Red Devil Pizza - Review
In my previous article I told the sorrowful tale of woe as some kind people at work attempted to buy our computer staff pizza for lunch, and the disasterous results that ensued.
In this article, I’ll follow up with the aftermath: We were handed cash and we all piled into the car and headed for Red Devil Pizza for lunch.
Red Devil is a longtime staple of central Phoenix, the original (so far as I know) is located on McDowell Rd, near 32nd Street. I’ve eaten at Red Devil 4 or 5 times a year for many, many years and rarely had a pizza that wasn’t better-than-average. The primary exception to that rule was once, on Christmas Day, surpised to find they were open, my father and I stopped in for a pizza. It was practically raw. We probably should have known, the primary cook would certainly have the day off.
The review pizza was a 10″ (small) pepperoni (see illustration), it had plenty of toppings and cheese.
Red Devil’s basic pizza style a relatively thin dough with little excess crust on the outer edge. The average crust is no thicker than 1/4″, and it is crispy and nicely pocketed with small air pockets. The toppings are of good quality and consistent.
That’s the average pizza at Red Devil, the review pizza was 50% uncooked. It looks good on top, and the first slice was very good, but as I moved onto slice two, the dough underneath was still damp and droopy. After completing the pizza, it was clear that one half of the pizza was not cooked at the same temperature of the other half - I can only imagine some sort of fault in their ovens. This pizza was almost as bad as the infamous Christmas Day pizza and, had it been the first pizza I’d ever eaten at Red Devil, it would have been my last. Given that I’ve had 50-100 better than average pizzas there in the past, I’m willing to pass this experience as a statistical anomaly. However, my father reports that a couple months ago, he too had a severely sub-standard pizza there. I can only hope this isn’t a sign that Red Devil is going into decline.
I should note that I’ve also had many pizzas at their Bell Rd store (although not nearly as many as McDowell) and that store has always been more consistent in the quality of their food.
Conclusion: Recommended, but with reservations about possible decline. Further test pizzas will be required.
Red Devil Pizza
3102 E Mcdowell Rd
Phoenix, AZ 85008 - 3702
(602) 275-5961
Red Devil Pizza
3004 E Bell Rd
Phoenix, AZ 85032 - 1921
(602) 493-0009
Red Devil Pizza
208 W Southern Ave
Tempe, AZ 85282 - 4939
(480) 968-2155
Added 8-11-205: cost per square inch: $0.08
August 19th, 2006 at 8:50 am
The best pizza in the city is a “hole in the wall”; hide away called Vito’s on 43rd Ave & Northern. Vito and his wife Rosa are originally from Italy and have been making pizza pies for over 40 years. Visiting them is like a scene from “Big Fat Greek Wedding”.
If you are a pizza connoisseur…please try Vito’s. They don’t open until 4pm and are closed on Sundays.
August 19th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
Off the top of my head, I can’t picture what’s on that corner. I used to live in that area quite some years ago, I’m pretty sure they weren’t there back then.
I will give them a try, thanks!