Pizza is a college student’s best friend.
The simple dish can take many different forms, tastes and sizes.
The simplicity and variety of pizza makes it one of the most difficult foods to mess up but here I am – disappointed by a slice of pizza, possibly for the first time in my life.
Pizza Flora is about a 15-minute walk for San Jose State dorm dwellers; but unless you find yourself around the First Street area with no other locations open, you should stick to DiGiorno.
With only six pizza options to choose from, Pizza Flora is a cafe disguised as a pizzeria.
The menu touts vegan and vegetarian options, which allows a variety of people with different eating habits to try the slices for themselves. But inclusivity does not equal titillating flavor.
The two slices I ordered were the Margherita, $5.25 a slice, and the Spring Cream, $5.75 a slice.
I decided to dive into the Margherita slice first, which I want to say I had high hopes for, but then I would just be lying.
The “local organic tomato” pizza looked like a blistered foot that had just run a marathon.
The bubbly cheese cysts were not only unbearable to my eyes, but to my tongue as well.
The pizza tasted as if Chef Boyardee himself was in the kitchen and decided to dump an entire can of spaghetti sauce on a thin slice of bread.
The crust at the edge was the only saving grace the pizza had, not only because it was fluffy and delightful, but also because I knew I was finally done eating the slice.
The Spring Cream slice was next in line for me to consume and this pizza had my attention.
The pale mozzarella cheese base accentuated the criss-crossed pattern of pesto sauce topping, but sadly looking at the slice was the only satisfaction this pizza gave me.
Where the Margherita slice tasted of pure pizza sauce, this wedge was like eating a jumble of wet toppings on bread.
The pizza was hard to consume for the simple fact that it was a bland mouthful of mush.
The restaurant’s savior amongst the pizza debacle is that it is a great cafe that has an array of craft beers, wines, coffees and on-tap kombucha to choose from.
That’s cool and all, but the restaurant is called Pizza Flora, not Cafe Flora.
I felt betrayed that a location that bears “pizza” in its name could not execute a $5 slice of pizza properly.
For the same price as two pizza slices I would have much rather settled for a Little Caesars pizza with some Crazy Bread and that is not a compliment to Little Caesars by any means.
The service was quick and I appreciated the welcoming aura the cashier radiated, but with so many pizza options near campus for me to choose from, a friendly smile is not going to lure me back in for a second visit.
If you are looking for a relaxed cafe downtown to sit and have a drink, then maybe Pizza Flora is the place for you, but if a satisfying slice of Italian goodness is what you’re craving, set your sights elsewhere.
