Hometowne Pizzeria

Hometowne has been around a long time and only 5 reviews? Another is deserved for this great little place in Cohoes. We don’t get pizza all that often, but when we do, we almost always pick Hometowne. It’s a bit farther from the house than a few other shops around, but worth the extra travel time. A go to pizza place needs to be both good and consistent in the product. Some of the other places are really frustrating with very different experiences from order to order. We’ve even had orders with one great pie and another terrible. Unexplainable. Not Hometowne though. Pizza is consistently quite good.
This weekend, we had a few people over and decided to order some pizza and other food. Usually with the kids, we wind up with just a cheese pizza since we all like it, but with more people, we also tried the BBQ Chicken Pizza (based on a Unilocal review — thanks!). Really great and definitely will be getting it again. Other than the pizza, the other food is good too. We usually get a calzone or a garbage bread to go with it. The calzones are great and the garbage bread always a favorite. You get 2 items in the garbage bread. Pepperoni and sausage is a good choice and the whole loaf is huge. Final item we tried was the boneless wings. Expected the frozen, breaded, deep-​fried variety. To our surprise, they were chunks of chicken seasoned with wing sauce, probably then done in a pan though preparation method is a little hard to figure out. However done though, they were great. The only item that is a bit weak is the red sauce that is included for dipping or topping the calzone and garbage bread. This was a bit watery and too zippy for its intended use.
4 stars for the food. We’re giving 5 overall though because it’s always ready in a reasonable amount of time, prices are good, the order is always right and the people in the shop are consistently really friendly.

This has got to be my favorite pizza place in the Albany area, I’m originally from California and have since become a Texas transplant. We recently moved up here for work and I never thought I’d find pizza as good as the pizza in Texas, especially since it was a mom & pop place but this is right on par with all my favorites. The owners are awesome and they know us by our order (small double pepperoni pizza w/​extra cheese and extra sauce, 2 garlic dipping sauces on the side. LIKE HEAVEN!) and they’re always prompt, we’ve been surprised to have them arrive early several times. My only complaint is they’re not open on Sundays (Football day). Love this place and totally recommend it.

Ok wouldn’t give it 5, wings flavor Wasent the greatest and I ordered medium tastes like butter. Ordered pepperoni cheese pizza was just ok.

Just moved here from the South and found out that there isn’t a Pizza Hut/​Papa Johns/​Dominios on every corner so if I wanted delivery, I had to do a local mom and pop place. I read reviews on the place from Unilocal and decided to go with it since it had the highest ratings. For starters, their Large pizza is the size of an XL pizza from name brand chains. I’m not big on Chicken on my pizza but I decided to go with the BBQ chicken because of what another reviewer said. To say this pizza was amazing is an understatement. It came with Bleu Cheese. I also ordered «Garbage Bread» merely because you know it’s got to be good if they name it something like that. It’s comparable to a Calzone. I am VERY happy with their food. The only con I could say is they told me it would be here in 25 – 30 minutes and didn’t get it until over an hour. It was worth the wait!

I finally stopped at this place after visiting the pediatrician for my son. Stopped by on a Thursday afternoon around 3−4pm. I always enjoy visiting Cohoes, as it had such an old American feel. The choice of places to go was severely hampered by my wife being with me. She, in actuality, loves most foods, but when asked is very very discriminating. Usually she will require a very specific ethnic food place, which doesn’t gel well with her husband’s frequent ravaging hunger pains that can only be satiated by good old filling salty tasty Italian American food, or soulfood.
We bartered in the car. Originally, I capitulated on Pakistani food or something. The place wasn’t open. I had mentioned (and previously asked about) a new place recommended by one of the personnel at the doctor’s office. Some stupid trendy sounding place with café in the name. I like these types of places, but not when I’m hungry. As we drove down Remsen Street, we drove by Hometowne Pizzeria. I mentioned it. My wife didn’t hear me. I stopped the car and figured we’d go to «The Black Cat,» which I’ve always loved, but the wife’s one time their ended with her in tearful remorse at having consumed so much grease and calories. I grabbed the boy’s (my son) carseat and gritted my teeth, anticipating difficulty in my marital relations as I trudged towards The Black Cat. Mistakenly, I had assumed my wife didn’t want to go to the pizza place, however, after I absently murmured the possibility of going there and grabbing a pizza, she surprised my with a somewhat enthusiastic yes. I picked up my gate as ever step closer made me salivate at the opportunity to possibly get some good salty tasty pizza.
In truth, I’d never been there, but the homey look to the place make me think it might just work out. Upon entering, any fears I had were assuaged, as a very comforting TV was haphazardly propped on a table, showing local news, an aquedoct brick awning peered into a mirrored back reflection, harkening back to the warm flickers of my 80s memories of dining establishments. A comforting but young looking middle aged man was rustling about behind the working counter. I later found out his name was Mike. He warmly greeted us (we were the only ones in the place) and we sat down. I quickly noticed that this was my kind of place, as there was a huge selection of food and pizza. I asked him what hot sandwich he recommended the most. He said that his italian sausage hot sub was the best hot sandwich. I ordered it with anticipation. Mike told me that it was the closest thing to an authentic italian sausage that you could get. Apparently he bought local. I then asked if he had Dr. Pepper. He said no. I then ordered an A&W root beer. My wife got some kind of salad with chicken and a side of sweet potato fries.
We then waited and enjoyed the peaceful surroundings. Sunlight streamed in from the small spaces around the curtains. My wife noticed that Mike was selling artistically decorated cupcakes in a heavy clear glass cake stand on the counter. She informed me that she was going to possibly get one before we left.
The food came. Mike was right. The italian sausage sub was fantastic! The best I’ve ever had. It was the loose sausage that you have to buy in the supermarket if you want. Melted cheese on top. the sausage looked to have been sauteed with a little tomato sause, peppers, and onions. It was on a nice soft on the inside, crusty on the outside sub loaf. It was so good, that my wife who hates sausage, not only had a bite, but I had to stop her from eating too much of my wonderful early dinner. She ate her food and we shared the fries. But the sub was something I will never forget. And I will probably go back just for that.
I then had a lovely conversation with Mike about the food and how the economy is bad and how he got into the food business at the age of 13. He left it for a while in his 30s, but then missed it and started up his present pizzeria years later. My wife eventually got the cupcake (Mike buys them locally) capping off a wonderful experience.
I would greatly recommend this place for anyone who loves good old italian american food. Definitely try the hot sausage sub.

In the pizza wars, there can be only one winner. I’ve already written up the pizza parlor across the street from Hometowne Pizza, and summarily ripped it apart. But as bad as that place is, it seems only to have encouraged Hometowne to strive to make an excellent pie. I’ve had two pies from them: a barbeque chicken specialty pizza, and an eggplant and sausage pizza. And they were awesome. I might go so far as to say the barbeque chicken pizza was the best I’ve ever had. Perfectly done. Tangy sauce. Big pieces of tender chicken. I loved it. And the eggplant pie was surprisingly good as well! Eggplant! Not an easy ingredient to prepare. The place across the street could barely handle a simple black olive and mushroom.
I’m very tempted to give Hometowne 5 stars, but I will have to try their other offerings. In the Remsen St pizza war, this is the overwhelming winner. Next up is Mick’s Pizza on Ontario.