716 Pizza Joint — Restaurant in Florida

This is a post I made on my personal FB page "Deputy Food Review w/ Mike Braswell". Follow me there for other reviews both locally and State wide! But for now, I hope this post is informative and helpful regarding this business.

So many of you may remember reading a review I did on a pizza place owned and operated by a friend of mine, Sal’s 2. Well my friend Phill decided to sell that establishment and has now embarked on another pizzeria experience and is currently conducting managerial duties at “That 716 Pizza Joint”, which I decided to review tonight!

This small pizzeria is located along Combee Rd S in Lakeland in a small plaza. From the roadway it can be a little hard to identify, but if you are familiar with where the 716 area code is located you will quickly note the red, white and blue colors associated with the Bills of Buffalo, NY. Little did I know there were multiple versions of pizza from NY….who knew! And believe me, there IS a difference.

So anyway, I called the pizzeria prior to arriving to place a pick-up order and was advised they have a Wednesday special known as the “Hump Day Special”; 1 large pizza (1 topping), 20 wings any way you want and a large Chef salad (all for $42). So I decided to go with the special, but requested a 2nd topping (making it pepperoni and mushroom). After arriving, catching up with an ole friend, I paid and collected my order to return home and unbox this “new to me” NY style pizza.

Upon my return home I opened the boxes one by one, taking in the special. The first thing I noted was the pizza was truly heavy on the cheese and that the pepperoni appeared to be braised, as they had a cup-shape to them. I learned from Phill that this technique is known as “cup 'n char” and is extremely popular in “Up-State” New York. This technique causes the pepperoni to cook a little more, releasing more of the natural flavors. This pizza was also topped with fresh chopped mushrooms, thereby being crisp and flavorful and not soggy like canned or jarred mushrooms. The dough was even different, as it was light and chewy, easily ripping with each bite and not leaving you feeling heavy. But the most impressive thing was the sauce! The sauce was fresh and light, but just enough to blend pleasantly with the cheese and other toppings. Put all together, it was a solid pie that was absolutely delicious. And it was not all too greasy, thereby not needing to reach for a napkin every-other bite to wipe my face and hands/arms (unlike a standard NY style).

The wings were also cooked just right, so the meat of the wing would peel off the bone with each savory bite! Tossed in a well-balanced Buffalo sauce, they were each delicious and filling!

And although I’m not to be a big “Rabbit-Food” consumer, this salad was well prepared and presented with fresh greens, sliced tomatoes and fresh graded cheese. Mixed with a Creamy Caesar dressing, it was a most delightful starter.

I urge each of you to give this new pizzeria a try, not because I’m friends with Phill, but because as a foodie I feel I have an obligation to pass along good and satisfying places of business that provide a quality product….and this is surely a QUALITY product. You may be surprised that the NY style pizza you really want is not that from NYC but rather from “Up-State” in Buffalo!

As always, be safe, and NEVER trust a...

This was our first time here and it is a small place but worth the visit. They have several TVs in the dining area (they are obviously Buffalo Bills fans lol) and apparently, once they get their liquor license, they will have axe throwing in the back. The chairs are not incredibly comfortable but when you have good food (see below) that can be overlooked lol.

We got several things on the menu to try. First of all I'm not typically a fan of garlic knots, but theirs are pretty damn good. They come with marinara but I didn't even need to dip them they were so good. We got mozzarella sticks for the boys and they said they were good (I didn't try them). The fried mushrooms were good (hard to screw those up).

We got the mild buffalo wings and they were fine, but I'm not the biggest buffalo wing fan (I wanted BBQ but was overruled). My wife and father-in-law said they were fine as well. I got a regular chef salad with ranch dressing and it was pretty good, their ranch dressing is really good (that's key!).

Finally, the main reason we went was for the pizza. My wife and boys typically prefer just cheese (BORING!) but thankfully my father-in-law was with us so he and I got sausage, pepperoni, and mushrooms. Ours was FANTASTIC albeit pretty greasy, but let's be honest is that really a bad thing? There were plenty of toppings and the mix of cheese with the sauce was perfect. My wife and boys liked the cheese but didn't love it, but they're not the greatest judges of good pizza in my opinion.

As far as drinks go they only had canned sodas and bottled water, so refills weren't really a thing. Maybe in addition to getting their liquor license they could get a soda fountain/machine? They could put it out near or in the dining area and customers could get their own refills.

Overall it was a great visit, we enjoyed it, and we will...

I had been craving a good NY style pizza. So tonight, husband and I drove to 716. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted warmly by a gentleman (the owner) and a lady at the counter. We ordered a large pepperoni pizza and a Philly with peppers,onions,and their Wiz. While we were waiting for our order, we decided to bask in the atmosphere and saw they had a little store front in the back of the dining area. They have all sorts of goodies from Upstate NY as well as Buffalo Bills swag. As soon as I saw the bottles of Dinosaur BBQ sauce (if youve been to Dinosaur's you know their sauces are amazing), I had to grab a bottle as I haven't seen it in about 7 years. Hubs grabbed their Habanero and some hot dog chili spice pack I'm looking forward to using the next time we make chili dogs. Now, I can go on and on about the added goodies..but that's not why you're reading this.. So, back to the pizza and Philly.. Yall, when I tell you that there's not enough adjectives to describe this, I mean it. It was so good. The pepperoni was cooked to perfection..the crust was soft with just the right amount of chew.. the sauce..wow! The Philly was just as good. Fresh peppers and onions cooked just enough to keep the crunch, the beef tender that it just melted in your mouth..and the Wiz cheese.. added enough zest to make your mouth water for another bite. The roll was very soft, that it just made the Philly even better. I'm definitely going back to try...