BEST RESTAURANT AWARD
"Wright Gourmet" Restaurant Review
The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe
By: Ed Wright, The Wright Gourmet

The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe
(909) 792-3313
120 E. State St.
Redlands, Ca.

Few positions are harder to hang onto more then that of “First Place,” but such has been the rating “The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe” has maintained in the Inland Empire for so many years most local restaurant reviewers have probably lost track. It is also fair to guess that the restaurants employees have lost track of all of the different pizzas The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe offers… because the list is seemingly endless.

With creative pizza combinations like “Tony Bennoli,” “Ralphys” or “Wild Willy’s West Coast Express” they have fun with what they do along with making incredibly good Pizzas. Gourmet Pizza Shoppe also offer some pretty creative “Spicy South-West,” Seafood, Vegetarian and even Dessert combination pizzas… plus offering all of the “Standard” pizza combinations everyone else offers. The Wright Gourmet has enjoyed dining at “The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe” for almost 10 years now, since Bill Craw and his son opened the Gourmet Pizza Shoppe in 1998… before that the restaurant had been a Pizza Chalet.

Along with all the various pizzas “The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe” offers a full menu of other Italian favorites like lasagna, sandwiches and salads. Located on State Street in the old Redlands Historic section the Craw family converted the dark looking Pizza Chalet building into a classic Outdoor Italian Piazza Café setting utilizing paint, canopies and window boxes to create the illusion. The buildings interior transformation is as creative as “The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe” menu. 

So How is the Pizza? As with just about all of the Wright Gourmet pizza reviews we ordered my typical “Big Ed Special” consisting of “Extra Sauce, Pepperoni, Sausage, Olives and Mushrooms.” My pizza was delivered to my table exactly as ordered, cooked to perfection with a heaping amount of lightly browned cheese completely covering and securing the generous amounts of toppings on my pizza. (See the picture)

Notes on Picture “H:”If you click on picture “H” and enlarge it you will see that I have laid back the cheese topping on the area outlined in yellow… the area outlined in white is the underside of the toppings that were laid over the area of sauce you see exposed. What is amazing is in both areas shown there is still more toppings showing than what you might find on 3 “Coupon” Pizzas combined from just about any other pizza shop in the area. This pizza has enough toppings to almost qualify as deep dish without all the bread. If you notice there is also almost no crust edge… the toppings go all the way out to the edge! “The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe” knows how to pile on the makings, and than some!

If there is a downside to “The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe’s” pizza it is their generosity with all the toppings… if you can put too much on a pizza, they do. This is not a problem when we are talking about a pepperoni pizza; because you just cover it with pepperonis, and “The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe” does. Where it becomes a challenge is when you have multiple toppings like my signature “Big Ed” pizza has, all the toppings become so overly juicy that it tends to make the crust soggy.

This all comes to my point… or question; can you ever get too much of a good thing? The answer in my opinion is “Yes.” If a truly crispy crusted pizza, where the crust remains crisp in the center as well at the edges without being over cooked is your goal, you may want to limit the number of toppings you order. It’s a tough problem to have, and somebody has to suffer with it; and trust me, I enjoyed every bite!

Quantity aside, it is also the quality of the ingredients that has made “The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe” pizza so special and taste so good… this combination (quantity & quality) is what keeps the customers coming back; and it is the customers that have made “The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe” number 1 in the Inland Empire. Their popularity is well earned.

As far as ratings; it is impossible to really find fault with anything about this restaurant… it earns a 100% on the Wright Gourmet’s rating system, and a “Best Restaurant” Rating by just about every reviewer and in consumer polls.

News Flash: OK, this is no real secret but “The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe” is opening a second location in the Yucaipa area on Calimesa Blvd. at about County Line Road in Calimesa (Yucaipa technically). 

This article was posted by: Ed Wright and Central City Mortgage’s “Wright Team,” specializing in Residential and Commercial Mortgage Lending… Purchase and Refinance. Serving all of California from offices in the Inland Empire. For all your mortgage lending questions please call Ed Wright “Your Personal Mortgage Consultant For Life” at (909) 938-3777 or E-Mail “The Wright Team:” Ed@ForHomeLoan.info

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