Social media is a restaurant’s best friend when it comes to advertising. It costs virtually nothing, has the potential to reach your entire market and gives you access to instant feedback. Restaurants such as South on Main, Yellow Rocket Concepts’ eateries, At the Corner and others routinely pop up in my feed with food photos and specials. And recently, a newcomer has blanketed Facebook with its own marketing campaign. Deliciosas Pizza, Gyros & Philly’s (yes, that’s a misplaced apostrophe) has spent the last month sponsoring posts to make its way onto your Facebook stream. So I decided to head to Baseline Road to see what this new restaurant had to offer.
A FEW POSITIVES
Let’s start with some of the more appealing aspects of Deliciosas. The ownership and employees were genuinely invested in customer service. I was warmly received on both of my visits, and both times, I got my food in good time. The team actually apologized for a pizza that took 20 minutes to cook, an amount of time I found perfectly reasonable for a scratch-made pie. Deliciosas lacks working central air conditioning at the moment, so ownership has a number of fans to keep the place cool, making dining a comfortable experience.
MANY MISFIRES
Sadly, the above section is much smaller than this portion because the food at Deliciosas was far from enjoyable. On my first visit, a friend and I ordered a gyro and a steak quesadilla, both of which came with more chopped iceberg lettuce than anything else. That would have been fine had we ordered a salad. Pushing past the plant life, the quesadilla featured bland steak, slices of unmelted white American cheese and a tortilla that was barely warm, let alone crispy. The gyro was also a letdown. The slowly rotating gyro meat that greeted us when we walked in turned out to be unseasoned, and instead of a Greek yogurt sauce, the dish was topped with a mixture of sour cream and mayonnaise. We also ordered a small pepperoni pizza to sample, but even that proved disappointing. The pie was saturated in grease; a couple of dabs soaked a napkin straight through. The crust would have been fine, but a complete lack of seasoning made the whole pizza a spongy, soggy mess that coated my palate with pure fat.
I returned a few days later, hoping for anything resembling redemption but finding nothing of the sort. If it was possible, I was actually more disappointed the second time. My Philly cheesesteak seemed to be missing half the meat that you would expect to find, and what was present, again, lacked any flavor, either from the beef or the seasoning. Instead, the dominant flavors were untoasted hoagie and thick mayo, which isn’t a pleasant combination. I also placed an order for onion rings and an appetizer of chicken wings, and that order pointed to a possible reason for the lifeless food I’d eaten. Both the wings and onion rings were pulled from deep freezers located in the dining room, and both were pre-made. If anything, seeing my food come from the freezer and go into the fryer reaffirmed my passion for freshly made fare because these dishes were just as tasteless as everything else I’d eaten. The onion rings had crunch but no salt, pepper or anything else to give them an identity. The wings were actually somewhat juicy, but there was no flavor. That’s partially because of the fact that Deliciosas opts to serve the wings with a side of salsa rather than coating them in wing sauce. I have never seen this presentation before, and I have absolutely no clue why anybody would think that’s a smart move. Like everything else I tried, the distinct lack of seasoning made the food bland and unappealing.
For more on the plates I tried, be sure to check out The Dish. It’s not pretty, though.
FINAL VERDICT
Deliciosas Pizza, Gyros & Philly’s stands as a warning to those who think running a restaurant could be easy. Even if you can get some aspects right, like social media and customer service, it’s all wasted if you can’t deliver on the plate. Forget being great or critically acclaimed. You can’t even be financially successful unless you’re getting everything right most of the time for your customers. Deliciosas is far from achieving that goal. Although I’m sure the staff means well, there isn’t nearly enough effort going into the menu to make a visit worth your time or money.
THE DISH
GYRO ($5.99)
All of Deliciosas’ hot sandwiches are served without fries or other sides. Perhaps that’s the reason the dish comes with enough iceberg lettuce to create its own side salad. The gyro meat is cut thick, but without any real seasoning, it’s akin to chewing on pudding that’s been left on the counter too long. That, plus a sauce of mayo and sour cream, makes for an unappealing meal. (ss)
STEAK QUESADILLA ($6.99)
The beef here just has no flavor, and that’s not the worst part. The cold slices of American cheese are enough to kill an appetite on their own. There’s not even a crispy tortilla to give you some texture; though, to be fair, there’s plenty of crunch in the hill of lettuce that comes with it. (ss)
PEPPERONI PIZZA ($7.99, $8.99, $10.99)
Perhaps it’s the pepperonis, or maybe it’s a low-quality mozzarella, but something here created a massive amount of grease that swam over every bite. The crust could be respectable with some decent seasoning, but that much oil means a saltshaker alone isn’t going to save this pie. (ss)
PHILLY CHEESESTEAK ($6.99)
Yet another dish featuring a colorless protein, this sandwich was short on both cheese and steak. The stingy portion instead gets covered with mayonnaise. I couldn’t finish this one. The fact that the hoagie roll doesn’t even get toasted shows me Deliciosas lacks a basic knowledge of what makes food taste good. (ss)
IN A NUTSHELL
As its name suggests, Deliciosas Pizza, Gyros & Philly’s offers a wide variety of dishes. In addition to the above listed, Deliciosas offers burgers, wings, hot sandwiches and salads.
Location: 5420 Baseline Road
Phone: (501) 379-9967
Web: facebook.com/deliciosaspizzagyrosandphillies
Hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week
Prices: $2.99–$16.99
Alcohol: No
Kid-friendly: Yes
Dress: Casual
Takes reservations: No