Audio By Carbonatix
Zini’s Pizzeria
4001 Cedar Springs 214- 599-2600
Promised time: 45 to 50 minutes
Actual time: 72 minutes
The Score
Phone friendliness: 20
Nobody got food poisoning: 20
Braving the elements: 20
Food temperature: 6
Incorrect use of ranch dressing: -5
You call that a large?: -5
Specious claims: -5
Total: 51
Overall Standings
Zini’s Pizzeria 51
See the final 2008 Standings here.
A wise man once said that pizza is like sex: Even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. If that’s the case, eating Zini’s was like calling up one of those high-priced “Actual Photo” advertisements but ending up with a Ukrainian version of Janet Reno…um, what I imagine it would be like, anyway.
I’m willing to accept some blame for the experience. Six or seven of
us at the office ordered three large pizzas, a penne pasta dish and a
side of garlic “CheeZi Bread” for lunch. The fact that I can’t give an
exact number for how many of us ordered indicates how casual we were
about the whole thing. The typical attitude was: “You guys are getting
pizza? I might have some. Just order whatever you want.” This
maddeningly informal approach ultimately lead to us order the big pies.
Ultimately, we spent more than $50 on the pizzas and pasta. Only the
most assertive among us got more than two slices.
But whether we under-ordered or not, the pizza arrived more than 20
minutes late and in a merely warm state. That was forgivable, considering the icy
conditions outside. But what the pizzeria called a large looked, um, rather average. We even measured one of the pizzas. It measured on the Ron Jeremy scale. But fourteen inches never looked so small.
We were certain that the pizza would at least rate in the taste department. After all,
the menu claimed, it was “Voted Best Pizza In Dallas.” Right, it’s the
best pizza in Dallas. And Janet Reno’s wart hair is kinda sexy.
It tasted suspicious, like somebody had tried to disguise a wet cardboard crust
by over seasoning it. The green peppers and hamburger were chopped so fine they
were barely detectable. Other items–the penne pasta, to be precise–ranked in the “OK” range…except for the garlic cheese bread, universally
described as “weird.”
“It tasted like it had ranch in it,” said the person who ordered.
“It squeezed into my mouth when I
bit into it.”
Sorry, Zini’s, but that’s
the last time you squeeze your weird white sauce into our mouths…um, that didn’t come out right. Just consider it a one-lunch stand.
