Big Fred’s « In Search of the Perfect Slice

Big Fred’s

August 22, 2008 · 1 Comment

Big Fred’s

1101 S. 119th St.

Omaha, NE 68114

Average Score: 6,515/10,000

Big Fred's

Overview

Good Pizza, Expensive, Slow, Too Many Old People, Too Many Old People Being Too Loud, No Hotties (besides us).

Score 1: 6,950 / 10,000

Score 2: 6,080 / 10,000

Average: 6,515 / 10,000

Big Fred’s overview

While the pizza at Big Fred’s is above average, it receives a sub-amazing score due to cost and timeliness.

CRUST
Fred’s crust is a good one–thin and firm which lends itself to a nice crunchy texture. Not too bready or soggy and with a corn meal dusting.

SAUCE
Above average. Sweet, slightly herby. A consistency that’s neither too runny nor too pasty.

CHEESE
Not too greasy and an adequate though not excessive amount of cheese. They offer both mozzarella and romano. Bullshit, though, that they charge for an extra topping if you want both cheeses.

TOPPINGS
BF’s offers standard midwestern pizza toppings, nothing very fresh or far-out. Their most exotic topping appears to be chicken (a sign in the restaurant touted their new chicken topping). The hamburger/mozzarella half of my pizza was covered in a carpet of beef, which seemed to be flavored with a healthy dose of black pepper. