizza, which we had to fix up at home.

No Mmmms