Restaurant Review: Sweet Taste of Italy (Crystal Location)

"Please form a single file line." Anyone else remember
hearing that all through elementary school?

Way back in July, after our day at Canterbury Park with Daren and Jeff we went out to eat at a place called Sweet Taste of Italy in Crystal. I think the Crystal location is their second shop because it was tiny, like the seating area must be navigated in single file tiny. For some reason Mark and I enjoy restaurants with small kitchens connected to the order counter and limited seating. I think we were born cafe type people.

For being in such a cramped space it's got quite an extensive menu: sandwiches, pastas, wings.... All of which we wanted to try, but lets be honest Mark and I went for the pizza. We have a duty to the great people who happen to stumble upon this blog to show them the way to great Minneapolis pizza. It's a tasty job, and we are more than happy to do it. No "thank you" necessary :)

Sandwiches, pasta, and wings will have to wait for another day.

Back to the pizza. They do both by the slice and full size pizzas, which makes it a great spot for a quick snack or ordering take out. On the day we visited we were in a bit of a hurry to catch a movie so we went the pizza-by-the-slice route. This worked out well as it allowed us to try more toppings.

Mark ordered a slice of sausage & onion and I got a green pepper & onion. When our two slices came we were pleasantly surprised to see that each "slice" was the size of two normal sized pieces. They were thin crust pizza slices with a respectable amount of sauce, cheese, and toppings. And when I say a respectable amount of cheese I mean quality mozzarella oozing off the sides. As for the toppings: the green bell pepper was fresh and had really good flavor, the rings of red onion were cut thick and not skimped on, and the sausage was marble size (some bigger) and spicy.

Absolutely delectable.

We devoured them alongside a tossed salad (that makes it healthy, right?) and it ended up being the perfect amount of food for dinner.

Look at the size of Mark's one "slice" and those sausage bits.

A "slice" of pizza with 2 toppings of your choice comes at a price of $3.75. The choices available for toppings are lengthy , especially for the size of the place.

For our rating:

1. Crust: 6 - Remarkably sturdy for a thin crust but nothing to blow you away.

2. Sauce: 8 - Mild, good amount, and not overpowering. However, it wasn't on Buca's level.

3. Toppings: 7 - Both of us were big fans of the sauce & cheese but would need to try more topping to give a better rating.

Overall Sweet Taste of Italy gets a 7, the pizza was pretty tasty but the cheese and size of toppings were the only parts that really stood out. Above average and a steal for the price.

Not bad.

7.7.12