Dinner Out @ Dewey's

In general, if we're going to get pizza, we've fallen into a pattern of going to either Adriatico's or Dewey's.  Dewey's is usually the choice if we want to sit down, if we want fancier ingredients, and if we're feeling a bit more conscious about how healthy our meal will be.

The Food: Our typical order is to split a regular size salad and then a medium pizza.  Believe it or not, it may be the salad that has more to do with our arrival at Dewey's in the first place - it's good, and it makes us feel like we aren't just gorging ourselves with fat.

They actually have several solid salad options, but we've gravitated toward the simple yet scrumptious caesar.  Chopped romaine, shaved parm, and big fat "croutons."  We liked the dressing so much - it's creamy and really holds to the lettuce well - we asked how it was made, and then were a bit surprised to hear the answer: it is the one dressing they don't make themselves, and it is easily available at your local grocery store.  It's just Ken's caesar.  On the one hand, empowering since we could just go buy some, on the other, a bit of a letdown that they don't have a secret recipe.  Well, I guess why mess with a good thing?

For pizzas, Dewey's is the place to go if you want variety.  We usually take advantage of the fact you can do 1/2 and 1/2, and I'd say this trip was fairly typical: our general pizza favorite on one side (pepperoni and green olives) and one of Dewey's options on the other (Socrates' Revenge - though we swapped the tomatoes for roasted garlic (still eschewing the tomatoes out of season)).  As you can see from the picture, they don't skimp on ingredients.  Their crust is light and relatively doughy, but holds the pizza together just fine.  It's probably closest to New York style, but has nowhere near the crisp.  You can get red or white sauce, and both are solid, but neither stand out.  It's the ingredients that bring the flavor, so choose wisely.

Overall, Dewey's pizza is consistently good.  Honestly though, it is never write-home-about great.  I think its mostly that there isn't anything particularly distinctive about the pizza other than the numerous ingredients to pick from.

The Ingredients:  As I mentioned above, they've got a wide variety of options, but no sign of local, seasonal, organic or other notable ingredients.  With all the options they already have, why not add some more for the conscious heads in the house?

The Story, Setting, & Service:  Dewey's is a chain, with 7 locations in Cincinnati, and then a few more scattered around the Midwest.  Our experience has been similar at all of the ones we've visited.  They have a somewhat signature serving style - everyone waits on everyone.  It could very well be someone different who brings you your salad, pizza, and drinks.  Only one person takes your order and brings your check though.  We've found that it works, but I have no idea how that plays out if you're a server.

Dewey's locations are clean, clutter-free spaces.  The atmosphere is sort of like the pizza - good, but not notably so.

As I said to begin, Dewey's is in our regular rotation.  If you've got a suggestion for a place to take that spot, please let us know.  For the time being, we haven't been disappointed, so we'll be heading back sooner rather than later.