Pizza #26 Hounddog's 3 Degree Pizza

Chuck and I went with Kerry Baker to a pizza place that was new to us and familiar to her - Hounddogs 3 Degree Pizza which is located on north high street.

There is so MUCH I like about this place!  First of all there is parking behind the restaurant.  It was confusing because much of it said "reserved" but the waitress assured us that we could park there.
Second, the ambiance is pretty interesting.  They have wood floor and shiny wood tables that are all very different. They had brick walls, loud music and interesting art and decor. 

And the big surprise was that they have a happy hour that extends to 9 PM where beer is $1.50! Pretty great, I would say.  And. on reflection, I cannot even comment on the quality of the service because when the beer is $1.50 you don't really care.   Kerry and I ordered "Lasagna Bites" for an appetizer mainly because we had never heard of them before and wanted to try they out.  They were delicious and it was exactly what they said - lasagna deep fried into a spicy mouthful!

The pizza was very good.  We ordered a pizza that was half cheese and half with bacon, olives and mushrooms.  We chose the "Smokin' Joes" crust that was hand tossed with special garlic butter and their mildly sweet tomato and basil sauce.  It was delicious.  Often when we go out, I feel like my companions pizza is better than the plain cheese.  But the cheese pizza was sweet, cheesy, flavorful and just crunch enough in the crust.  Kerry liked it too!

So, this restaurant for me was a real find!  I absolutely recommend it and will be going back again.

Pizza #25 Brio

I am aware that most of the time we do not think of Brio as a pizza place.  But it is an Italian restaurant and surely they would have pizza.  That was the thinking that brought me to lunch with Trixie at Brio at Polaris.

There are two Brio restaurants in Columbus that I go to - at Polaris and at Easton.  My favorite is to go to Easton on a spring or summer day and eat outside and watch the kids in the fountains.  But Polaris has the advantage of being in a mall, so that I will have an opportunity to buy something along the way to eat.  As I did this time....but that is not the point, is it?

The restaurant  itself is nicely appointed. .  It has both carpet and wood floors and outdoor dining as well (it was hot the day we came). I like the pillars in the restaurant and the plants and what we decided to call the "Tuscany Gold Walls."  It is kind of noisy but but there is sort of a festive air to dining here.

It turned out that they did NOT have Pizza Pie - but they do have pizza flat bread.  I ordered that with a insalata (chopped salad) which was a lunch special.  I ordered the Margherita flatbread with fresh mozzarella, vine ripened tomatoes and basil and Trixie got the sausage, pepperoni and ricotta flatbread.

The good news about the salads was that they were 130 calories - the bad news is that they were bland and mostly iceberg lettuce.

The pizza was good  and cheesy and you could taste the basil flavor.  The flat bread was like eating it on a cracker.

Our biggest disappointment was the service which was slow as we found ourselves waiting for coffee and a box (Trixie could not finish her meal.)

So, my pizza and salad and service rating is kind of low for this experience.  But I have been here many other times and had wonderful meals.