Sauced Pizza

Love the sauced specials. Cheesesticks made in house are the best ever. EVER! Pizza is good but the beer selection needs work.
No better place to go for a late night snack.

Great pizza… the atmosphere was a little disappointing though.

Sauced came into downtown and many hoped it’d provide another awesome spot to get pizza aside from Mellow Mushroom. I think it’s OK, and I’ve been there on 5 separate occasions on different times and days of week so I think I can gauge it well. I’ll recount 4 occasions to show the variation.
I first went to Sauced on Saturday, April 3^rd for dinner with friends. We sat outside and ordered a large South Jersey Special (pepperoni, sausage, hamburger, bacon, Canadian bacon) and it’s been my favorite ever since then. Pretty much every time I go there I order the South Jersey Special every single time — without hamburger please. Give me that and a beer and I’m pretty happy. Our waitress was adorable, very attentive, sweet, and had great personality.
Sauced is certainly lacking in a few aspects of their menu. The drink selections — nothing’s on tap and there isn’t a huge variety in what bottles they do offer — are short. The desserts are not house-​made, but rather from Hayes Barton Café and Bakery a few miles down the road. It looks like an eatery with random tables here and there, but then it has a full bar (aside from draft beers) and in the corner is a mini arcade. Kind of random, if you ask me.
On Tuesday, May 25, my trivia group and I headed to Sauced. Man, was it a disaster. Apparently, the girl doing the trivia doesn’t usually do it, and that’s a good thing because she mumbled, took shots with patrons, could hardly pronounce some things she was reading, and would giggle like a child about some thing she obviously had no clue about. Who gets put in trivia with that kind of behavior?!? I have no idea what her role was or if she was employed by Sauced, but I think it’s trashy. It was ridiculous and poorly organized. I’m curious as to how they usually do it. I’ll find out soon though because my group took 1^st place that night and basically swept all the prizes home. Hopefully that girl is not doing it again. My friends enjoyed their salads and calzones while I enjoyed a slice of pepperoni pizza. The slices obviously have some toppings added on and are reheated, but they’re not the quality of your typical mall food court. In middle of trivia a softball team came in and that’s when the game really got bad because we could barely hear.
On Sunday, June 21^st I went to dinner with friends and once again ordered my favorite South Jersey Special. It was quite delicious and a very slow Father’s Day evening. It made for great leftovers for the following day’s lunch. The service was okay that night and it was SLOW, so what’s the deal?
Most recently I went to Sauced for a Happy Hour on Friday July 23^rd with a large group of friends. We sampled pepperoni and cheese pizzas along with a few appetizers such as mini corn dogs and fried ravioli. The food was decent and the service was terribly slow (notice a pattern?), but at least the company was good.

When Sauced first opened, I was excited about having another pizza option other than Mellow Mushroom on Glenwood, especially with the pitch of it being close to NY style pizza. I wasn’t expecting a slice like I used to get from Mariella’s in NYC, just a good old fashioned slice of peperoni.
In terms of the overall quality of their food, some visits have been better than others. They do offer a great deal on Monday nights ($ 1 cheese slices) but the quality is sub par at best. Then again, you’re only spending a buck, so you have to set a reasonable level of expectation on what you’ll get for that price. On any other night, the pies come out well cooked and not greasy. Best pie I’ve had is their Hawaiian. The Canadian bacon adds great flavor, and they don’t over do it with the pineapple. The only other item I’ve ordered from the menu is their calzone, and I was far from impressed. Too much ricotta, not a lot of flavor, had asked for sausage, found a handful and the rest was all cheese. I love cheese, just not 2 lbs of it inside dough.
The bar is pretty nice, comfortable chairs, with a nice beer and wine but nothing on tap. I find this to be strange, especially because the sign reads NC Pub, and I don’t know that I’ve ever been in a pub anywhere that offers bottled beer only. They have a few nice TVs in the spot, but not a sports destination for me.
Big perk, if you are on Foursquare, make sure check in and get $ 5 off any large pie. Not only is that a pretty nice deal for your budget, but it’s not rewarded based on overall number of check ins, so you can use it on every visit.
Sauced has new competition now, with Bada Bing opening up just up the road. It will be interesting to see how that effects them, not sure Glenwood can sustain three pizza spots.

