Stepping Out

Dewey's Pizza

Rating: 4.5/5 559 North & South University City, MO 63130 (314) 726-3434 Price Range: $10-20

Looking for some good pizza near campus? Check out Dewey's Pizza for a fun, casual dining experience. The pizza is delicious and the joint is a great place to go with a group of friends.

Clean, classy and casual, Dewey's has a very appealing décor. Some walls are painted a deep maroon color while others are a cream colored brick. There is plenty of seating as well as a bar, which offers on-tap beers and an ever-changing selection of fine wines.

Music played softly in the background. An added attraction was the windows into the kitchen where you can watch the chefs make your pizza. They flipped it gracefully, stretching and spinning the white dough on floured fingers. Then, the pizzas were stone baked in an over.

The restaurant offers pizza (obviously) along with salad and calzones. The salads can be ordered as either a side or a meal. Dewey's gives you the option of creating your own pizza or choosing from a variety of specialty pizzas, offered in 11, 13 and 17 inch sizes. My four hungry friends and I opted to order two 17 inch specialty pizzas.

If you and your friends have trouble making decisions (like mine do), it's no problem, because Dewey's lets you order half-and-half pies. We ended up ordering one pizza that was half Dewey's Original and half meatball. Our second pizza was made up of options called Billy Goat and Socrates' Revenge.

Our waitress was friendly and efficient, and our pizzas and salads arrived quickly. Our side salads came first, and turned out to be quite large. The house salad was a tasty mix of fresh field greens, goat cheese, pine nuts, cranberries and balsamic vinaigrette. All of the toppings were heaped on generously except for the salad dressing, which was flavorful but not overdone. The Greek salad was prepared with fresh field greens, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted whole garlic cloves, red onions, cucumbers and feta cheese. It was drizzled with Dewey's Greek Dressing, a bright red colored roasted red pepper vinaigrette.

Our pizzas were also excellent and not greasy. Dewey's Original was a classic cheese pizza with tangy red sauce and mozzarella cheese. The Meatball pizza was made with red sauce, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, oregano, Parmesan cheese and, of course, pieces of savory Italian meatballs. The Billy Goat was covered with light mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, green peppers and fresh tomatoes. Finally, Socrates' Revenge was topped with a mozzarella-fontina blend, spinach, black olives, green olives, feta cheese, red onions and tomatoes.

Each pizza had a tasty, crispy crust that was on the thin side, but not too thin. The crust around the pizza was airy and delicious, with a taste that was reminiscent of seasoned garlic bread. It's hard to say which pizza was the favorite. My personal favorite was the Meatball, but among my friends each pizza got a vote-clearly, each pizza was well liked.

Dewey's Pizza impressed me and my friends with its comfortable atmosphere, quick, efficient service and delicious, innovative offerings. So if you're craving fresh, handmade pizza, I'd suggest hitting this place up.