Pizza Shack, Spencerport

Not long ago, I stopped at the Pizza Shack I on West Ridge Road in Spencerport, and picked up a couple of slices. Before I get to the pizza, I should mention that there used to be a Pizza Shack II on Buffalo Road in Gates, right next to DeLinda’s, but that appears to be closed. There’s also a Hamlin Pizza Shack, and although I had assumed it was connected somehow with the one in Spencerport, I see that Hamlin Pizza Shack’s website says “Established 1986,” and the Spencerport Pizza Shack’s menu states, “Since 1970.” Their logos also differ in appearance. So maybe they’re not connected. Looks as if I’ll be driving out to Hamlin sometime, then.
OK, so back to the Spencerport "Shack." I foolishly ordered two pepperoni slices before finding out how big their slices are. Turns out a “slice” is really two slices, in other words, a quarter of a pie, cut down the middle. So I ended up with quite a bit more pizza than I wanted. Always ask first.
Oh well, that just meant that I’d be having cold pizza for lunch the next day. The slices, which were very fresh out of the oven, were thin to medium in thickness. The underside was just lightly browned, a little crackly, and just slightly crisp. There was some grease on top from the pepperoni, which I let drip off, but the underside was not greasy. The crust had a certain breadiness to it, not outstandingly so, but not bad.
The slices were topped with a thick layer of chewy, melted mozzarella cheese (described on the menu as “100% real mozzarella cheese” - are there pizzerias around using artificial cheese?). Beneath the cheese lay a stratum of sauce, moderately applied, with a medium consistency and flavor, neither too salty, acidic, nor herbal, but very straightforward and tomatoey.
Pizza Shack has a pretty standard array of pizza toppings to choose from, and no specialty pizzas as such. They also offer hot and cold subs, wings, calzones, a long list of munchies (mostly fried), and a handful of other items, including a Friday fish fry. They deliver within a seven-mile radius, which takes in Spencerport, Hilton, and western Greece. There are no dine-in facilities, and in fact the interior has a certain ramshackle appearance befitting the name of the place.
This pizza fell into the OK-but-not-great category. It had no real flaws to speak of, but the components somehow didn’t seem that well integrated with each other. There was a crust, and sauce, and cheese, and pepperoni, but somehow they didn’t quite come together into a unified whole. I know that’s rather vague and subjective, but it was just my impression. My other quibble is with the crust, which was decent but rather pale underneath. Perhaps I would’ve liked this better had I arrived 10 or 15 minutes later, and gotten the slices reheated for a minute or two, to allow the bottom to bake a bit more and the components to come together a little.
Anyway, as I said, there was nothing “wrong” with this pizza, as such. All in all, it was decent enough, perhaps a notch above average, so I’ll give it a C+.
Pizza Shack I, 5008 Ridge Road West, Spencerport 352-5005
Sun. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 1 a.m.
Pizza Guy Update:  for a more recent review of a full pie from Pizza Shack, go here.