Back Road Pizza — Restaurant in Santa Fe

Wow! I have had pizza from countless pizza joints in the past 22 years over my travels. Vegas, Nashville, South Beach Miami, Orlando and now Santa Fe, NM. The options in Santa Fe for pizza are plentiful and I have had 5 of them, although I won’t name them. The one I will name is Backroad Pizza! A little off the beaten path of downtown, it is well worth the small drive from anywhere in Santa Fe. It has been located @ 1807 2nd St #1, Santa Fe, NM for the entirety of its existence (parking in the rear). From the outside it just looked like a normal building that could have been anything, but step inside and enjoy the quirkiness of the layout and color scheme. The smell hits immediately! For such a small establishment, it was loaded with employees churning out pizzas in the middle of the afternoon and that told me something. I was greeted at the counter with a smile and a chalk board covered in menu items. From fresh salads to garlic knots and then all of the pizza options. There was a nice selection of locally brewed beer on tap. Margherita pizza, you got it. Green chile pizza, sold. Pizza of the moment with unique ingredients, of course. Pizzas made especially for the kids, gotta have it! Customize to your hearts desire, why not? I had the opportunity to speak with the owner, Piper Kapin, who could not have been more friendly. She informed me of her custom corn meal crusted thin crust pizza dough (her personal recipe), how all ingredients were fresh daily and sauce and salad dressings were all made in house. I was sold. She told me a little history and explained her passion for the industry, and showed me around. The property was a little bigger than I thought. There is an extra seating area on the second floor with a small balcony and what a large excellent patio for outdoor seating! (Which is dog friendly!)She (Piper) is very humble and did not even mention that she had been FEATURED on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive Ins and Dives on Food Network….. not once, but twice! I noticed it as I was looking over her website. By this point my mouth was watering watching everyone else’s pizzas go out. I got seated with a number on a small stand and a local cold beer off tap. There was a nice buzz from the locals enjoying their meals and chatting it up. I had ordered a small half new mexican with green chile and half pesto, fresh mozzarella, pepperoni. It only took about 10 minutes despite how busy it was. First thing I noticed - THE CRISPY CORNMEAL CRUSTED DOUGH. Extra thin, great texture, super crispy, foldable without toppings falling off, it looked and smelled delicious. Upon taking my first bite of the New Mexican pizza, I understood the hype. (Where is Dave Portnoy when you need him?) In my mind this just became my go-to pizza hub. So fresh, not bready at all and the toppings and crust shined and meshed perfectly. In the 10-20 minutes I had been seated, every chair in the shop filled up; so much so that I offered my table to an older couple so they didn’t have to stand and wait…and people continued to roll in. I gathered what I had left and boxed it up to go and thanked everyone on the way out. All in all the flavor and delivery is spot on, the staff is all smiles, the atmosphere is fun and it hit on all the high notes. I definitely recommend Backroad Pizza and will continue to provide my patronage! Oh, did I mention there is a gluten free dough option? Annnnd….This place has been voted #1 favorite pizza spot every year since 2012 except for 1 maybe 2 years. Just won 2024! You just need to go see...

Twas a cold and bright full moon night. I looked through the fridge and remembered I hadn't gone grocery shopping. I remembered that I had seen this pizza place on 2nd Street I wanted to peep out. Left the apartment and hopped into the icy cold Prius to head over to Back Road Pizza. Inside was warm and they were playing decent music. Was pretty active for a Sunday night. Stared at the menu like a gonk until a strategy formed in my cranial space. Soup to warm me up then pizza to stuff me full of carbs meats and cheeses to send me into that comfy womfy sleepytime I was dreaming of. Ordered the Tomato Coconut soup and the Christmas in May large pizza cause I wanted leftovers to avoid the grocery store as long as possible. Put my order in and 5 minutes later my soup came out looking like it just came out of the forge of Moria at full blast. But to my surprise it wasn't that hot but so frakking cold the soup was deceiving. I was expecting a coconut cream forward tomato soup but I was delighted to a symposium of flavors pouring over my taste buds as the coconut cream was delicately balanced with a strong punchy tomato and a nuanced spice that put a little kick into what I assumed would be a basic affair. And to top it off instead of a sad lumps of cold bread for dipping I was greeted by a cute pizza dough bun cut in half and it was warm and fresh! You devils you, oh my glob it was divine. But we still had pizza so about 15 minutes after the initial order my pizza arrived. What can I say, there's a reason this place has won 1st place local awards since 2012. They have got the sauce, that special sizzle that makes for an amazing culinary experience. The pizza was straight fire and had me questioning past decisions in life when it came to pizza like, was it worth the squeeze? Is cold pizza still good pizza?! If you're in town check this place out. You won't be...

Had high hopes for this place because it was well rated but was disappointed by the service. They were busy when we arrived with a line to order. Counter staff was efficient and courteous getting everyone through the line. Ordered a salad and large pie to split. The salad came out fairly quickly and was fresh and tasty. Then we sat and watched the staff struggle to get the right pizzas to the right customers. We should have expected something to go wrong with ours. When we had waited over an hour and other customers who had arrived after us were getting their orders I went to investigate. Long story short, after they brought us our salad and got our pizza in the oven they lost our ticket. It was sitting on the counter getting cold. At that point we just needed to eat and get going so we didn't have them remake it. It was tasty but not hot.

To make it up to us they gave us a five dollar coupon. We don't live here and didn't want to come back so we decided to use the coupon on an 8 dollar pint of ice cream that they were selling by the front counter. They wouldn't let us use the coupon on the ice cream because they sell it for someone else.

They acted like they didn't have an option but they could have taken the loss on on the ice cream to make it right with us. I believe that they should listen to the customer's situation and find a reasonable solution. They didn't.

Like I said,...