what do I know

Last weekend, we went up to St. Augustine to visit some family and see the historic district. We had a great time and when lunch time came around we were starved. My brother said he had heard of a good pizza place on St. George Street called Pizza Time, so we decided to give it a shot. Most of the restaurants in the area seemed to be geared towards tourists, so our hope was that Pizza Time would be different.

I have to give it to the owner of Pizza Time, he’s a smart business man. The shop is small and people are routed in through the front door to stand directly in line in front of prepared pizzas, stromboli’s, calzones, and garlic knots. The food is presented nicely (and looks appetizing) and the shop is lined in murals and pictures advertising its Brooklyn, New York style of food. As you order you wait in line for your food to be heated unless you get a whole pie, in which they’ll bring it to your table. By the time your food is ready and you pay, you find out they accept cash ONLY, but no fears, there is an ATM right next to the cash register for your convenience. This is an all to common tactic for tourist heavy establishments in Florida no matter the theme, the owner gets a kickback as well as the ATM company. We ordered a slice of cheese (~$2.50), a sausage parmigiana roll (~$5) which came with a side of sauce, and a couple of fountain drinks (~$2 each). The slice was sizable, really greasy, and by no means the New York style pizza I’ve come to know; someone should tell them that just because you can make a big pizza, it doesn’t make it authentic. The sausage roll didn’t have much sausage in it, but for the price didn’t taste that bad. The sauce was flavorful but really salty, so I didn’t find myself using it much. We also tried the garlic knots, but as with everything else, they failed to stand out.

As we were leaving, we noticed the man we saw on our way in (that told us “Oh this place has the best pizza in all of town”) was getting free slices from the manager. He was also standing outside (at least as long as we were there) telling other people Pizza Time had the best pizza he’d ever eaten. Hmm … I’ll let you draw your own conclusion, but props to whoever came up with that idea. In any case, Pizza Time was what you can expect from your typical touristy pizza place. Nothing stands out and you have to be conscience that you have enough cash on you to eat. That being said, the staff was courteous and we didn’t have trouble getting a table. I’d give the experience a “meh”.

Pizza Time is located at 124 St. George Street, St. Augustine, Florida.

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