Well here it is, our first review on our blog. I figured we might as well set the bar high and go to one of my favorite places: Home Run Inn in Bolingbrook was our destination. We had to go to the Bolingbrook location because the Darien location did not have outdoor dining. The Bolingbrook location had a very nice outdoor dining area. We ordered an extra large half cheese, half sausage (my daughter's idea) and eagerly awaited what we knew would be a gastronomical delight.
The pizza came promptly, and we were not disappointed. HRI pizza looks as good as it tastes. It was baked to perfection, with just a hint of brown on the cheese. A pet peeve of mine is brown, dry, overcooked cheese on a pizza. The sauce was great, not overly tomato flavored or spicy, but not bland either. What sets HRI pizza apart from the rest (at least in my opinion) is the crust. I have not found another pizza that has the same flavor or texture that HRI crust has. It is by far the best crust I have ever tasted on a pizza. We both ate way more than we should have (but who can blame us?) and still had enough for each of us to take some home. Our waitress Amanda (who was great) then totally made our day when she told us we get a free frozen pizza to take home with us. I don't know why, exactly, but I wasn't about to ask questions! If I had to say anything negative about HRI, I guess it would be that they cut the squares a little too small for my taste. The inside pieces are literally 2 inches x 2 inches. I know it is nitpicking, but a bigger inside square would have been nice.
Well there it is, our first review. HRI Pizza is one of my all time favorites. I give it a 5 Slice rating, which is our top rating. As always, we welcome any thoughts or comments you have on HRI, or our review. We are going to try to do one a month, so our next one will be in August. Not sure what the place will be, but they have a tough act to follow! --- Frank
For our first review, we decided to visit Home Run Inn Pizza, which is one of my favorite pizza places, but somewhere I haven't been in years. If you visited the About Us tab, you'll remember that the very idea for this site came to my Dad and I while sharing a pizza at HRI, so it seemed fitting that our first review be here.
While it was a hot day, this HRI location had a lovely outdoor seating area, complete with outdoor umbrellas to shade us from the sun. We were socially distanced from the other guests, and our waitress was masked and gloved the whole time. The pizza was, as I expected, fantastic. I stuck to the cheese half of the pizza, while my Dad enjoyed the sausage half. The cheese was perfectly melted, and the crust expertly baked. I'm not a huge fan of thin crust, but what I like about HRI is that their crust finds the perfect middle ground between thin crust and thick crust, and it's not too doughy. Unlike some people, I had no issues with the size of the slices.
I ate way more than I had anticipated, but didn't regret a single slice. When the pizza's that good, how can one be expected to exercise self control? Like my Dad mentioned in his review, the free frozen pizza given to us on our way out was such a pleasant surprise, and ensures that I'll be enjoying HRI pizza again sometime in the near future. All in all, it was a wonderful visit to HRI, and a truly delicious lunch - 5 Slices. --- Jennifer