Baked (Formerly Buddyz) — Restaurant in Fort Myers

Long story short, one Star is what it boils down to as we all ran to the bathroom before even finishing. It went right through us. But for the long version see below!

Please note there are many many other pizza places in SWFL that are not good and I haven't written a review for every one. I only write a review if it is amazing, or really bad.

As a young teenager, I used to work for an amazing pizza place, and have eaten at over a hundred different pizza restaurants across the nation and none have compared to it. It was in the middle of nowhere and the owner traveled the world to get his pizza recipes. I learned a lot from that work experience. With that said I can tell when a pizza is good or bad pretty quick.

Buddyz wasn't that great, so we thought we would try the new place called Baked. We ordered a thin crust and a deep dish. Service at Baked was nice for the time I picked up the order, and it was ready right when I arrived. The place was cute and typical pizzeria decor, but is small and cramped, so I won't likely eat there ever with my family. But none of this matters seeing as right after my family ate the pizzas we took home (8 minutes away), we all needed an emergency trip to the bathroom...NOT GOOD!!!

After further examination it was confirmed that the dough was not cooked through the pizzas. This tells me they do not have a good process and also cut corners to get orders out. I don't trust places that do not care about the process and know how to cook their food (let alone a simple pizza). The cheese is a better quality than most other places so at first I was feeling this was going to be a new favorite. Sadly, we ordered extra cheese and it seemed like a very normal amount of cheese and not extra. The outside crust is a good texture and not bad (unfortunately the bottom crust was lacking). The sauce is like every other place in the area, and really runny and rather flavorless. Don't know what it is with Florida, but they sure love runny flavorless sauce! Pizza here has been a huge disappointment for me. So far, out of 12 places I've tried, I only like one place in SWFL. If it hasn't been apparent already, I am extremely picky to what qualifies as a high quality pizza. After all, that is why I pay more there than saving money and going to Little Caesars.

Places like Baked make me angry and want to open my own pizza place, and make the competition have to up their game or shutdown! Fortunately for them, I do not want to slave in a kitchen all day away from my family.

Eat here if you want, but for me, I'd rather just go to Pizza Hut, or save the money and go to...

Flew into Ft Myers from Chicago and the guy in the seat next to me was a local. He said his fave pizza in town is “Baked”, so I took my family for a big dinner. Between the 6 of us we had a variety: beef/ sausage combo, deep dish & thin crust pies, the amazing “ beer nuts” (must try), and meatballs. Everything was excellent. Being a Chicago native born & raised , was truly impressed with their rendition of Chicago style food. Was just like eating in Little Italy/Taylor St in Chicago.

The marinara “gravy” on the deep dish was delicious, tangy but not too sweet. Lots of cheese . The meatballs were medium firm and smothered in red sauce. The Italian beef was tender and sliced super thin. Aus jus on side , great flavor right amount of garlic.

The amazing chef, Henry, came to our table like a true pro and checked how we were liking the food. He was super welcoming and friendly. Our 7 year old family member was full of energy , and Henry brought her crayons & paper to keep her busy. Plus, he made her a kids pizza with a fun shape carved into the middle which she got a kick out of.

The Kentucky Derby was on and we really appreciated the great monitors they had so we could watch. Like dinner and a show! Friendly staff, especially kitchen staffer Kendra who met all our order requests seamlessly. Taylor was overseeing the dining room and seemed to be keeping everything running smoothly.

The dining room was very clean and decorated in a fun way with plenty of nods to Chicago landmarks. We found the prices reasonable. Location -wise, shops and stores nearby were also a plus to do some other errands while we were out and about . We easily give it 5 stars, and would recommend Baked , and specifically Henry the chef for knocking it out of the park , bringing much needed Chicago style Italian eating to...

Went on Valentines Day and the place was dead. Considering the Five Guys next door was totally crowded, this should be an absolute red flag to not have gone there.

Got a deep dish pizza that was undercooked in the middle, despite waiting out the supposed 30 min for it to be ready. The pizza was honestly cardboard with really good cheese on top. as far as sauce, was the sauce in the room with us? cause it certainly wasnt present in the pizza. Its such a tragedy that a great and flavorful cheese they used was wasted on such a terrible pizza.

Ordered a meatball sandwich that was basically just two big flavorless meatballs on bread. The only thing providing anything to the sandwich was the cheese and marinara sauce and that was just a bare minimum of flavor. The fries that came with this actually were great, the star of the show. Well cooked and fresh cut. Such a shame they had to be a side to a sandwich with no energy to it.

We ordered two beef sandwiches that were supposed to come with Au Jus sauce. Was the Au Jus sauce the friends we made along the way? because it wasnt in the bag or with the sandwiches. the sandwiches were literally just a bunch of dried out beef on bread that was somehow even drier. We also had a side of onion rings, but calling 4 overcooked onion rings a side feels like a slap to the face honestly. They may as well have not given us the onion rings either if we were only gonna get like half an onion ring each.

Save your time and money and head to Uncle Ricos or anywhere else really because honestly this is not worth the...