The Pie Hole Pizza delivers the flavor

Editor’s note: Reviews are based on a single, unannounced, and anonymous visit. Your experience may differ from what is presented here.

This month, we’re throwing a curveball with the Taste Test. We thought it might be fun to try take-out service from a popular Morganton pizza place. The newsroom and advertising staff was happy to volunteer their services as testers — after all, there’s nothing like a mid-afternoon pizza snack. I placed an order from Pie Hole Pizza, and in a matter of minutes, the newsroom was filled with the delightful fragrance of pepperoni, tomato sauce, and warm pizza crust.

THE ATMOSPHERE The Pie Hole is in a small shopping center near the busy intersection of Independence Boulevard and North Green Street, but once you step inside the pleasant restaurant, the noise and hubbub of the outside world melts away. The place smells terrific and it’s clean as a whistle. The decor may be a bit dated, but that does not detract one bit from the delightful atmosphere.

THE SERVICEI placed our to-go order by phone at 2:26 p.m., and was informed it would be ready in about 15 minutes. I arrived at The Pie Hole at 2:40, and the order was waiting, piping hot, and just out of the oven. I was greeted by a smiling young lady as soon as I walked through the door, and she maintained a gracious, friendly attitude throughout our encounter. I paid for our food and was back in my car in less than five minutes.

OUR ORDER

In order to provide a variety of choices for our newsroom staff, I ordered four “build-your-own” New York style slices. The Pie Hole menu does not offer personal pan or small size pizzas, but these slices were huge — certainly large enough for most of us to have at least a good-sized taste. We used a knife to cut each slice into bite-size pieces, and the crew dug in.

Our four slices included: bacon, ham, and pineapple; chicken, fresh tomatoes, and spinach; pepperoni, Italian sausage, and mushrooms; and pepperoni, onions, and green peppers.

Pizza by the slice is $3 for a cheese piece, with up to three additional toppings available for 50 cents each. The total for our order was $18.27, an amazing deal for four huge slices, with three toppings on each.

THE FOOD

I brought the four extra-large slices back to the office and created a scorecard for each person in the newsroom. Reviewers included: Publisher Allen VanNoppen, Editor Emeritus Bill Poteat, Editor Angela Copeland, Reporters Saydie Bean and Madison Lipe, Advertising Executive Devan Berry, Sports Editor Paul Schenkel and Sports Reporter Josh McKinney.

Every person did not try every style of pizza, and the sports guys were late coming to the newsroom to fill their plates, and consequently, they missed out on the chicken, spinach and tomato pie, which was very popular with the rest of the staff.

BACON, HAM AND PINEAPPLE:

JM: If you’re in the mood for pineapple on pizza, this is a good option, and the bacon and ham add extra meaty flavor.

BP: Prefer a crispier crust, but very flavorful. Drawback– would have preferred ham slices rather than chunks.

SB: I enjoyed this slice; however, I think it would be more enjoyable with sliced ham instead of diced. My slice was a little messy but still tasted good. I’m not picky about presentation.

AVN: Great crust, generous size, good value.

DB: Not a fan of the diced ham. Love thin, foldable pizza. Great crust to sauce and topping ratio. Would rather have pineapple chunks than crushed. Could still eat an entire pie of this.

AC: I am a Hawaiian pizza fan, though I would like to have bigger chunks of ham.

CHICKEN, FRESH TOMATOES, SPINACH:DB: Fabulous! 10/10. Was surprised how much I liked this. Chicken was good, spinach wasn’t slimy.

PS: Didn’t get to taste but wanted to! But if you snooze, you lose here at The Paper.

SB: Although the chicken was slightly dry, it was my favorite of the two I tried. The spinach had a little crisp to it, which is a check in my book.

Note: Surprisingly, this was the first slice to disappear, but it received the fewest written comments. Perhaps the staff was too busy wolfing it down to write.

PEPPERONI, SAUSAGE, FRESH MUSHROOMS:

JM: The best of the bunch. I especially love the mushrooms.

PS: I picked around the mushrooms, which I don’t enjoy. The rest was solid!

ML: Good pepperoni, I like the thin/thickness of the crust.

DB: 8/10. Pretty good and standard. Sausage has a lot of flavor.

PEPPERONI, ONIONS, GREEN PEPPERS:

JM: The onions and peppers give this slice a nice kick.

PS: Too many vegetables, less is more here.

BP: Peppers crisp, I prefer a crispier crust, good melding of flavors.

ML: Pretty flavorful, probably my favorite. I like that it wasn’t greasy.

DB: Not a fan of peppers and onions, but I am a fan of this! Peppers and onions being sliced really thin is nice.

General comments:

AC: The good:

1. The pizza slices are generously proportioned.

2. The Pie Hole did not skimp on ingredients.

3. The Pie Hole offers a wide variety of pizza-by-the-slice, far beyond only pepperoni or cheese.

The bad:

1. The sauce is too salty for my palate. I tasted more sodium than tomato.

2. I prefer a slightly crispier or firmer crust that is still foldable.

BP: I’d rank it below Village Inn.

DB: $4.50 per slice is a little steep for me, but I would still pay it because of the high quality.

SB: Overall, the slices of pizza were a little floppy, but I love the nice crispy crust. For comparison, it reminds me of Maria’s and Village Inn pizza.

THE VERDICT

While our very opinionated staff found a few things about which to complain, overall, The Paper employees are big fans of The Pie Hole Pizza. Our biggest beef (no pun intended) was the diced ham and crushed pineapple. The Pie Hole scored a big win here in the office.