Pizza Chef now open in the Port Colden Mall
A new pizza place has opened in the Port Colden Mall, next to the Hunan Wok. Has anyone tried it yet?
Mansfield mama 
CraftBeerBob We love the Wok. Very good hot n sour soup. Like dinner. Actially can get spicey Chinese there.
Strangerdanger CraftBeerBob, it is located on rt57, going east out of Washington. The DMV is in the mall too, a few doors down.
Hopefully it's better than the last pizza place in the mall that promised "authentic Chicago" pizza that was anything but... as I recall, it wasn't awful, but obviously the owners had never even been to Chicago.
ianimal 
JerryG ianimal - That was three places ago. LOL I can't understand why no pizza place lasts there.
We recently tried Ciao pizzeria on 57 in Broadway, after hearing good reviews, for a cheesesteak and a chicken parm sandwich and it was very good. Great bread! I was really surprised that they delivered all the way to Oxford, and fast too. Might try their pizza today.
Calico696 Calico,
Let me know how Ciao is.
Every time I drive by there is people there. I keep saying we need to try it.
BrownEyesGuy We tried the pizza from Ciao and it was ok. Not any better or worse than any other in the area. Their sandwiches were much better than the pizza IMO. A few people in our group got burgers and said the were fantastic.
Is that the place that got shaken down by the mob a few years ago? Kind of a red mansard roof on it? Not far from the Sports Bar that burned down?
Oh... conveniently located directly across from the Broadway Motel? Tiny little place. I remember it as something else....
I thought it was Family Pizza for several years prior to Chicago Pizza and it always seemed busy
Nosila In the last three years it has been: Jersey Pizza, Chicago Pizza, New York Pizza, and now Pizza Chef.
kj I remember it being Family Pizza in 2009 then it got crazy with name changes every year it seemed.....
Chicago Pizza followed by.....
Jersey Pizza
http://www.yelp.com/biz/jersey-pizza-washington
Pizza NY
http://www.yelp.com/biz/pizza-new-york-washington
I stopped in there earlier today to get a menu.
Vic Man what a trip down memory lane...
Do you remember when Family needed/wanted a new oven and offered customers a deal give Family $$ for the oven in return for pizza. What a great idea! We took them up on the deal and enjoyed the new and improved oven and pizza! I am thinking this happen in the mid 1990's??
Man do we miss Jersey pizza in PA......
NotinNJanymore So had my family down from the mountaintop where they live in a land where pizza sauce and tomato sauce are the same thing :<(
Go to treat them to NJ pizza at a reputable Italian bistro. I hate floppy pizza where the crust folds like a dishcloth and the cheese and oil run off. So often I ask for it to be cooked well approaching crispy. Relatives orders the toppings including garlic. What came out was a garlic shingle. Could have shingled my roof and kept the rain out and vampires away for a decade. OMG might have been the first pizza I have ever thrown out...... Never heard the end to my "wait till you taste the real thing ---- NJ Pizza"
Think next year we might have to head to NYC for redemption.
There's plenty of crappy pizza in NYC too. Perhaps it's your definition of "reputable" that needs work, lol. Because there are plenty of places named Ray's in the City... all of which are reputable to some, some of them are even "famous"... but, none of which make a pizza that I would serve to a dog.
As previously noted, my favorite pizza is at the old joints in Bayonne, where they all compete for who makes the thinnest, crispiest crust, making the sauce, cheese and toppings taste that much better. Almost as far as NYC, but worth the trip to check it out, and/or learn how to make it yourself. Uniquely tasty pie.
DannyC We also helped Family Pizza out by giving them money to buy their oven. Loved getting the coupons for the free pizza in exchange. A win win situation. I remember stopping by the opening day of Familys Pizza. Steve had a 3 foot sub and i had a piece of the sub. Nice memories. Hope someone tries Pizza Chef and lets us know what they think.
Hey, it had a full parking lot. Real Italians were running the place.
Yeah sure, you can find bad food anywhere. Deep dish thoughts for sure :>) Yet in general, I have found NYC's quality bar to be a bit higher than many other US locales.
I had eaten in this NJ place there many times before, never having the pizza, but always really enjoying what we had. PS -- its not in Hackettstown.
Think it was just bad luck with my "crispy" request being heard as "really well done" and a heavy hand in the garlic. Tell you the truth, the garlic may have been me. I love garlic but hate garlic-infused anything. I would try their pizza again, really think I was part to blame. And if we had had the time, I would have returned it. We were just against time.
And yes, DannyC, I favor the thin crust and love Bayonne pizza as well. Had some friends chaperone me to some good joints.
I was working out of my firm's Hamilton office for a few weeks a couple months ago and finally tried "Trenton Tomato Pie" as made by DeLorenzo's. It was ok, but I wasn't overly impressed. I suspect I'll have the same reaction when I finally have New Haven "apizza", too.
