The never-ending search for pizza took me up Route 11, into Mattydale, where a mile or less south of I-81 you will find Christopher’s Home Style Pizzeria & Ice Cream. I can imagine that you’d find a LOT of people here on warm summer nights. But when I stopped for a slice of pizza at lunchtime on a cold winter day, I was the only customer. All the ice cream equipment was empty and silent. There was no pizza displayed in view of the counter, so at first I had my doubts that anything was available without ordering a whole pie. Eventually a person emerged from out back somewhere and replied that yes indeed, slices were available.
After a brief warmup, I obtained a cheese slice which was 1/6th of a 14″ pie ($1.94 incl. tax). At 1/4″ thickness, this falls into the “thin” category, with a significantly thicker rim. In the picture you can see that it had good interior bubble structure, a well-browned crust, spike marks, and it was baked on a screen. There was a decent amount of crispiness, and overall crust taste that was a little above average.
It is hard to comment on the sauce, because virtually all of it was absorbed into the crust and cheese. At this time of day (about 1:00pm), I wouldn’t expect the pizza to be extremely old, so I was a little surprised by this. Even when sauce loses a lot of its moisture to the crust and cheese, you still usually find some lingering tomato solids. Cheese had turned orangey, was rather browned and oily, and was a little salty.
Overall, the slice I sampled at Christopher’s was a basic, average slice that suffices for a quick bite. A few minutes after eating, I noticed a little bit of oily aftertaste. If it weren’t for the relatively good crust, it would score about 2.5, but the decent crispiness, texture and taste of the crust lifts it to a Pizza Geek rating of 3 out of 5 slices.
It was not obvious whether delivery is offered, but I’m guessing it is, at least during typical peak times. There is no seating, just a tiny counter where you could stand and eat if you had to. According to their website, there is another location in Oneida.
Summary – Pros: pretty good crust. Cons: absorbed sauce; browned, oily cheese.
What do YOU think? Have you tried pizza from Christopher’s? How about ice cream? Click the comment link below and tell us about it!
Crust: ****
Sauce: ***
Cheese: ***
Toppings: NA
Bang/Buck: ****
Overall:
I think taht Christopher’s has the best food…I would reccomend it to anyone. It is personally one of my favorite places to eat!
Mattydale sucks. The Oneida Location is where to go. We will make you happy you came
I think this location is now closed. Good thing too, the service/food/ice cream was pretty lackluster.