Went on Saturday night. The place was pretty empty but that could have been due to the thunder storm.
They have a coverd patio so my wife and I wanted to eat outside. The table cloth was dirty, the music so loud you could not really have a conversation. When my wife went to the restroom, she had to step over a cockroach to get off the patio. Service was really slow.
The Pizza was very good. It is too bad they are wrecking their food with such poor service and such a poor atmosphere.

Our first impression of Sauced was disappointment. The sign they have out front reads, in part, «NC Pub,» but they don’t serve any draft beer. The bottled selections were acceptable, but I expect any place billing itself as a pub to have beer on tap.
The menu was okay, but I’d hoped for a few more pizza options. The toppings list was fairly standard for an average delivery /​fast food pizza place, but don’t expect the more interesting topping or sauce options that you’d get at Mellow Mushroom or Lilly’s. This is not the place to go when you want a pesto slice or white pizza.
My calzone was good, and I liked the sauce. My friends ordered pizza by the slice, and they were all pretty disappointed. They said that the slices had barely any sauce. Also, the toppings were just scattered on top of cheese slices and warmed up a bit, the mushrooms especially looked barely even cooked. It would probably have been better if they’d have ordered a whole pie and had something cooked to order.
The service was friendly but just average quality. They also managed to offend my typographical sensibilities by using an obnoxious novelty font for the majority of their menu. Why did they do that? It’s goofy and hard to read.
The overall opinion was that Sauced’s pizza compared favorably to the kind of thing you’d find at a food court, but was not really worth having again.

Went here with my wife today and have to say I was rather disappointed. Perhaps I am biased because I would much rather have walked through those doors into Enoteca.
We entered the doors and I must admit it was rather bizarre. A sign tells you to seat yourself and as you continue forward you see tables strewn throughout, a small arcade to your left, and the long bar ahead with flat panel TVs attached to the wall as far as the eye could see. The environment really felt like a mixture between a Pizza Hut and a sports bar. Adding to the identity crisis the setup had not changed at all from when this place was operated by Enoteca so you had a sports bar ambiance with the tables meant for a more intimate setting which simply makes the place feel claustrophobic or cramped. And while I don’t think this would be a problem, you are also warned by an obnoxiously large sign over the bar that the minimum purchase for a credit card is $ 10 after 10pm. I mean if you have had enough «adult beverage» to need a large print sign to warn you of this, you have already surpassed the requirement.
We found an open table and sat down only to find the table remained dirty from the previous customer with crumbs and lettuce and other assorted goodies. I didn’t discredit them too much over this since they seemed to be fairly busy.
Once the waiter noticed we were there he apologized for the dirty table and returned quickly to give us menus and wipe the table down. He took our drink orders and returned with the drinks giving us a few more minutes to look over the menu before ordering. I ended up ordering the meatball hoagie with french fries. When it arrived everything looked nice but the disappointment set in after the first bite. I really could have gotten a better sandwich at subway. The bread was nicely toasted and there was a ton of melted cheese on the sandwich but the marinara sauce seemed light and the meatballs were almost crunchy and seemed to be overcooked. Its kind of ironic that I did not have enough sauce on a sandwich ordered at a restaurant named Sauced.
The saving grace was the french fries. Now I have to give you some background. I love french fries and ketchup. That being said I am very picky about my french fries. I view them purely as a ketchup delivery mechanism and therefore am particular about the texture as steak fries or crinkle fries are able to hold much large quantities of ketchup. My ideal french fry is crinkle cut and slightly burned meaning crunchy on the outside but not on the inside. Close to 90% of the places I have been to do not know how to properly cook a crinkle fry (in my opinion) and you end up with what seems like undercooked mushy fries. The french fries at Sauced were crinkle cut and cooked perfectly. Golden brown and light crunch on the outside while not being overdone on the inside. That being said bear in mind the description of my ideal french fries because many of my friends would consider them overcooked.
When we were done the plates were cleared and our bill arrived and was paid. All in all I would have to say my experience at Sauced was slightly disappointing and overwhelmingly average. I can check this place off my list but will not be sad if I don’t return.

