Sal's Pizza — Restaurant in Mechanicsburg

So we finally decided to give Sal's pizza a shot after years of locals talking it up. As a person who can make pizza at home but craving a great local favorite, and coming from a family that once owned their own pizza joint—to make a long story short—I found Sal’s to be very disappointing overall. We decided to try a few different things so we could test their breads, dough, toppings, sauce, etc.

In this order we had a small 2-topping pizza, the mushroom cheese steak sub, and the chicken parmesan sub.

The pizza: Pale, thin, unseasoned, soggy, flavorless dough and crust. Unremarkable, unseasoned sauce. Toppings were canned, and low-quality bits of deli meats that pooled in a soupy middle. I feel like I really need to emphasize how bland the dough was. Might be good if you have dietary restrictions or if you’re one of those people who considers pepper “too spicy”, but if not you’re going to need to salt and pepper everything.

Mushroom Cheese Steak Sub: Given that there’s a difference in price between a “mushroom cheese steak” sub and a “cheese steak” sub, I was expecting mushrooms to be pretty prominent here. The reality was… there was maybe one mushroom across the whole large sub, sliced into 4-6 pieces and only briefly cooked and certainly a bit more raw than I expected. The steak was ground up, soft, textureless, and flavorless, and I didn’t expect the tomato-paste-style sauce that was on it. (Is that a thing that I didn’t know about?) Also, barely seasoned at all. The bread was also—once again—flavorless and mostly pale, soggy on the bottom, though it looked like it might be at least crunchy/flaky going in. It was a bit like eating a toasted, semi-stale hotdog bun. Big sandwich, but extremely bland.

Chicken Parm Sub: Once again, same flavorless bread, soggy on the bottom. No seasoning in the bread crumbs or the sauce. Just straightforward ingredients, salt and pepper it yourself. Portions of chicken were cooked and decent for this one, and this one would’ve been mostly fine if the bread had been good, but the lack of flavor made for a bland sandwich.

Service: Not terribly welcoming for a first timer, though service was quick and efficient. I don’t think the guy really said anything, which is fine with me, but I’ve seen other reviews here about how friendly they are to locals and regulars—but I guess I won’t be seen again as either of those and get to experience that.

I like to give places a second chance and order something else on the menu, but I have no interest now that I’ve had a variety and have been disappointed with all three things, at all levels. Low-quality ingredients at premium-quality-ingredient prices.

We ended up re-seasoning everything, cooking the pizza in a pan to give it some flavor, deconstructing the sandwiches, cooking up mushrooms and putting them on a seasoned/toasted baguette from Giant just so we didn’t feel like we blew $35 for nothing. I’ll go back to making my own quick pizzas with cheap, pre-made doughballs from Wegmans—I’ve learned my...

Update 2022: I ate here in person and dined in with some coworkers and I must say that the dine in experience vs delivery is way different. I had the largest tuna salad that I think I’ve ever seen and it was darn good. I’m giving Sal’s back a star because I really think my bad experiences were solely delivery based and should reflect the restaurant as a whole.

UPDATE 8-24-21: Unfortunately, I brought my 4 star review down to 2. It appears that Sal's recently raised their prices when others have not. My old review about the pricing is now completely invalid as I just ordered from a competitor and it was cheaper.

Old Review: This place has completely restored my faith in our local pizza places. I can't believe I've lived outside the borough for 8 years and haven't gotten food from Sal's.

Since COVID started I got completely fed up with paying $30+ for a meal for my family but receiving subpar portions from competition of Sal's in this area. I started trying different pizza shops around the area and it seemed to be the case with most. Subs lacking meat, pizzas lacking ingredients, miniature chicken wings, etc. NONE of this being the case with Sal's.

Sal's prices are extremely reasonable and the portions are fantastic. MY SUB ACTUALLY HAD MEAT IN IT THAT I COULD TASTE! I'm more than happy.

Everybody is looking for criticism so here it is. The ONLY few things I could recommend (and this is personal preference) is that I thought the bread used for the sub was a little "doughy" and the pizza had a lot of "flop". I prefer my pizza a little more well done and the crust crunchy but its definitely something I can ask for next...

If you have a complaint the owners will talk over you, raise their voices, and not hear you out about the issue in order to reach any type of resolve. I maintained my calm demeanor the entire time I tried to explain my issue with the way someone handled a problem with their phone system and ultimately walked away because they are not in the place of mind to manage their restaurant professionally as managers and listen to their paying customers. Sal's lost out on at least $25 of my business tonight and will miss out on plenty of other $$$ since I used to eat there a lot, about once per week. Listen to your customers because they don't want to just complain for nothing, they complain to help you improve your business. I did not expect you to give me anything for free either and would not have accepted anything, all I wished for was a kind, listening ear. I never did truly get any apology for the way that I was treated. But I'm glad to say Giuseppe's in Mechanicsburg is also delicious (I went there instead tonight after I left Sal's) and had significantly...