Restaurant Review: American Pie Pizza

Last week, I finally made it over to American Pie Pizza in North Little Rock. It's located near the intersection of North Hills and McCain in the Kroger shopping center. If you're interested, you can view their menu online.

Expectations: It's in a nondescript strip mall and you can't see in the front windows, so I didn't know what to expect. Having driven by it dozens of times, the only thing I could see where a couple of neon beer signs, so I actually expected it to be more of a bar feel.

First Impression: Not at all what I expected. Looks like a typical family restaurant.

Decor: There is a factory somewhere where green seated chairs with wicker backs* fly down an assembly line. They probably produce hundreds every hour, store them in warehouses, and sell them in bulk. In my imagination, this is where American Pie got all it's furniture. I don't mean this as an insult. In fact, the entire affair is completely without insult. If American Pie ever shuts down, I imagine any other restaurant could open in it's place without the need to change the decor.

Food: We ordered a large pizza with half beef and half beef and pepperoni. My date also ordered a bowl of chili and we both ordered a coke to drink. When the waitress brought the chili out, she asked to make sure it was hot enough, so I'm assuming it was reheated. I'm not sure if it's better to have chili kept hot and tended to all day or fixed once and reheated, but the chili was good either way. It was very meaty with almost no filler and came with a basket full of several cracker choices. The pizza was thin crust. The edges were cooked perfectly, but the bottom was too floppy for my taste.

Cost: All said and done, it set us back less than $20.

Conclusion: If I had the option between a pizza buffet somewhere and American Pie, I'll take American Pie. The pizza was good, the atmosphere was relaxed, and the price was great. On the other hand, If I had to drive by U.S. Pizza on my way to American Pie, I wouldn't make it to American Pie. In any case, American Pie is now my second favorite thin crust pizza in town.

* I don't actually remember if the chairs had wicker backs, but the very fact that I can't remember sort of embodies the point I'm trying to make