Shakey's Pizza - Moreno Valley
"Wright Gourmet" Restaurant Review
By: Ed Wright, The Wright Gourmet

Shakey’s Pizza - Moreno Valley
    

The original “Shakey’s Pizza” dates back to 1954. Sherwood “Shakey” Johnson pooled funds with college friend, Ed Plummer, to open what was to become the first Shakey’s outlet of many more to follow. It was originally supposed to be a simple beer joint, but it was Pizza that “Shakey” Johnson name famous. The original Shakey’s was a remodeled grocery store located at the "57th" and "J" Streets in Sacramento, California. The parlor opened on Friday evening, April 30 with the two owners aided by their friends. As the ovens were not complete, only beer was sold the first weekend. Johnson played the piano, entertained, and Plummer served the beer.
 

Shakey and Ed wanted to provide something unique to help draw customers, so it was decided they could serve pizza, with the beer. Live Dixieland music was part of the plan from the beginning. They never had any idea just how successful their idea would become, nor how many imitators would follow!

With the money from the beer sales, the partners bought pizza products and began developing recipes and selling pizzas on Monday. Ten days later, they had fourteen employees and a month later, Dixieland jazz entertainment was added. In the 1960’s Shakey’s Restaurants typically featured “roaring 20’s” style player pianos and live jazz bands, which I still remember going to while growing up in Southern California (Costa Mesa).

The original pizzeria at "57th" and "J" Streets has grossed millions of dollars by now, and is still a successful Shakey’s, giving birth to over 500 Shakey’s restaurants worldwide today. Pizza remains the mainstay at Shakey’s, whether it’s the original thin crust style, or the classic hand-tossed styles. “Shakey” Johnson’s original focus on quality, consistency and maintaining the classic taste that has made Shakey’s Pizza so popular remains one of the keys to the franchises successful growth.

Think Quick; From a Restaurant Critics viewpoint… You have just been asked to suggest a restaurant for lunch that:

1) Provides a business capable, family friendly location.
2) Provides fast service.
3) Provides a wide menu of lunch options.
4) Offers Beer & Wine, but is not a loud sports bar type setting
5) Is reasonably priced… So where do you recommend?

With MicroBrewery Restaurants charging too much for most people’s casual lunch budget and taking too long for service, Shakey’s is the perfect recommendation. There are no “Dollar Menus” to nickel-and-dime you to death, or silly “Value” meals that don’t add up to real savings.  Consider that for about the same cost and same time spent, Shakey’s “Bunch of Lunch” Buffet may be the perfect solution.

Over the years Shakey’s “Bunch of Lunch” buffet offering has matured. Today it makes a viable casual business and family destination which was pretty much the gathering we met during our visit to the Redlands, California restaurant. The review we did at the Moreno Valley, California Shakey’s was performed on a busy Saturday afternoon during which time we encountered several Birthday parties, and a large sports league lunch meetings. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and surprisingly ignored our cameras.

Without fail we found a buffet that was freshly stocked with generous selections of Pizza. Several pies with constantly changing toppings were dished up with Shakey’s Fried Chicken and crispy Mojo potatoes. Given the price, Shakey’s Buffet represents possibly the best dining value to in the Inland Empire.

Shakey’s goes out of its way to be both Family and Budget Friendly. We have never seen a Shakey’s excessively promote alcoholic beverages; The push seems to be towards families with children so no excessively loud “Adult” sports bar like commotion seems to be welcomed or promoted. This said Shakey’s bar does pour a quality selection of ice-cold beer and wine for responsible consumption. Budget Friendly, because Shakey’s does not high-pressure sales of overpriced game tickets with some cheesy costumed rat.

Families with young children will appreciate the arcade games area filled with colorful kids games of varying degrees of difficulty complete with an arcade attendant that trades the prize tickets won from the games for carnival style toys. The prizes can be a bit on the “trinket” level, but the kids absolutely love them… so who is to complain?

Shakey’s has made an obvious attempt to assure a kid friendly, semi-secure play area. This makes for a perfect break time for adults to enjoy dining as the kids burn off their excitement winning game tickets; which just about everyone wins! Just check out the photo slide-show pictures of the kids faces after winning arm-loads of prize tickets. Shakey's games & Pizza make for a smile winning combination with just about everybody.

Food Review:
This may be the area where some of the newspaper food critics disagree with me. Possibly because I do not think Shakey’s spends near the money as some of the discount pizza chains for costly coupon space. Shakey’s pizza speaks for itself. Over the years the Shakey’s “Bunch a Lunch” menu has matured into one incredible lunch value.

Shakey’s Thin Crust Pizza is the kind of pie many competitors try to duplicate without matching the signature crispy crust that really is the basis for any good pizza. With just about the perfect amount of thick sauce that is more tomato tasting than many, without leaning too much towards tomato paste or over adding oregano. Personally I prefer a little more cheese than the typical Shakey’s Buffet pizza provides, but find the topping levels to be generous and of premium quality. For a medium priced pizza, Shakey’s is about the best you will find.

Shakey’s Pan Pizza is one of the items the franchise seems to promote heavily, and with reason… it is also very good. From a preference standpoint I personally prefer thin crust pizzas, and my guess is that Shakey’s sells more thin crust pizza than pan style. What sets Shakey’s pan pizza above much of the competition is the oil (cotton or coconut oil I am guessing) that is sprayed into the bottom of the pan before baking. Whatever Shakey’s “secret,” the result is a crisping of the bottom of the pan pizza crust that is just about perfect. Very tasty. Let’s hope my guess about coconut oil is wrong (for health reasons), but something bumps the crusts flavor up a few notches.

Also signature for Shakey’s is their pressure-cooked, deep-fried chicken and thinly sliced breaded, and fried “Mojo” potatoes. Mojo Potatoes being thickly sliced (Potate chip like slices) potatoes, now copied by many other restaurants, but trademarked by Shakey’s Pizza Restaurants. Personally I enjoy the thinly sliced mojos (crispy ones) over the thicker sliced (not crispy) ones; but dipped into BBQ sauce they both are addictive. The chicken is also crispy and lightly breaded; almost as good as Colonel Sanders (KFC) built an entire franchise on. Both items are popular, however some locations tend to overcook the chicken.

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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