Over-hyped, yet decent pizza
For all the internet marketing that The Pizza Shack had done, I wanted to see if their pizzas lived up to the hype. To be fair, I wanted to try more than one of their pizzas so I could get a good sense of the pizzeria's quality. I set aside a day to have lunch there so I could get slices from different pizzas (slices are only offered during their lunch hours).
The slices of pizza that I chose were from two of the Shack's signature pizzas and one "meat lovers" style pizza that most pizzerias offer (my lunch also included a "free" soda). The first slice that I ate was "The Trinity," named because of it's three primary ingredients, grilled chicken, bacon and "ranch," which I guess is a reference to ranch dressing although it could have about the cheese (might have been cheddar) which was quite prominent. Of the three slices that I had, I liked The Trinity the most because of it's cheesiness that meshed well with the chicken and bacon. It was sort of like eating an open-faced grilled cheese sandwich. The pizza slice was good, but not awesome.
The second slice that I had was the namesake "The Shack Attack," which is topped with pepperoni, sausage, ham, bacon, shredded steak, pulled pork and red onions, all covered with BBQ sauce. As a pizza, the "Attack" was decent and the pulled pork was good. In my opinion, it should have been their designated "meat" pizza as opposed to the third slice that I had.
The final slice that I had was The Pizza Shack's version of the meat lover's pizza, called the "Meaty," and it has pepperoni, sausage, ham, bacon, salami, ground beef and steak toppings. Despite the amount of toppings, the slice didn't seem that "meaty," plus it didn't have a lot of cheese on it, unlike "meat lovers" pizzas you can get at places like Pizza Hut (a place that The Pizza Shack is trying to emulate), Domino's, Papa John's and my local favorite, Broadway Pizza. As a pizza, the "Meaty" is okay, but it wouldn't be a pizza I would get to feed a hungry crowd at a party.
Overall, the pizza slices that I had at The Pizza Shack were good, but not nearly as good as restaurants such as Broadway Pizza and Old Venice Pizza Company. It's not even on par with Pizza Hut (the restaurant that the "Shack" aspires to be), but it is a nice neighborhood pizza joint located in the Lowe's parking lot on Perkins and Summer. If I lived in East Memphis, particularly in the Berclair neighborhood, I could see myself eating there on a regular basis. The Pizza Shack doesn't quite live up to the hype, but is a decent pizzeria nonetheless.
Slices of the Meaty and The Shack Attack
(apologies for not including The Trinity; ate the first slice before photographing)
NOTE: The Pizza Shack has now become Elwood's Shack that is primarily a barbecue restaurant but also serves pizza that is pretty good.
Twitter: @thepizzashack
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