We headed to Papa Vince Pizza for our Sunday family pie night to pick up a tray along with their famous Fat Bastard submarine sandwich as a side.
We ordered the 3-topping pizza special with pepperoni, bacon, and black olives with thick crust for $21.99 on a pick-up. The pizza is creatively packaged in a custom designed Papa Vince box which was a good first impression. We know the proof is in the pizza. So when we opened the box, the pie was visually appealing. The fragrance from the hot pizza was enticing. If it looks good, smells great, we figure it has to taste great.
Overall, Papa Vince offers a unique crispy crust, savory tomato sauce, and tasty, gooey, stretchy cheesiness.
Papa Vince manages to create a uniquely satisfying taste. The authenticity of the pizza with good structure scored high points by all four of us. However, the slices are floppy when held up, which shows the pizza falls short on texture. To be fair, the flop is probably a result of the extra thick and oily crust loaded with three toppings and smothered with lots of cheese. In terms of the taste, a bite of the edge makes it a chewy experience.
Papa Vince slice smothered with cheese, loaded with pepperoni, black olives, bacon & layered over a thick chewey crust.
Actually, in business since 1985 in Thorold, Papa Vince shows their experience in creating their popular pizza with a heavy layer of cheese to cover the sauce and loaded with pepperoni olives and bacon toppings. The cheese smothers the tomato sauce like a pie covering, but there should be a bit more tomato sauce below for our preference. That’s just our taste preference, others might enjoy the light layer of sauce just the way it is usually made. So Papa Vince lets customers order extra sauce as an upgrade if that suits their tastes.
On the inside slices , it seemed that the creamy mozzarella cheese was smoothly and fully melted to smother the crust, moreso than than the outer end slices.
The outer edges around the 24-slice tray are extra wide and folded over. So we opened the sides up and ripped off the pieces of crust to dip in marinara sauce we had in the fridge. We don’t know if the extra thick edge is by design, but it worked for us.
The pizza was baked perfectly, which was verified when we checked the bottom of the crust that showed a tasty golden brown colour.
Some comments we shared in conversation between bites around the table,
- thick puffy crust
- cheesy and chewy
- steamy and warm
- authentic Italian style flavour
- delightful sauce
- loaded with toppings
- oily but not greasy
- fresh and delicious
- needs more tomato sauce
On a price scale, Papa Vince’s quality foods and cost adds up to good value.
For a side, we split up the Fat Bastard submarine sandwich to form sliders. Their menu says this is a half-pound of tender rib-eye steak priced at $13.71. We say it is a misnomer to call that sub a Fat Bastard. There is nothing fake, imperfect or inferior about this sandwich, so why call this baby a Bastard? Compared to expectations raised high because of the name, the sub was relatively light on the skinny slices of steak, stacked higher on the ends, tiny in the centre, but the meat was lean, tender and tasted delicious. The veggies loaded up the sandwich with mounds of lettuce, sliced tomatoes and a tangy sauce that created a tantalizing taste sensation. The bread was fresh and soft for a big bed to fill with all the good food inside.
Maybe Papa should rename this F.B. sub sandwich a BIG HERO because you have to be a hero to handle it all in one meal.
Located at 2A Sullivan Avenue in Downtown Thorold, Papa Vince Pizza is a local, small business owned and operated by Johnny Coppola. It’s their 36th anniversary in business on March 4th. Please join us in sharing the local love and celebrate Papa Vince’s success in Thorold.
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