Fizzle.
Super sad that Enoteca was gone, it took me a year to even reenter the doors of the building. Putting on my big girl panties, I decided we should go try Sauced this afternoon.
We entered, and it was just like they tossed up some beer posters and opened the doors. It was depressing to be there with flat panels and Bud Light posters taped to the walls.
I should have ordered pizza, but hubs wanted a hoagie and I had been eying the Margarita Pizza, but it only came in a full pie size. I ended up ordering the fried ravioli and a caprese salad.
The food was quick to come out, and the place was really busy. But there were only two people working both the bar and dining areas. Service was slow and inattentive. Food and beverages are served on plastic, and we did not get knives or straws.
The food was fine, but I have never had a caprese salad with romaine lettuce in it? Odd. I did not see much else that peaked my interest enough to return and the pizzas that we did see come out did not look that impressive. It looked like they had pre-​made cheese pizzas in the back and that they just tossed on the toppings you ordered and sent it out. The toppings did not even appear heated or cooked.
I guess the place is a fine hang out if you are «sauced», but I wasn’t and did not care for it.

The family and I visited Sauced this weekend with the kids and I was pleasantly surprised. Is it a transcendent experience like Totono’s or Grimaldi’s? Nope, but for NC it was really good.
I like simple pies that allow the quality of the ingredients to shine through. The crust should be thin, crispy with a light char. These elements were present in the veggie pie we had. Most pizza places I’ve been to here in NC have not had these elements. They either serve substandard ingredients or try to do too much. What I didn’t get was the wow factor from the ingredients. The veggies were pretty standard. They didn’t go overboard on the sauce, which was tasty, which is a huge pet peeve of mine when it comes to pizza.
What I’d like to see here is a little more «upscale» creativity as there is definitely a vibe in the space that says «We’re not your average pizza joint». Pizza can be simple and rustic, or you can be playful with it. Maybe a shaved fennel with bottarga pie or a fig, prosciutto, gorgonzola and arugula pie (I have recipes and know-​how if you’re reading Sauced owners — all I ask is that I get some pies and credit in return).
Atmosphere was nice. Service was really personable and excellent. I’ll be back, especially if they put some unique pies like I suggested on the menu.

Officially, Sauced is not opening up for another couple of days but they’ve had a soft opening for the last week or so. I popped in there with some co-​workers to get a sneak preview of the newest eatery on Glenwood! Sauced occupies the space previously owned by Enoteca Vin (one of my brunch faves) and it hasn’t changed that much. Outside of the addition of some LCD tv’s, beer signs and video games, it looks pretty much the same. I’d call Sauced, upscale pizzeria and sports bar décor.
I grabbed a seat at the bar and a quick menu, pretty basic stuff. No beer on tap, only bottles and wine. For dinner there are some wings, appetizers, pizzas and hoagies. One difference is that they serve pizza by the slice, perfect for you ex NY’ers or people hanging out on S. Glenwood late at night. We tried the pepperoni rolls and cheese sticks which were greasy but good. The General Lee pie we ordered had peppers, mushroom, pepperoni, sausage, artichokes and more. I prefer a simpler pie and wish we had gone for the basic cheese as a baseline. Their marinara sauce was good which gives me high hopes. But the pie we ordered was fine: thin, light crust with fresh ingredients.
Service was attentive and personable, especially since the place just opened up. And there are some desserts, trucked in from, drum roll please… Hayes Barton Café, my dessert favorite! All in all, Sauced Pizza could be really good over time. The space is nice, the pies are good and they’re in a convenient location. They just need to cut back on the live dinner entertainment, too small a space for that kind of stuff. I’ve got my fingers crossed for more from this S. Glenwood newcomer. They deserve a lot of credit for staying open late on the weekends to serve the barflies!