Riverside Pizza — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Disappointing

I've worked at quite a few pizza shops in my youger years to know what old pizza looks, feels and tastes like. Pizza shops make plain cheese pizzas to sell them as slices, but on slower days when people don't order pizza by the slice, shops often have to throw these pizzas out at the end of the night. Not Riverside. Nope. They stick the pie back in the oven and sell hours old pizza to you for full price. I ordered a large pizza with bacon. I waited the 15-20 minutes the girl on the phone told me it would take. When I arrived at the store I still waited an additional 20 minutes. By the time I got home (5 minute drive) my pizza was lukewarm, not typical of freshly made pizza. The crust was hard, not soft like freshly made pizza. The cheese had darker spots all around the pie, indicators of it being reheated. And when you bit into it, you could see a "layer" in-between the cheese and the bottom crust. This "layer" is disctint and noticeable. It occurs when pizza has been left sitting; the sauce has softened the dough under it and gives it a darker appearance compared to the dough/crust on the bottom of the pie. The smoking gun was the taste itself. When you work at a pizza shop, most places allow you to eat pizza for free. Often time this means you can help yourself to the slices they premake ahead of their lunch, dinner or late night busy times. This pizza isn't bad, but it certainly isn't something I'd ever pay full price for. This pizza undoubtedly was sitting for hours. I placed my order an hour before closing time. When I walked in the place was not busy. Chances are no one ordered slices today. Riverside simply added bacon and stuck it in the oven for a minute, charged me full price for old pizza, and still made me wait 40 minutes for this half assed product. The worst part is I ordered from Riverside based on a friend's recommendation. I'd really love to try what their pizza tastes like when it's made fresh. But after this experience I really have no respect for this establishment and will not be ordering from them again.

Two stars because the...

I have NEVER in my LIFE had a calzone as marvelous as the sheer beast presented to me by this fine establishment today. The wife and I had to drive roughly 6 hours to get to another doctor in Bala Cynwyd. So, I called in to order food, seeing the 9.95 tag for a calzone I was just like 'Ah - Fresh, plus Philly prices. No biggie.' Expecting to get my lil sandwich sized hunk and call it a day. What I got? A HUGE, PERFECTLY CRUNCHY YET SOFT INSIDE baked Italian DREAM.

With the gooey mozzarella, the juicy steak bits, the harmonized ricotta/feta cheesy goodness, it was all a person could hope to have. Would recommend this place to anyone, and everyone. The missus said her grilled veggie wrap was excellent as well. Thank...

Excellent pizza and wings! Best in the area in my opinion. After trying a handful of the pizza places in the area, I think this is the best.

Meat lovers pizza (8/10): Loved the meat lovers pizza. The crust was crispy, the cheese was good and the sauce was great as well. I liked all the toppings which made me feel like I was getting my moneys worth. Nothing too special, but good pizza. On the expensive side for me, but average in the area.

Wings (8/10): Great wings. Big wings at a good cost. Nowadays, I am getting these small baby wings and I hate them. These are quite big and tasted amazing. Great buffalo sauce and wings were juicy.

Fries (9/10): Great fries. All the fries in this area are...