Red’s Savoy Pizza is a new local restaurant providing “Sota-Style” pizza, baked pasta, salads, and more. Located at 2550 Broadway Avenue in Rochester, near Kohl’s and across from Burger King and New China, the store, which includes a drive-thru, has been eagerly anticipated, but does it deliver?
Originating in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1965 by Earl Red Schoenheider, this chain of restaurants is known for its award-winning sota-style pizza, which is a thin-crust pizza cut into squares, with a sweet and savory passive-aggressive sauce; the name is short for Minnesota-style pizza.
Upon entering the restaurant, I was greeted by a very clean and pretty snazzy décor. The atmosphere was inviting, though it was awkward because people were crowding the window, since there wasn’t enough space in the lobby for everyone to stand or sit and wait for their orders.
One customer noted that, “it’s not a place to dine in for bigger parties.” Families kept coming in, and it became even more cramped. Although the staff at the restaurant are very nice and accommodating, the restaurant’s location and size prove to be a downside for those having a party that’s more than 4 people.
Red’s Savoy menu has a variety of items ranging from pizza and wings to pasta and cheesecake. The restaurant only serves two sizes of pizza: 10 and 14-inch pies. They have 13 types of pizza, which include specials and single toppings; their pizza is pretty expensive with the 10-inch cheese pizza at $11 and the 14-inch at $16, but it is within about a dollar or two of other area restaurants. It’s pricier by the slice ($5.50) or two ($12 and a drink). Specialty pizzas can cost up to $26 for the 14-in. The customizability of the pizza is not that great with only one sauce, even though they make specials with different sauces. Each topping is $1.50. On another note, on their website and menu, they don’t provide a calorie count for any of their items, which is an issue for health-conscious people.
When I went there for the first time with my friends, we ordered chicken alfredo, Canadian bacon and mushroom, and pepperoni and sausage. Our order total came to around $47 for 3 10-inch pizzas. We sat down and waited for our order for about 6 – 8 minutes, so the wait time was perfect. The food came out fresh and very hot. One of my friends thought that “the service was great, and the wait was very short.”
The restaurant also provided a diversion similar to McDonald’s pull tab game; the unique pull tab system added a fun element to the dining experience.
After trying the pizza, we found out there were some questionable things about the store and menu. We had trash to toss, but they did not have anywhere to dispose of their waste, which was an inconvenience, since the cashier was the one throwing everything away for people dining in the restaurant. One of my friends felt as if “this is like a discount Domino’s.”
The pizza is good, but it’s not a pizza that I would choose if there were other options; it’s just okay and honestly a bit of a letdown. It was fairly mediocre pizza, on par with almost every other pizza chain that is only a short drive away. The place impressed me with its cleanliness, décor, and great service, but the prices and mediocre food had me feeling quite disappointed. Despite this shortcoming, the restaurant’s unique pull tab prize game adds excitement to the dining experience; that’s not enough excitement, however, to sustain a crowd. I would rate this restaurant 3 pizza slices out of 8. I do not plan on returning.
Photos by Ryan Huynh
