Bear Canyon Pizza on Tanque Verde — Restaurant in Tucson

Pizza "slices" the size of a medium Pizza. This is definitely not your typical pizza place. I just had the White Tail Pizza, which features no red sauce (or any other kind of sauce for that matter!), ricotta cheese, pepperoncini, garlic, crumbled meatballs, and red bell pepper. And, that is what I got - all of that stuff piled loosely on a piece of overdone bread crust which is really not very thick but it also not very thin. First of all a meatball that has been crumbled into (tasteless) little tiny pieces is no longer a ball it is just ground meat. Second, this was not really a pizza. You can call it that but just because you've piled meat and cheese on a piece of bread doesn't make it pizza. A pizza has sauce. The cheese is melted!

The order took forever to come out, but it's not really a slice as I ordered it is a medium size pizza - like I said above - that is cut in the shape of a slice. That's a little deceiving, probably unintentionally. But, if you go to say a New York pizza place and you order a slice then you get a slice of a whole pizza. That takes about 3 minutes. This took at least 15 minutes, which is too long to wait for a lunch time pizza.

Now about the drinks. I'm in the company car today so I can't have anything from the extensive beer list of 30 local and regional beers. So I ordered iced tea. It was Arbuckle's iced tea but whatever, it was pretty crappy. And they keep the Splenda and sugar for the entire restaurant in two little tiny plastic cups and a small shaker jar! That to me says we don't really appreciate people who order iced-tea here and not beer. Service was fine - a couple of guys behind the counter - nothing exceptional, just taking orders. Anyway all in all I would say this was unexceptional but not bad. But I will not be rushing back here unless I want to try a local beer. I agree with one other reviewer who said this place seems like they almost have their act together but really, not quite. The more I think about it the whole matter of a slice not being a slice but I triangle-shaped pizza, is just more than a little irritating. Actually, it's not even a pizza. I like to know what I'm getting. When you order a slice of pizza you expect to get something that comes out in a few minutes, not as long as this took. Altogether, I would take a pass on this and go a little further...

Update: The manager did contact me and make the situation right, and explained why the below occurred. Thank you Devin.

I've enjoyed coming here for a few years and have always generally enjoyed the place. It's always been a pricier eat and I know that when going, but when I'm paying 60 bucks for a large pizza, a calzone, and two slices I expect decent service at the very least. It's great pizza that's well above fast food chains. My bad experience with the service was again on timeliness. I started calling in my orders to ensure that they were on time, but over and over again they somehow are late. If I ask for it to be ready at 1 for instance, it will be ready at 1:20-1:30. Even if they aren't busy. My most recent experience I came in on time for my order and it wasn't ready, as per usual. There was zero customers in the store besides me. Two of the employees were unpacking merchandise and the other two cooks in the back were sitting in the kitchen talking. The woman at the register who was also unpacking merchandise was very nice and prompt. I sat down with my sleeping son on me waiting, and eventually after she saw I was waiting for over twenty minutes she had to get up and ask one of the cooks the status and she said it'd be right out. Ten minutes later the order was ready, being a total of 30 mins off the time I asked for it to be ready. The frustrating part was the younger 20 something cook looking at me like I did something wrong the entire time I was in there, and that he was more focused on making sure his food was ready to eat for his lunch than my order. I don't know if my order was late because this cook decided to throw in his food before mine, but it's really frustrating seeing someone who stared me down when I walked in eating his lunch and my order not being ready for an additional 10 after he's done eating. All this while there is zero customers in the store.

Hopefully this place can step it up. They have good food and beer. I won't be returning as I don't think my food will be untouched by the cooks as I feel they'll know it's me as I was specific enough in...

We went for a late lunch we had 4 adults and 1 child.

The building/first impressions: The layout is fairly open and clean. You seat yourself and order at the register. There are a couple of arcade games, a designated kids area, and beer on tap.

The food: We ordered 3 build your own calzones, 1 Pesto pasta, 1 half lasagna (for the kiddo) and 2 orders of "garlic knots" as appetizers. *The "Garlic Knots" were served quickly but were more like garlic rolls than knots. They didn't pull apart and were denser than knots I'm used to but the flavor was good. They had a buttery garlic and parm topping buy the flavor was surface only. The marinara did pair well with it. Since the pastas come with a couple of them I probably would skip the appetizer next time as I prefer a softer pull apart garlic knot personally. *The calzones are big enough for 2 to share although my father in law managed to eat his alone lol. They were baked well and stuffed with ricotta and shredded mozzarella plus the meat or veggie fillings of our choosing. Fillings were $2.50 ea so the pre-made specialty calzones are likely a better deal if you're not picky. They were tasty and satisfying. The Pesto pasta was absolutely delicious the flavor combination was so good. The full serving was big enough to share and my husband and I still took home half of it and half the calzone. The lasagna was cheesy, savory, and delicious. The 1/2 portion was more than our 6 year old nephew could finish by a little but would be perfect for an adult who wants a reasonable size without leftovers. My husband and father in law had 2 local beers that were recommended and they enjoyed Both. The fountain drinks being easily accessible with Togo cups ready was very handy.

The staff: The gentleman who assisted us was friendly and helpful. It was our first visit so he told us how they work and said we could pick a seat and look at the menu & come up when we were ready to order. They kept the tables clean.

All in all a great experience and though a little pricey we would definitely try them again. Next time we will have to...