Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint

I've noticed that over the last few weeks, the time between when we actually visit the pizza places I write about and the time that I post the reviews is getting longer and longer.  Be not afraid, it isn't because I'm losing interest or that I somehow forgot to have pizza one week.  The reason?  March Madness.  No, not basketball.  It's become crunch time at school, and much unlike senior year in high school, the end of the year does not mean we get to coast to the finish line.  Why does grad school have to be so much work?  Stupid engineering.

Alright, now that I've got that off my chest, how are you?  I assume you're doing well.  How can you not be?  March Madness (the basketball kind) is here!  I don't root for any schools other than my own, but I do fill out brackets.  I've got the TV set on basketball right now while writing, and I'm not doing much more than keeping an eye on the score.  I only keep it on to watch when the upsets start to happen...everyone loves a good upset!  (Unless it ruins your bracket and you lose your office pool by a slim margin, that is.)

I digress.

Pizza!  Specifically, Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint! (Love the name.)

Picture time!

For the second week in a row, we visited a pizza restaurant that we were able to order separate individual pizzas.  I'll try to keep this post from going on too long, but I'll also try to touch on the differences in my pizza versus Kate's, and tell you a little about Uncle Maddio's.

Firstly, and most noticeably, this restaurant is on Bardstown Road in the Highlands area.  Specifically, Bardstown Road at Grinstead Drive (the address is actually a Grinstead address, but it faces Bardstown Road).  The best thing about the Highlands is that everything is so close together, and you can just walk around and enjoy all of the sights and stores.  The worst part about the Highlands?  Everything is so close together, and people are just walking around all the time.  To get into the parking lot of this place, we had to circle around to an alley, wait for an oblivious pedestrian to get off of his phone (hearing the running car behind him in an alley wasn't enough, apparently), and then make a blind turn onto Grinstead and into the only entrance for the parking lot.  Yay walkable urbanism!  (Ugh, I can't believe I just made a reference to something we're talking about in school.  Not deleting it, there's no turning back now.)

We walk into Maddio's to find that it's nothing what we expected.  I was expecting the usual:

"How many?"

"Two."

"Right this way." (or "It'll be about 20 minutes.")

What did we find?  Crickets.  Literally.  Figuratively, of course.  The only staff in view are those behind the counter.  This is a restaurant where you approach the counter, and they create your food right in front of you, if you like.  If you know what you want, you can go order a large pizza with the works, and then go pay at the register.  On the other hand, if you haven't been there before and you tend to like to see how things are made, you can stand there like a creeper and watch them make your pizza before putting it in the oven (which Katie helped prevent me from doing, thankfully).  In short, it reminded me a lot of Moe's or Qdoba in the way you order.

You can order pizzas ranging in size from individual to large.  Just for blogging purposes, we each ordered our own individual pizza.  Here are the steps (taken from the Uncle Maddio's website):


(That was so much easier than typing and spell checking.  I may have to use pictures from websites in the future!)

Katie's pizza:  White dough (racist joke goes here), tomato-basil sauce, pepperoni, extra cheese.
Corey's (better) pizza:  Wheat dough, tomato-basil sauce, pepperoni, grilled chicken, extra cheese.
 (The deal was one individual pizza with three toppings for $6.99, not bad at all.)

Then, they pop it in the oven!  It takes six minutes to cook the pizzas.  Any pizza, any size, they'll have it out in about six minutes.  Katie ordered a salad with hers, which they also prepared in front of us, and she hadn't even finished the salad before the pizzas were at our table.  Let me explain the shock we had at the speed of our pizza preparedness.  Katie does to salads what I do to White Castle, minus the effect on other people later. (That's a fart joke, if you hadn't caught on.  Classy, right?  No humor is too low for this particular blog.)

Oh, I almost forgot.  Uncle Maddio's (a chain, by the way, not just one location) has the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines!  (Never heard of it?  There ya go.)  Love those things.  I almost always get cherry-flavored something.

For the actual pizza review, it isn't too difficult to explain.  It's good.  We're only in March, and I wouldn't be surprised if this place was in the top 10 for me at the end of the year.  (They cater, Louisvillians.  Have them cater your party, and invite me as a thank you.)

The crust is thin, but not a "thin and crispy" crust.  Thin, and in a sweet spot between soft and well-done.  That goes for both of our pizzas.  The pepperoni had a somewhat dominant taste on my pizza, and I like strong-tasting pepperoni.  The grilled chicken wasn't as tender as I was expecting, but it wasn't bad either.  The cheese...what can I say?  Cheese on pizza makes the world go 'round.  It's hard to go wrong on cheese.

Katie didn't know it at the time, but I stole a bite of her pizza when she got me a refill.  Her pizza was extremely sweet, which I assume is the white dough and sauce combination.  It wasn't bad at all, though.

Sadly, I don't have a whole lot more to say on the taste of our pizzas.  This was a solid pizza that I'd definitely go back and have if I'm out there in the Highlands for anything.  Still considering catering for a graduation party we're having soon.

Leftovers:  there were no leftovers.  We regretted it on the way home, but Katie showed no signs of stopping on her pizza, and I wasn't about to let her out-eat me when she had a salad before as well.  (Almost forgot:  they put "crustini" pieces on top of their salads in place of croutons.  SO GOOD.)

Grades:

Service:  The only service we experienced was behind the counter.  They were nice about explaining everything to us as first-timers.  The speed of cooking the pizza is based on the process, but I'll count that too.  (Grade:  A)
Atmosphere:  A couple of TV's, but it definitely isn't a sports restaurant.  Nice place equally for lunch or dinner.  (Grade:  A-)
Taste:  Not amazing, but very solid.  Finished all of it at the table.  (Grade:  B+)
Accessibility:  Multiple types of seating, should be good for crutches or wheelchairs as long as it isn't too crowded.  Hated trying to get into the parking lot.  (Grade:  D+)