Spinning Dough — Restaurant in Oakland

Spinning Lies, is more appropriate a name. Do you like Pizza? Then save yourself the trouble and go someplace else. I ordered to go, and this is my story. Starting with the wings, they were burned enough I had to do a double take to make sure they weren't actually the chocolate cake. the bitterness of the burned sugars in the glaze was overwhelming and probably increased my cancer risk. We're off to a bad start, but surely it'll get better right? The Sausage Pizza itself looked odd, but okay at surface value. The thin slices of flat cheesy landscape were marked by distinct oversized sausage boulders that stood a whole inch above the rest of the surface. It's definitely not traditional, but hey, it looked decent. Why not? Pulling a slice, 3 things were immediately apparent. 1 it was not cut fully. A bit of ripping would be required. 2 the thin outer crust was HARD. 3 the gluten structure was pretty well developed. Once the slice was ripped free, i lifted it with a bit of a fold. The dough under most of the pizza was soft and folded easily, as a NY style slice, that gets a pass. One bite into the sausage boulder and I was hit with a massive wave of fennel seed aroma. It was a lot of flavor, possibly too much as it overshadowed the other aromatics, but immediately after i felt a strange sensation. Was this not a delicious juicy sausage? Why does it feel so mealy? I finished the bite and then tore another sausage in half, and ate it alone. It then became apparent that the sausage was as dry as a brand new sponge. That takes a few points off. Nonetheless I continued eating towards the end of the slice, noting that without the sausage, the pizza itself tasted pretty mediocre, owing mostly to a weak sauce. Then I reached the crust. Maybe the baker is moonlighting as a Materials Science Researcher because this crust is an engineering marvel. I have never bit into a crust that was simultaneously so light, yet that hard. Watch out for your teeth, this crust could turn a weeknight dinner into a thousand dollar orthodontics procedure whereby your teeth need to get realigned. Formula 1 should take notice - forget carbon fiber, overbaked pizza crusts are strong, light, and so much cheaper. This is the only pizza I've ever thrown into the trash before getting full. There was enough for dinner, but it simply wasn't worth the risk, nor the calories. The last thing to comment on is the chocolate cake. You can tell they phoned it in. It was pretty generic, and while that's usually a bad thing, in this rare instance, it's the best thing they served.

I can't understand how this place is rated above 4. Maybe they bought reviews? The distribution seems oddly skewed. Either way, I won't be back any time soon. I could get better pizza from the...

We’ve always been thin crust pizza fans and have had Napoli-style pizza several times in Rome, and we gotta say, the crust here is AMAZING!! The bottom of the pizza was deliciously crisp, and the crust was airy, with a crisp outer crust and a slight chew on the inside. The crust was so delicious that we saved all our uneaten crusts to bring home for later, could not bear to throw them away (unlike other, more bready crusts). They made excellent snacks! 😆 The pepperoni pizza was our favorite (so flavorful), with the sausage being a close second. The margherita was nice with the fresh basil, but could have used a sprinkling of salt.

Our younger son really wanted to try the corn pizza, but we could only manage to finish 3 pizzas with our family of 7, so he has already declared that this will be his pick for his birthday meal, and that he will be getting the corn pizza. 😆 Wish it were closer to us (we live around 30 mins away), but it is not too far for special occasions! From where we live, comparatively, Mountain Mike’s and Porky’s Pizza Palace would be rated 2 or 3 out of 10 and Spinning Dough would be 9/10! Would totally buy it frozen if they offered that, it is that good!

Just found out you can get it half baked, and then finish off in the oven for a freshly baked pizza at home!

Was also a treat for the kids to watch the owner (who is super, super nice!) toss the dough and assemble the pizzas. Thank you for the delicious meal!

—— Edit: I knew that business was quite slow at their Oakland location, so I was sad but not surprised to see it closed, but I am OVERJOYED that they have now opened in the City!!!! I am glad they found a great solution, to cut down on some of the overhead by being take-out only. Hope their location makes them more accessible and more people can taste how delicious their pizzas are! Our family will definitely come get take-out sometime when we venture into the City (maybe in Oct during...

I'm from NY so trust me when I say that this place is in the top 5 for pizzas in the East Bay. Great dough + creative toppings without going overboard, which is a really tough balance to maintain.

TIP: 🍕Probably hard to go wrong with any of the pizzas here, but my go-to choices are either the Pepperoni or the Sausage. Or if you don't want meat, try the absolutely delicious seafood pizza (it ain't cheap, but trust me, there's a good amount of seafood on there and it is 💯 ). Overall, they might not be the cheapest spot for pizzas, but you're definitely getting serious bang for your buck because the quality of the product is just that high — Jeff uses really great ingredients and makes everything fresh from scratch. 🍗Want something delicious beyond just pizza? Get the baked Parmesan wings and you won't be disappointed. They're delicious and not like any other wings you've probably had. 🍻☀🐶The cherry on top is that they have a great patio where you can bring your dog and sip on a beer while digging into some of the best...