Stefano's Pizzeria- (Fort Drum/Airfield Location) — Restaurant in Town of Champion

Pros:

They use a high-quality, high gluten flour in the dough, leading to that signature NYC style pizza crust (crispy exterior, chewy interior). GM All Trumps or King Arthur for sure.

The cheese is whole-milk mozarella, and if it's blended (possibly provalone), it's done right. Great cheese. No offensive flavours or weird textures (cheddar, American, etc.)

They serve both full size pies (XL) and Sicilian (my favorite style).

Bottom of both pizzas were properly cooked.

Sauce was robust, straightforward, and perfectly applied. It wasn't thin, but also not overwhelming.

Cons:

The Sicilian was doughy, and the cooked portion of the dough was dense with a tight crumb.

As pictured, toppings were incredibly sparse on the Sicilian.

There was a detectable amount of sugar in the round pie dough.

The round pizza was a little thick. Might be a regional thing.

Dough could be crispier, and softer. I think either olive oil is omitted or blended. Possibly lower overall hydration or underproofing.

Person taking order was incredibly easy to confuse. Had to speak slowly, repeat words, and ask for clarification.

We waited inside for quit a while after ordering on the phone as they were a little behind. The workers did not seem to want us in there which was awkward, but I just spent the last 6 years in a very dangerous city out west and still don't feel comfortable sitting outside in a vehicle.

Overall:

The round pies are good pizza for sure and worth checking out. Depending on what else is in the area, may return on a different night of the week to see if I just came in on a lower volume night and oven was cool, dough hadn't come fully to temp prior to cooking or pizziaoli overhandled.

The ingredients were certainly quality, and I would recommend it. Nothing to write home about, but good pizza...

The food typically ranges from decent to good. This review is customer service focused. I placed an order online at 4:13 and was given an approximate delivery time of 5:13. I called the restaurant a little before 5:30 to get an ETA, and they said they just received the online order since the system was down. They explained that they were unable to give me a delivery time, but the pizzas are in the oven and offered a free 2 liter soda. I asked to cancel the order since my guests were leaving around 6, and I didn’t want to be stuck with a good amount of pizza. When the young lady on the phone refused to do so since the pizzas were already in the oven, I asked to speak to the manager. The manager told me the same thing about the pizzas already baking, but I explained to him the same thing I had explained to the young lady. I also mentioned that no one contacted me regarding the online service not working. He said that he was going to call me but hadn’t yet. He tried to talk me out of canceling the order, saying that it would take a while to receive a refund. I stuck to my guns and politely asked to cancel the order. The manager finally agreed to do it. Now, this isn’t the worst customer service I’ve received, but both people I spoke to seemed bothered that I wanted to cancel the order. The manager never introduced himself on the phone or offered an apology. I understand they use a third party system for online orders, and things can happen. I work in a similar industry where I sometimes have to deal with unsatisfied customers, but I would never try to make them keep something they were unhappy with while being unapologetic. I hope the Great Bend location gets it together because I really talked this place up to...

I had a poor experience with the pizza being doughy/uncooked on top, crispy hardened crust on bottom. When I called to tell them, I was told " that's odd." Placed on hold and ultimately disconnected. A few attempts at contacting Carthage location then Great Bend location was told all they could do was give me credit for the pizza. Ten wings and a house salad were also on the order. By this time my appetite was GONE. I personally felt that it would have been nice for Stefano's to ask me simply what the paying customer thought would be necessary to remedy the complaint. Instead, instructed me that all they could do give me a credit for the pizza on the next order that I placed. I felt this attitude was very presumptuous, considering that I had just spent $50.00, 2 previous poor experiences in which they were also informed ,and their seeming to not even really be concerned. In other words, I am still feeling unsatisfied and upset with the decision to even consider ordering from them again. If only there were a satisfaction rating of minus on the chart because I should have been offered at least an amends of my choosing, or better yet, properly cooked food in the first place. Bad Business. I also am bothered and upset enough to type this out in the...