Medieval Pies at Round Table

Place:
Round Table Pizza (apparently from their slogan they're trying to be "the last honest [mega corporate] Pizza.")
13510 Poway Road, Poway
(858) 748-2333

Time:
Wednesday 12 August 2009
Around 19:45

Investigation Led By:
Agents Judy C., Judy B. and Joe (AKA: the jubilant J's)

Overall: 4 out of 10

Pizza: 3 out of 10

Bread: For starters we got two pizzas only one of which we ate at Round Table. The two pizzas were almost polar opposites as far as quality is concerned. There is a simple explanation for this I will elaborate in a moment. The first pizza was a large King Arthur, which had good bread, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. This pizza alone would have gotten a much higher rating but the other pizza also has to be factored into the rating. The second pizza was a simple pepperoni. The look and taste of this pizza could have given the the lower end pre-made pizzas at the grocery store a boost of confidence. The pepperoni pizza bread was like chewing bubble gum, and it was soaked in a mysteriously high amount of grease, I really don't know where all that grease on the pepperoni came from. It was as if the grease was put on as a topping in addition to the pepperoni. I believe the reason for the great quality disparity between the two pizzas is that the King Arthur was paid for in full price, while the pepperoni was acquired for only 50 cents (!) due to an ongoing deal celebrating Round Table's 50 anniversary. It would not surprise me to hear that they had a number of these peperoni pizzas lined up in the back in anticipation for those who know about this "deal".

Cheese: The King Arthur had a good amount of melted stringy cheese. I'd say the cheese to bread ratio was 25 to 75 including the crust. The cheese on the pepperoni was soaked in grease, not stringy, and could have been for all intents and purposes fake cheese or some similar concoction that some scientist had created to simulate mozzarella.

Sauce: A thin layer of tomato sauce on both pies.

Toppings: I enjoyed the King Arthur, but if I had to state its main fault that would be the topping overload; it consisted of pepperoni, Italian sausage, Italian dry salami, linguica (which I just found out is a type of pork sausage), mushrooms, green peppers, yellow onions and black olives. I don't know who to really blame for this, however, since we did order it knowing ahead of time the King Arthur is their supreme pizza, which basically translates to "we pile on as many toppings as we can on this pizza". I do have to mention that I am not a mushroom fan and the King Arthur was loaded with mushrooms, but I did not seem to have a problem with this. So, the pizza complimented the mushrooms enough so that I did not find myself gagging on fungi. The pepperoni pizza on the other hand was simple, but the pepperonis were merely repositories for grease along with the rest of the pizza.

Condiments: This is the first pizza investigation that I neglected to try the condiments on my pizza. I did check out their Parmesan since the quality of a pizzeria speaks volumes of their concern for good pizza. Round table's Parmesan looked and smelled pretty good. The rest of the standard condiments were there: crushed red pepper, salt and pepper. Interestingly, they had a salad bar that had all sorts of dips and sauces and salad constituents. The salad bar in a pizza place could lead to tons of interesting combination experiments.

Drinks: No beer, I think. I didn't go too out of my way to check, but if they do serve alcohol it is not exactly easy to find this out. My gut tells me, since Round Table is trying to be as family oriented as possible, that they probably don't want to serve alcohol. In fact, there was a cheesy banner hanging up on the wall that announced "Round table is fun for the whole family!". With a banner like that and the part of the building sectioned off for arcade games and an air hockey table right next to it, I think Round Table has cornered the market for pizzerias most like Chucky Cheese. Other than no beer they did have a fountain drink selection with the typical sodas, lemonades and teas.

Atmosphere: 3 out of 10

Eye-candy: Round table gave me a new appreciation of the pizzerias that at least try to put posters or some form of art on the wall. All around me were blank walls. As I walked in I was visually bombarded by a table full on documents and forms, some for employment, some for sponsorship and a number of others. The last thing anyone wants to deal with when walking into a pizzeria is paperwork. Most people have been working all day and have come to get some pizza as a short reprieve before the whole ordeal happens tomorrow; these people do not want to see more documents and business proposals at their local pizza place. I can hear them saying "Please! I just want pizza, conversation and good music; is that too much to ask from a pizza joint?" Unfortunately, these people would also be disappointed at the music situation at round table as well.

Music: Believe it or not, there was none! To be more accurate I believe there may have been some music on but it was not loud enough to be perceptible by anyone in the dinning area. Perhaps the guys in the back were constructing pizzas to good tunes, but we sure weren't eating to any. This is a big problem. Life without music is just people going through the motions.

People: Other than us agents their was a family of five that sat next to our booth. A mother, father, two boys and a girl. They finished before we did and the kids went to go play with the air hockey table. The place was dead other than us, the family and the employees.

Service: Preparing the pies, there were a couple down to earth guys in their early twenties. One large man was friendly and helpful when I asked him about our pepperoni pizza that hadn't been sent out to us. There was one girl that wasn't in uniform but was hanging around the front talking to the workers for a while. I figure she might have been a new hire, a worker but just not on the clock, or most likely waiting around for her boyfriend.

Price: Agents Judy C and Judy B. covered the tab even though, without a doubt, I ate the most (thank you guys). But according to the menu a large King Arthur runs about $22.99 plus the drinks and the 50 cent pepperoni pizza. The price tag was probably around $28.