Apizza Scholls — Restaurant in Portland

I've lived in Portland for almost 20 years and, today, I had Apizza Scholls for the first time.

Yesterday, as I was getting ready for work, my best friend and his wife asked me if I had heard of them. I told them I had heard the name, but I didn't know anything about them. They filled me in on Apizza Scholls reputation for making some of the best pizzas in the city. Now, I was curious.

I asked them if they were personal pizzas or something larger. They said they were 18 inches. They also informed me that there was a crazy waiting list that they had been on for some time. Fortunately, some unlucky soul had to cancel and my friends got a call asking if they would be interested in a reservation for that evening, which they accepted. I told them to order too much so that there would be leftovers. They said they were ordering two.

I left for work and immediately forgot about the entire conversation. When I got off at midnight; I headed to the nearest Taco Bell. They were pretty busy and the drive thru was moving slowly. After ordering, I checked my fb. At the very top of my feed were pictures of my friends smiling faces accompanied by a glowing review of Apizza Scholls.

I had made a huge mistake.

When I got to the window, I told the cashier I was an idiot and had forgotten my wallet at the house. I apologized for the inconvenience and left in a hurry.

Upon returning home, I headed for the refrigerator and opened the door. On the second shelf was a plain brown pizza box taking up 80% of the available space. It was big, probably the second largest I'd ever seen.Somehow I managed to get the box over to the counter.

Inside were several slices topped with pepperoni and other delicious looking meats. I grabbed a plate from the cupboard and threw a couple of slices in the microwave for one minute and forty-four seconds.

There are two ideal temperatures for consuming pizza. Unheated straight out of the refrigerator or fresh out of the oven. Microwaving for one minute and forty-four seconds produces neither. It's just long enough to make the crust extra floppy but not long enough to fool you into thinking it might have been similar at the restaurant. The pizza deserved better.

In spite of all that, I devoured those two slices. I can confidently tell you it was some of the best pizza I've ever had. The cheese to toppings ratio was perfect. The flavors were delectable. I even ate half of one of the crusts which I usually save for someone who appreciates them more than I. I can only imagine what it would taste like at the restaurant. One thing's for sure. I definitely won't be waiting another 20 years to have Apizza...

When I was 15 I had pizza in Naples & it changed my life, & pizza has been one of my favorite hobbies for the 15 years since. Scholls has been on my radar long with Ken's as the only two Portland pizzeries on Jeff Varasano's list of the best pizzerias in the world (included in his pizza article that taught me everything I know, google it up), & now that I live here & I've tried both I'm gonna compare them.

Scholls crust is excellent, the prices are high but the pizzas are huge so the value is still good. The It's-It ice cream sandwiches are terrific. That's kind of where the major pros stop for me - the flavor of the sauce is basically normal, the flavor of the toppings (Margherita & Tartufo2) was basically unmemorable. We tried both, said "mm, mhm.....", chewed for awhile to see if anything else was gonna happen, & came away thinking they were good, even very good, but that's not good enough when:

Ken's is literally the best thing I have ever eaten. The first bite of a Ken's margherita is something I'll never forget, we just closed our eyes and smiled in purest bliss. At least as good as I had in Naples, same potential to change a kid's life based on how incredible of an experience it was. Ken's leek pizza was also absolutely fantastic, amazing amazing flavor of caramelized leeks, similarly unforgettable memory.

So while Scholls is certainly worthy of 5 stars, Ken's is worthy of 7. One is very good food and the other is what life is all about.

Disclaimer: it could be that Ken's was so, so, so, so, so much more flavorful due to it being Spring/Summer and the tomatoes/leeks being much better than in February? Will try Scholls again later this year just to see. We grow our own San Marzano tomatoes and the flavor of them simply slow-roasted with olive oil is comparable to what Ken's sauce was like (i.e. better than the best thing ever) so maybe that's it. I also don't think I'm biased toward Ken's at all, was equally excited to try both when I moved here from Colorado, live equally far...

It takes a lot, for me, to give a 5 star rating to any place but I believe this palace of crispy yet delicious crust is worth it.

The food: Usually with a 18” pie you run the risk of the slice being floppy and greasy. Not the case here thankfully. We ordered 1/2-1/2 Margherita & Paulie Gee, it’s nice to see that there was very minimal cross contamination, which is nice for the picky eaters in your crew. Flavors were great and perfectly proportionate. I’m assuming and could be wrong but the crust has a sourdough chewy and flavor to it which was amazing. Only slight, American gripe, is I which the pizzas toppings stretched a bit further to the edge, but that’s personal preference and not enough to dock this place for that.

The service: We arrived at 6pm on a Friday summer night and as most people will know, this is peak busy time for most places, and it was no exception for this place. With very limited seating they did a nice job of accurately estimating the wait time, and were ready to go when they told you. We waited 15 mins to be sat, and this gave plenty of time to check out the menu and were ready to order not to long after we sat. The pizza came out pretty quick considering they had to have been busy in the kitchen with take out orders because white boxes kept flowing out the kitchen.

Overall would definitely recommend this place if you’re looking for a whole pie, if a slice is all you crave, I’m not sure this place does it, but you could buy a whole pie and have plenty of leftovers.

There are no pictures unfortunately from my visit, I was to busy enjoying my company and the pizza to take a photo. But there are plenty of pics on the review sites that show the pizza...