after a curiously strange, but fun, day with friends, we decided to heed our collective grumbly stomachs and made the walk up the alley to the ridge to check it out.
we opened the door and *hot damn!* it smelled like an east coast pizza joint. i was walking on air right then and there. it was just after 7pm on a saturday and we were seated at the last open four-top in the way back, just one table adjacent to the video game machines (purely old-school!) that were pure gold in terms of being child-attractants. one friend ordered a beer on the menu and was told they were out, so the table went with a round of waters. our server appeared with our waters and also dropped off a wire pizza rack on the table which took up a lot of space and made it difficult when the salad arrived.
we ordered a family-style greek salad with spinach added and the feta and dressing on the side (yes, between the four of us it was a bit tricky). for the pie, we went with a santoro's, which included sauce, cheese and homemade turkey meatballs.
after taking our order, our server came back once to ensure that we wanted the spinach extra, not instead of the romaine lettuce on our salad. we confirmed that we wanted both lettuce and spinach and off she went. she came back a few minutes later to let us know that while it isn't listed on the menu, the santoro's comes with thinly sliced onions on top. ew. we 86ed the onions and she left once again.
enter the salad. romaine, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta/dressing on the side. the size was just about perfect for the four of us with none left over. the dressing was good, but nothing phenomenal. overall, a nice salad.
next up, the pizza. we moved the wire rack to the center of the table and the pizza was served. it was a medium crust, not thin and not thick, which actually kind of made it a disappointment for both camps (the thin-crust and the deep-dish lovers). the crust didn't appear to be overcooked, but when we all tried to cut it with a knife that was an exercise in futility. especially with the initial piping-hot piece, it created a gooey mess of the slice and we almost lost one off the plate and clear across the table due to the failed attempt to cut it with a knife. the sauce was nondescript. unfortunately, the cheese was, too. we came away tasting turkey meatball (if you were lucky enough to get a meatball in that particular bite) and little else. it was very bland and honestly, was boring enough that i, who love pizza and will inhale it whenever possible, was done after the first slice. we took an informal poll at the table and came away with a universal "eh".
the service was great. our server was attentive for the most part, no complaints there. the place would use some acoustic adjustments - it is concrete and wood, and boy, it is loud. i mean loud. like, youbetterbesittingontopofyourfriendifyouwanttobeabletohearthem loud. to the point that we could have used a beer at the end to stave off the headache from the noise.
rating: 2.5 stars, but not quite enough there to bump it up to a 3. we'd hit cornuto before coming back to the ridge, and that is coming from a deep-dish lover (cornuto is strictly thin crust).