Crust

I guess like they say, all publicity is good publicity because Crust doesn’t seem to be hurting for business. We headed over one Saturday night with friends and their kids to see what was up at Crust.  First of all, I love that THEY TAKE RESERVATIONS. One of the reasons I don’t go to other pizza places a lot is because I can’t stand waiting forever, particularly with my kids in tow. And because that is when we go for pizza, it’s sort of a vicious circle. When we got there, they had a lovely table for the 8 of us set up in the back corner, which was perfect with our kids.

We started with a couple of orders (ok, we ordered one and then another) of their version of garlic cheesy bread ($6), which is a thin pizza crust with cheese and lots of actual garlic. They give you a side of marinara sauce for dipping. This was probably my favorite item of the evening. The crust was fairly crisp, but with a slight chewiness and it had a good garlic kick. The housemade marinara was very good and I rarely get excited about marinara.

I also ordered a Crust Signature salad ($8), which at the time I ordered it, I didn’t realize it was as tomato-heavy as it was. And being winter, well, you know about tomatoes in winter. I think this will be a great salad when the tomatoes are nice and ripe. It had chunks of mozzarella, olives, and red onions in a nice tangy vinaigrette. A great combo but just needs better tomatoes. They may want to think about a fall/winter salad to call their “Signature” salad. Just a thought. It is also certainly large enough to share with at least 2 people, if not more.

We got several pizzas—the kids had cheese and pepperoni, the menfolk got a meat heavy one and us ladies shared a veggie pie. Ours was called the Four Seasons ($15) and had artichokes, mushrooms, spinach and roasted red peppers (well not on my half).  Sadly the pizza was my least favorite part. It wasn’t bad, but it just seemed like nothing really stood out about it. And the least impressive part was the actual crust, which with that being your name, should be pretty spectacular in my opinion. It was a little soggy in the middle and was pretty topping heavy (which probably contributed to the sogginess). From my experience with Neapolitan style pizza, it seems a little lighter hand with the toppings helps balance out the pie so the crust doesn’t get too soggy. Hubby said theirs was better but I didn’t try the meat one.

We ended with Crust’s version of tiramisu ($5), which wasn’t bad. It had a lot of cocoa powder on it and was heavy on the custard part. It was also quite large and shareable. The kids were very happy with their birthday cake gelato ($5)(and it is pretty tasty).

The service was decent. Our server was friendly. They were quite busy and sometimes it slowed a bit waiting for drinks. But getting our food was not too bad and they were very nice. My daughter wanted me to mention that she was annoyed that they were out of all drinks except for soda because she is not a soda drinker (I think this was just a figuring out inventory the first few months issue and our server apologized about it).

It was all  fine, but with as far away as it is from me, it will be unlikely I will be a frequent visitor. I do really, really appreciate that they take reservations though.

Crust

12505Old Meridian Street #170

Carmel, 46032

317/810-1777

www.crustindy.com