GAYTON PIZZA & WINGS — Restaurant in Virginia

There is a reason this pizza place is on the back side of the shopping center! The pizza is awful; it's not really pizza.

I've seen this little place tucked on the back side of Gayton Shopping Center and always wanted to give it a try, so today I finally did. The first thing I noticed walking up to the shop was a sign advertising a lunch special of a medium cheese or pepperoni pizza for $4.99. I really didn't want that much food for lunch so when I went inside, I asked about any other lunch specials which might include a slice or two and a drink.

I was told "no" so I asked how long it would take to prepare a medium pizza. He said "10 minutes." I told him I was interested in something sooner so I said I would go with slices (which happened to be $3.49 for cheese, $0.50 extra per topping). I ordered a cheese slice and a slice with a topping and grabbed a can of Dr. Pepper from the cold case. I paid for my order and sat down at one of the two tables. After 7 or so minutes, a customer came in and picked up a to-go order, but still my order had not come out from the back. At about 9 minutes, he asked if I would take my slices to-go or dine-in. I figured I would eat in, since I was hungry. About a minute or so later, he came out with two plastic sandwich trays, each holding a slice. The slices were piping hot and had been sliced into thirds.

Now how the heck am I supposed to hold a hot slice of pizza when there is not enough crust to fold? Fortunately he had included a set of plastic utensils so I decided to cut the pizza--yes, I know!--simply to be able to eat it.

As I cut into one of the slices of the slice, I easily could see the dough was not been fully cooked under the sauce. In fact, I am not sure what kind of dough it was. It certainly was not typical pizza dough.

As I ate part of the cheese slice, I noted that it really had no flavor whatsoever. Sad, really.

I decided to try the other slice and were it not for the topping, it would have had no flavor either.

It dawned on me that he did not even have slices ready to for lunch but made the slices just as he would have made that medium pizza we discussed at the beginning. He should have told me that the slices would need to be cooked from scratch, just as the medium pizza would have. Not feeling any love at the moment.

Well, on good faith, I had included a tip when I placed my order so the shop, at a minimum, got something positive from my visit.

He never came back out to check on me, either.

I decided to throw out the remaining thirds of my slices because I would have found no benefit from eating them. They were not good!

The bright moment of the visit was that the can of Dr. Pepper was just as delightful as I expected.

My advice regarding RVA Pizza is to give it a pass and go elsewhere.

(Unless, of course, you want a cold...

I like this pizza. My wife and I order from here around once a month; it's our go-to. The sauce is a little on the sweet side and I think it is a great pairing with their dough style and cheese choice. The crust is thin, and the sauce, cheese, and toppings run close to the edge.

To argue with some of the recent negative reviews: It's very clearly pizza, and the idea that it might be frozen is ridiculous. Look at my picture! The veggies are clearly fresh.

The online order process was quick and easy, and ordering on the phone has been fine as well when the online services aren't available. I am more than happy to be a repeat customer.

On a personal, "too-much-information" kind of note: When I order pizza from chain pizza places, I get serious acid reflux issues after eating. Here I have no such issue, and I think that is a testament to the quality of their...

Poor, Poor, Poor! I ordered two slices of cheese. When I made the order I intentionally asked if the pizza is made fresh or if they reheat pizza that they have sitting around. I was told, the pizza is made fresh. That was a lie. When I got home (which is less than 5 minutes from the restaurant), the crust was soggy and there was a ton of cheese piled atop other cheese. I could tell because the cheese on top was white and melted/stringy. The cheese on the bottom was discolored and not stringy at all. It was obvious that the top layer of cheese was added to make me think the pizza was fresh.

DO NOT EAT HERE! Poor service and they will sell you stale reheated...