This restaurant can be easy to overlook. In fact, even when I was looking for it I missed it at first. Doc’s Pizzeria & Fish Fry occupies a little sliver of storefront in Elm Hill Towne Center, on the corner of Hinsdale Rd. and Milton Ave. in Camillus. The menu notes that they’ve been “serving the finest food since 1989,” which makes it about 22 years. There is no seating, this is only a take-out and delivery operation ($10 minimum for delivery). A few other notes from the menu: “Camillus’ original chargrilled wings,” and: “Our dough is hand crafted and made fresh every day right in our own kitchen,” and: “Brick oven pizza.”
I ordered a large pizza (16″) with mushrooms, peppers, onions, and half olives. At Doc’s, the pizza starts its baking time on a pan, and then about halfway through the pan is removed and the pizza finishes on the brick. On my sample there was a small amount of fried dough texture and taste. The edge was crisp, but chewy in a pan pizza sort of way (as opposed to a chewy, crusty, bready crust baked completely on the stone). Nothing really stood out in the taste of the crust, it was essentially what I would call a “utility” crust. Notice also the “Syracuse Style” cross cut.
The Pizza Geek prizes pizza sauce that actually tastes like tomatoes. In this case, I felt the sauce was a bit overcooked, which generally precludes any fresh tomato taste. There was a moderate spice level, moderate acidity, and a low amount of sweetness. Cheese was generally good, with little oil separation.
We really ran in to trouble with the toppings. Mushrooms were canned and rubbery, and the peppers were from a jar. Worse yet, the peppers hadn’t been rinsed well and they infected the entire pizza with strong vinegar flavor. My wife has very sensitive taste buds and said she couldn’t eat any more of it because of the vinegar. I’m guessing it may be a long time before I can get her to allow peppers on our pizza again.
Overall, this pizza was disappointing. I was expecting much more based on Urbanspoon reviews, but I have run in to that disparity before. My conclusion at this point: some people, for whatever reason, prefer this kind of pizza. If they are taking it home to kids, and this is all they’ve known, they probably won’t complain. I think that even without the vinegary peppers, the taste of this pizza still falls short of what the Pizza Geek is looking for. I’m in a generous mood today, so I’ll ignore the terrible peppers and give it a Pizza Geek rating of 3 out of 5 slices (2.5 with the peppers).
Summary – Pros: good cheese. Cons: strong vinegar taste, overcooked sauce.
What do YOU think? Have you tried pizza from Doc’s Pizzeria & Fish Fry? Please leave a comment and let us know how it was.
Crust: ***
Sauce: ***
Cheese: ****
Toppings: **
Overall: 
The Syracuse Pizza Geek 
Hey PG, we seem to be on the same page with pizza places. I have had Doc’s on many occasion(not by choice) and there pizza below average at best. They have $5.99 cheese pizza every Wednesday and this really packs them in. Not sure why the people of Camillus love this place so much. Maybe it’s because Cam’s is there only real competition. I will say that Doc’s usually has solid chicken wings, but I know that this is strictly a pizza column.
Here are 3 suggestions. Cam’s, Daniella’s Steak House and Green Gate Inn. Surprisingly, the Green Gate has solid pizza, but I think they only serve it after 4pm.
bah at Doc’s.. go to the village and get a Pie from Nick’s. He used to run the Pavone’s in shoppingtown with some other guys who now work downtown. Nick bought the place from froggers and he makes a nice pie and a nice calzone too. Pavone’s taught him well.