Located in the heart of Greenwich on fancy pants Greenwich Ave., Pizza Factory is a comfortable eatery amidst couture shops, high-end jewelers, and purveyors of luxury stemware, as well as countless other places where people who are better than us buy things. This restaurant also serves as somewhat of a teen hangout during the week (which pisses off said fancy pantses) and allegedly cranks out good pizzas by the gross. Ideally, pies would all come out on a conveyor belt and be assembled by robots, but it’s not that kind of factory.

Establishment. What struck us first upon entering Pizza Factory is the incredibly eclectic decor, seemingly in spite of the overwhelming stuffiness that usually comes with being on Greenwich Ave. Decked out in antique road signage and promotional tin doodads, this restaurant comes across as a comfortable little nook complete with paneled walls, creaky wooden furniture, and plenty of low-hanging tavern lights. Our server was quick to take our order, extra personable, and very helpful with suggestions, but the food came out slower than usual (which we’d normally attribute to the crowd, but this place was dead).

Being a pizza factory and all, the menu carries but a few non-pizza options ranging from hearty, cheese-filled salads to sandwiches (paninis and traditional wedges) and not a whole lot else. The menu’s crown jewel is, quite unsurprisingly, the litany of pizza options including a huge list of specialty pies (less traditional Mexican, Chicken Burrito, and Hawaiian, for instance), gourmet pies (classic margarita, pesto-having, and other Italian-sounding options), a virtual arsenal of unique, one-off toppings, and the unique (at least around these parts) offering of either deep dish or thin crust.

Pizza. Our pie du jour was Pizza Factory’s CBT, or chicken, bacon, and fresh, sliced tomato in it’s thin crust incarnation.

How about that? Founded on a crispy, pan-style thin crust, this pie had an overwhelmingly chalky, breadstick-like texture with a muted yeasty flavor to match. The crispness was welcome, however, and a stark contrast to the creamy, stringy, subtle presence of the delicious mozzarella provided by our good friends in Wisconsin at Grande cheese. The sauce was underwhelming for the most part and clearly under proportioned but seemed a bit bland when isolated. We wouldn’t be at all surprised if this lackluster profile was intentional as this restaurant doesn’t seem too keen on serving plain pies.

Pizza Factory clearly thrives on its toppings and specialty offerings, and for good reason. Our CBT came with a healthy amount of chicken—breaded, seasoned, thinly sliced cutlet strips, to be specific—as well as plenty of crispy, salty bacon pieces and the fresh tang of sliced tomatoes (which were surprisingly bright and flavorful considering it’s December). This combination was clearly thought out (take notice, everyone who puts every available meat on a pie and calls it “special”) and very complementary to the overall flavor of the pie. That said, the pizza staples that we hold near and dear—cheese, sauce, and crust—were solid, but nothing extraordinary. They act as a vehicle to hold the pizza together, carry specialty toppings into your gullet, and little else.

The bottom line. Pizza Factory is just that, a quirkily decorated establishment that bangs out all sorts of specialty pies,  flavorful ingredients, and unique combinations that act as accessories on a solid, but underwhelming core of a pizza.

Establishment: 16/30
Pizza: 18/30
Hits the Spot: 5.7/10
Large Cheese: $14.49

Located on the Post Road E. Putnam Ave. in Greenwich, CT, Pizza Post has been around forever (or since 1972). Tucked away behind the fluorescent wonderland that is Gofer Ice Cream, this little pizzeria carries a following evidenced by its fiery clientele. In fact, we ran into someone there who readily admitted that her Friday night pizza run was the fourth time she’d ordered from Pizza Post that week and that the pie was nothing shy of the best. Yet, as we do with all blind loyalties, we’re determined to find out if this claim is the real deal or just Colony-grade hooey.

Establishment. Pizza Post is a very tiny dine-in establishment with all of the low-lit, hardcover menu wielding class of a fancy restaurant and about an eighth of the space that its oven really needs to keep from sweating everybody out. In fact, we had to remodel the place a bit—our table was inexplicably jammed right up against the adjacent diners’ backs—just to sit down. Even then, we were pretty uncomfortably situated back-to-back with the restaurant’s diehard patrons who couldn’t bring themselves to order to-go. That said, the wait staff seems to have a very good rapport with these regular customers, unfortunately we can’t say the same for new customers carrying scorecards like ourselves, as we were flat out ignored for a good 10 minutes after sitting ourselves down and service was nothing short of sporadic throughout the rest of the meal. Aside from that battery of unpleasantness, we can say that this undersized eatery was very clean (likely because it can’t take more than 3 minutes to tidy up) and the menu was lengthy with traditional Italian appetizers, dinners, soups, and salads, as well as a selection of traditional wedge-style sandwiches, regionally-named panini specialty sandwiches, and the unspeakably lame offering of what Pizza Post dubs “pastabilities.” Of course, this restaurant also offers an array of traditional and specialty pizzas, offered with both traditional and “extra thick” crust variations as well as a healthy selection of toppings.

Pizza. Our pie of choice for the evening was the “Dante’s Inferno” pie topped with hot cherry peppers, fried chicken, mozzarella, and tomato sauce—for the most part, a pizza with chicken and peppers on it.

The crust was puffy but superbly crisp and dense, achieving an excellent balance of bite and texture with a good yeasty flavor. The sauce, while a bit scarce, was simple but good, combining the slight bitterness and natural sweetness of the tomato with minimal seasoning for a subtle taste that didn’t overpower (or overly impress). The cheese was nothing short of fantastic, with a smooth, silky texture and satisfying snap that complemented its creamy, salty profile very well and had us grabbing for the strings that each piping hot slice left in its wake. Unfortunately, the pie itself was thrown off a bit by the relatively dry edges and unwarranted lack of sauce and cheese across the pizza, making each slice less and less palatable as one nears the inch-wide, cheeseless abyss waiting the each end. Additionally, the ingredients were spattered almost haphazardly across the pie (one slice had no more than a single piece of chicken on it) and added very little to the overall taste. That being said, this was a very good pizza with only but a few deal breaking flaws.

The bottom line. This restaurant’s fervent following is somewhat warranted, as their product is a very good one; however, that unfortunately comes hand-in-hand with lukewarm service and a hotter-than-hell dining room that left us torn on the place as a whole.

Establishment: 18/30
Pizza: 21/30
Hits the Spot: 7.0/10
Large Cheese: $12.25