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Delivered on the Pizza, Not the Service
Monday Mar 03, 2008.
By Erin Brereton
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 photo: Erin Brereton
For $15, you can down all the pizza you want (fools), plus unlimited salad, Rice Krispy treats and beer. That's right: AND BEER.
I asked my friend Betsy to see if she wanted to join me; she was dubious. Really, just $15, she questioned? We both strongly felt we could eat and drink more than $15 worth of beer and pizza. Surely the restaurant couldn't be making money off this deal? We made plans to meet there Tuesday, hoping Joey would come through.
When I arrived, I was feeling almost ill from not having time to eat lunch that day, thanks to a sudden need to hire two very nice contractors to replace my front door, which had mysteriously broken in half. (Option B, covering the doorway with a dangling bearskin, just didn't seem to offer the same anti-theft protection.)
So I was ready to ingest a chair when I arrived. The special isn't a buffet as I had pictured; your table places personalized orders and can choose the sauce, cheese and two toppings per pie, from ingredients like BBQ sauce, spicy marinara, blackened chicken and broccoli.
The bargain beer list was also a surprise; I expected watered-down pitchers, but quality brews were on offer instead. I opted for a Honker's Ale draft; Betsy ordered a Rogue's Dead Guy. (It also serves Sapporo and a staff pick, which we were told was "Guinness-like," with the deal.)
The beers arrived quickly, so did the next question from our waitress: Did we want salad? We did. But before we could discuss our options, she hastily recommended bringing us the one with a balsamic dressing because it was the best, and she headed off to place our order.
It all happened so fast, which ending up becoming the trend for the night. The waitress returned, and we ordered a tomato sauce, four-cheese and tomato pizza. And then she said it looked like we were done with our salad, grabbed it and left.
If we hadn't been custom-ordering food, I seriously would have started to worry that it was being recycled with how quickly she took those salads. And the quick removal of items kept happening, and soon Betsy's first Dead Guy draft was repossessed with one-third of it left.
Overly speedy service aside, I will say this: With a buttery, thick crust and fresh vegetable toppings, the pizza was delicious and hearty.
But therein lies the problem: It's rich. The pizzas aren't family-sized, but they're bigger than individual pies. Coupled with the fact you're sucking down heavy beer, I'm not sure if many patrons could make it through more than one or two.
Oh, but we tried. When the waitress came back with two slices left on our first order, we asked if we were allowed to get more. "Sure," she said, and she even approved our request for two sauces.
We ordered a white pizza with mozzarella and spinach on one half; the other side was supposed to have pesto, goat cheese and tomatoes. It would have been delectable, had the waitress written it down and the kitchen had known what we ordered. (Though the ingredients were all mixed up, it was still tasty but didn't help my view of the service.)
By that point, we were stuffed. I asked for a box—they do let you take leftovers home. But we still wanted those Rice Krispy treats. Smart? No. Excessive? Yes. I'd watched other tables gnawing on them all night, but all our waitress brought us for dessert was the bill.
I asked another staff member for some, and our waitress emerged, flustered and apologetic, with a plate of tiny treats—the perfect size to finish our feast.
With the oddly rushed service, I'm on the fence about whether or not I'd go back. And, really, we weren't sure we made out like bandits on the bargain: Two or three drafts, a plate of salad and some slices could cost close to $15 at other restaurants.
That said, the food's good, so if your dinner goals don't involve beating the system or always being allowed to finish what you order (don't be selfish! The garbage gets hungry, too!!), your next Tuesday night pizza craving may have found a home.
For more on Joey's Brickhouse, visit enterthechef.com/brickhouse.html or stop by 1258 W. Belmont.
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