Alleycat's PIzza

Address: (Store Visited) No.1, Sec. 1, Bade Rd. , Jhongjheng District, Taipei. 八德路一段1號, Taipei

Telephone: (02)2395-6006

Hours: Sun-Thurs: 11:00AM-12:00PM; Fri-Sat: 11:00AM-2:00AM

Pizza.  Is there a more ubiquitous food that is used for parties, gatherings, and get togethers?  The door bell rings, and someone holding a stack of card boxes that comes up to their chin is standing there..an awesome sight to behold.  Why is pizza so popular? Let's try to count the ways.  Its ridiculously easy to share, it can be custom made to anyone's preferences, it is visually appealing, and of course.. it tastes fantastic.  I'm sure i'm forgetting something, but you get the idea.

Alleycat's is my first foray into testing out the pizza that exists here in Taiwan.  To be honest, I have only heard disparaging remarks as to the state of pizza here, but where's the fun in just listening to others? So on a Tuesday night, I packed up my camera and ventured out with some friends to see if the naysayers were speaking the truth or not.

 A fine selection of liquid treats were available.

Simple salad to get started with.

Let's get some of the specifics out of the way first.  There are 9 Alleycat's Pizza establishments in and around Taipei, which gives you an idea to the popularity that it has managed to achieve.  It has marketed itself as the best pizza in town, and offers up thin crust pizzas as well as calzones, and other appetizers and such. 

They have pretty good happy hours and offer up a fine selection of beers.  I am led to believe that the Tien-Mu location often has live music (check their FB page for more info), and it really is a nice place for you and a group of friends to kick it and congregate around some food.

 Basil Pesto Bruschetta. 150NT

Alleycat's offers up 7 signature pizzas for your choosing and a host of ingredients for you to either create your own pizza pie or to tweak their creations in a fashion that's more to your liking.  We perused the menu for a while and eventually settled on a salad, bruschetta and two large pizzas (10' for regular and 12' for the large).

The salad was simple but flavorful.  I found the bruschetta to be a little lacking.  The bread wasn't very fresh in my opinion and not crisp enough. The size of the pizza was adequate, and I would say it wouldn't be too much trouble for a grown man or woman to polish off a whole large pizza if they were called upon to do so.  

I loved the area where this particular Alleycat's was located, and the decor and atmosphere of the restaurant itself really gives it bonus points.  There was ample seating both inside and out, and the booths were cozy, and the restaurant gave off a hip yet warm vibe.  For a Tuesday night, the restaurant was surprisingly jam packed.  I don't know if this applies to the other restaurants, but it can't hurt to be safe and make a reservation if you plan on dining at this or any of the other Alleycat's Pizza Locations.

The Quattro Formaggi.  With extra sundried tomatoes and basil as per our request. (450NT + 30/50NT per extra ingredient)

The Maialona.  Their most popular item.  Really is essentially a sausage party... literally.  (480NT)

Now we've come to the main attraction.  Its nice to have a alluring location and all that extraneous stuff, but if the pizza doesn't deliver, then there is really no reason to head to Alleycat's.  It's here that I think we get to bit of an grey area as to the quality of their pizza and how it should be judged.  

Living in America essentially my entire life has exposed me to lots of pizzas.  They were of varying degrees of mediocre, good and great, because lets face it... there is no such thing as bad pizza is there?  If I were to judge (and of course that's exactly what I'm doing) I would place the quality of this nights effort between mediocre and good.  

Being a carnivorous male, I enjoyed the Maialona more, while my female friends were more partial towards the quattro formaggi with extra sundried tomatoes and basil.  My friend was correct in saying that the crust was entirely too burnt, and the pile of crusts that piled up on her plate like discarded bones was good evidence of that.  Another gripe that was pointed out was the saltiness of the sundried tomatoes and of the quattro formaggi in general.  I enjoy my food slightly on the salty side, so this wasn't a huge issue with me, but I felt it had to be pointed out for mockery.

I enjoyed the flavor of the pizza overall, and it had a bit of sweetness to the dough that I found pleasing.  Like I said, it is almost impossible to make pizza that is awful.  Even pizza that tastes like the cardboard boxes it came in is still acceptable.  But we are stretching for a higher standard here, especially from a chain that touts itself so highly and gets raves reviews from many of its patrons.  Was I disappointed? I wouldn't go that far, but after having so many great pizza places in the States, it is difficult to be excited about Alleycat's and the pizza pies that they offer.

Alleycat's Pizza is a great place to hang out and more likely than not, I will be tasting one of their other creations soon.  It is a perfectly decent slice of pizza that has its flaws.  It's just that if this is the best pizza Taiwan has to offer... then we have a whole lot of work ahead of us.

Overall Alleycat's Pizza receives:

-Til Next Time-