Old Dominion Pizza Company — Restaurant in Virginia

A friend of mine I regularly shoot pool with in Sterling has over the past several years lauded Old Dominion Pizza when the topic of favorite pizza pops up. Last Friday we played pool for the first time since mid March and the topic of pizza came up among our group. I live in Vienna and finally made the modest 9.2 mile journey to ODP based on David’s strong recommendation over several years last Sunday early evening. I discovered ODP is primarily a take-out operation (non pandemic related). Dave did not include that information. His focus was praise for the pizza. The only seating inside is 3 stools at a short front window counter. On the sidewalk on the other side of the window is a patio style table. I think there are a couple tables outside the back door on a small patio. That is what I heard the order taker say to several of the walk ins.

I ordered a small pepperoni and mushroom pizza, easy on the cheese and request to burn it which is my exaggeration really requesting to insure non soggy bottom. I like lager beer or pilsner with pizza and decided to try Manassas Station American Lager I spotted in the small beer cooler behind the order counter. I sat at the window counter and opened the box finding piping hot pizza having perfectly dry underside which was a good sign. It was light on the cheese as I asked and I noticed the surface was plastered with ultra thin sliced pepperoni. The first bite was a sodium shock. Admittedly, I am salt resistant but this was way over the top. I struggled through a few slices trying to taste the other ingredients unsuccessfully. I had the sense the MSAL was pretty good but enjoyment of the beer was severely diminished by the salt knocking out my sense of taste.

In my sight line through the window at the counter I noticed a Seven Eleven across the street and I hot footed there for a Häagen-Dazs ice cream bar and gulped water to mitigate the sodium assault. Regaining my senses I decided to go back in the interest of fairness and to be thorough. On my return yesterday ordering small sausage pie, easy on the cheese and burn along with a MSAL my experience was completely flipped around. Balanced pure sausage flavor allowed me to taste terrific cornmeal pizza dough. That is cornmeal is sprinkled on the pizza stone that rounds are baked on which adds to the flavor profile and helps make the crust crisp and dry. This pizza was definitely 5 stars. There is no ambiance here, it is a takeout joint and while I was there on each of my visits there was a steady stream of customers picking up go orders. The kitchen is an open kitchen that is well organized. I saw 3 pizza makers making pizzas nonstop on each of my visits and both times I was handed boxed piping hot pizza in under 10 minutes.

I also overheard several mentions of cookies from takeout customers on my second visit. The order taker told me ODP makes fresh oatmeal/raisin cookies and chocolate chip cookies in their pizza ovens in the morning before opening. On my way out I ordered one of each. I enjoyed the oatmeal cookie last night that was delicious and I am sure the chocolate chip...

We've been to ODPC twice now. I don't like to leave reviews after just one visit--although I could have. Both times we were VERY pleased with the pizzas! First time we got the BBQ chicken on Grandmas Style crust. The BBQ was very nice, not overpowering and other ingredients were good as well, especially the cheese. While I liked the crust, my hubs is a thin crust guy and it wasn't his favorite (not surprising at all). This visit we got there at 9:35pm on a Sunday. We had low expectations since the staff was already cleaning up behind the counter. We were greeted with a warm welcome and reassured ANYTHING was still possible to get made for us. Super friendly and A+ customer service--I truly believed they would have happily made whatever we wanted. But since we wanted to sleep tonight without guilty consciences, we opted for three slices. That's right. End of the day pre-made slices. And they were great! The crust was a perfect crisp on the outside but still a nice chew in the middle. The pepperoni was flavorful and the kind that's got just the right amount of grease without tasting greasy or leaving a puddle on top of your pie. The sauce was also very good, well seasoned but not at all overpowering. Definitely not a pizza you'd get from a chain or other run-of-the-mill joint. For sure we'll be back. If you're in the neighborhood stop by! UPDATE years later we still go out of our way to get our ODPC Patriot Pizza every...

An okay pizza place. And by okay I mean barely okay. The pizza was like any other type of pizza you could get at a mall food court or stadium. I had the pepperoni and cheese slices so the other additional topping type pizza was not reviewed. The crust was bland along with the sauce. The cheese and pepperoni were low to mid-level in quality. Lots of grease. It didn't draw me to the pizza on the first bite and I didn't savory the last bite either.

I had bought pizza previously from this location when it was Upper Crust Pizza. The crust then was thin, but cooked really well. The sauce was flavorful and the toppings plentiful and well organized on the pizza. Upper Crust was my "go to" pizza place. I don't know why it closed, but the replacement store has a ton of work to do in order to be half as good as Upper Crust. It may seem this is a bias review, but when the Italian Store, both of them, and Puppetella, are in your area of business, you either raise your game to meet their standards or become just another pizza place that people visit out of curiosity and not out of loyalty. I hope they improve their pizza, but only time will tell. Update as of 7-25-23, a good pizza place that has improved the quality of its food. I would now recommend getting pizza there. I can’t speak for the items on the menu but the...