CraigO's Pizza - Balcones — Restaurant in Austin

I feel betrayed by all of the good reviews...

TLDR: Pizza + Pastas + Bread was underwhelming. Only positive was the homemade meatballs (only thing truly homemade) and fresh minced garlic.

Perhaps we just got unlucky with an off night with a new cook or something but everything was simply not great. We got two small 10" pizzas, 2 pastas, All for $70 (before tip and delivery fees on Doordash), apparently from this location (Balcones). Based on the reviews and prices, I was expecting great (or at least good) Italian food. The pizzas were both mediocre. Not horrible, but not good. My boyfriend said the cheese tasted like plastic... I'd have to agree that it's not the greatest quality of cheese. I think that really did some damage overall. Despite both pizzas having different toppings, we couldn't get past the mid-quality taste of the same bases (odd cheese and underwhelming red sauce). The toppings were quite plentiful (though it seemed like more pepperoni than anything else), but still couldn't save the pizza from the base. These pizza bases truly remind me of a pizza from Marco's or Little Caesar's.

Unfortunately, the pastas were even more disappointing. The pesto alfredo did not taste like pesto at all and the sauce was very oiled down. It tasted like what happens when you microwave alfredo sauce (separation and extreme oiliness). It was not creamy, it was very opaque. The oily sauce also spilled out of the bag and made a huge mess (pictured). This is likely partially the dasher's fault, but packaging should be more secure (or bigger if it's close to overfill). The toppings were fine but could not save the sauce. The spaghetti + meatballs were the best out of everything, though still mediocre. The meatballs definitely taste homemade, and I believe that is their only homemade item. Which is a shame because homemade tomato sauce seriously makes a difference and tastes much better. The sauce is very clearly a jar sauce. It wasn't even mixed in with the lukewarm spaghetti, just plopped on top... It was very bland, lack of spice or flavor. Though it remains better than the pizza because it doesn't have that weird cheese. Then worst of all, the dishes came with side bread that was ALL burnt. Every single piece was burned (I checked to pictures to make sure this isn't like a weird signature thing). It was also tasteless, barely any butter or garlic. However, it could also just be extremely overpowered by the burnt-ness... Overall, very disappointing and wasteful experience. It seems like dining in may yield better experiences or perhaps I needed to order earlier in the day, but definitely not Tuesday nights... I will note that I do appreciate the fact that they have minced garlic instead of roasted/crunchy garlic. I absolutely hate being surprised with that instead of...

Oh my god this place is a mess. The employees here are so incompetent it hurts. I called to place an order (literally garlic bread) that I needed quickly and was calling 15 min out so they would have time. The first time I called they answered quickly and it was a guy with an accent but not a super strong one. I told him I wanted to place a pickup order and he told me to hold on and had a whole English conversation behind the phone with someone else about me and then hung up. So naturally I call back and they quite literally ignored my calls 5 times. Once I finally got ahold of them some lady comes on to tell me she stepped away and left the first man alone who speaks no English. So who was he having an English conversation with? Lady had an attitude with me because I told her I speak Spanish and he could’ve told me he struggled with English. Food is too mediocre to deal with...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If survival of the fittest was real, my kids would live off Craigo’s mozzarella sticks.

The pizzas are amazing, the salads are fresh (I really love the Greek salad), and my kids are feral-level obsessed with the mozzarella sticks. (Seriously, if I don’t order them, there’s a revolt.) And pro tip: whatever you do, don’t skip the ranch—it’s liquid gold.

Delivery is always fast and fresh, which is critical when you’re dealing with hungry children who suddenly “might starve to death” if food doesn’t arrive in 10 minutes. Craigo’s has officially become my go-to mom meal when I don’t feel like cooking, which is… often. Bonus: it also happens to be the perfect poolside lunch food.

Thank you, Craigo’s, for keeping my kids fed, my pool days fun, and my sanity...