I stopped in for a menu... free delivery $12 minimum. Open 7 days, Mon to Sat 11am-10am and Sunday until 9. Their menu is huge, everything from parmigiana dinners with salad and bread (11.95) to seafood. $5 children's menu, too!
Nichole Calico, no website listed on the menu. I'm at work right now and will double check the menu when I get home in the morning concerning potential delivery.
We ordered a pizza from there last night. As usual for the area, it was just average. The 35 minutes they said it would take to be delivered was closer to an hour. We will try something other than the pizza next time.
Finally tried their pizza and I will say the same as Calico, just average. I really wanted it to be better than average, but it isn't. Will have to try something else besides pizza. They do have a big menu so hopefully that will be a plus for them. Hope they advertise online and in the papers. This post on HL is now their only advertisement.
Unfortunately, a big menu at a place that can't make a decent pizza typically means that they've chosen to expand their horizons of mediocrity and make a lot of different things badly. Especially if they call themselves "Pizza Chef"... they must think their pizza is pretty good. If it's not...
Very true ianimal. However, I have found that most places have at least one item that is better than average. It's just a matter of finding out which one.
How does the saying go, Jack of all trades, Master of none. I agree with ianimal. sometimes a big menu is a clue on the quality, or lack thereof, of a place.
Darwin Great point, CBB... Lot of freezer to microwave action, I would guess. Or, maybe they have a bunch of "as seen on TV" Flavorwave Turbo Ovens, lol.
I decided to try a non-pizza dish for you. Lunch menu is a good price. Lunch specials are $5 or $6.95. I ordered chicken parm. They said 10 minutes. I didn't wait inside, so I don't know how that gets accomplished. I'm Irish, so the bar is low.... linguine was just right. Sauce could use quite a bit more flavor. Remember, Irish, we are raised without any appreciation for flavor, so not enough is rarely said. Chicken was tender. Again, not a lot of flavor. The bread was abundant, even if the appearance baffled me. Oil & garlic on it. Due to price, ok place for lunch. Large family? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday are all you can eat pasta. $5.95 I think.
maja 
What was I doing for 10 minutes? Liquor store for lottery tix. Bakery for a cronut-type thing. Yum!
As Gram would say, that's enough cheese to gag a maggot.
Not a fan of the orange-oil-and-minced-garlic garlic bread either. Lots of places do it like that and I never get garlic bread from that place again. Especially when you can tell that they didn't even make the effort to get full bread coverage.
I agree with Gram. I always scrape the heavy cheese layer off. The bread was not something I would offer guests at my house. Nice guys though. Maybe paninis will be better. I volunteer someone else lol :)
I think we all hope that when a new restaurant opens, we'll find a gem. Rarely the case.
Tracy (mobile) Vic, someone had to do it and report back to the HL team. Glad we all could help. I want Pizza Chef to succeed but i will be suprised if they do.
I want to a pizza place in Mercer County recently and ate their pizza. It was delicious and I was tempted to order another slice, but I did not. They had a nice variety, deep dish, plain and multi ingredient topped pizzas. Must have had 12 different pizzas available.
Stepping into Pizza Chef, you see about 7 different topped pizzas and they look like they were baked a few hours ago. They look old and not appetizing. Sorry but that is my opinion
We eat with our eyes and I hope PC can improve.
Tracy, you can find the cronut type pasteries at Sweet Empire, a few doors down from the pizza place in the Port Colden Mall. Kat, who owns and runs the shop, bakes lots of delicious items. Please try it when you can.Thank you.
Pizza Chef is actually a chain of restaurants up in the New Hampshire/Vermont area:
http://pizzachef.com/
Unfortunately still nothing can be found online for the Pizza Chef in our area (not part of the chain) aside from this thread.
The weird thing is if you search in google "pizza chef washington NJ" you actually get a few results for the competition!! (Dicola's) lol
We ordered from Pizza Chef again last night. Hubby ordered a cheesesteak with a side of cheese fries (yikes!) and I ordered the "Godfather" panini (grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, fresh mozz. with balsamic).
Again, the 40 minutes for delivery took over an hour. The delivery person called me three times because she was lost. Hubby said his cheesesteak was below average and the fries were cold. He only ate half of the sandwich and a quarter of the fries. The panini had chunks of grilled chicken, as opposed to the one piece of chicken breast I expected. There was virtually no cheese on it and minimum peppers.
There is a major language barrier with this place. Both times I have called to order, the person who answers ends up passing me off to another person halfway through the order. I'm not sure why you would have someone who doesn't have a decent command of English to answer the phone to take orders and addresses. The driver had a lot of difficulty understanding me on the phone and apparently reading the street signs because she was going in circles.
Anyway, two strikes and you are out for this place IMO. Plenty of other pizza joints in the area that deliver, without the aggravation.
Thanks Calico. With this poor performance and their lack of advertising, i don't have much hope for this place. Too bad!!!!
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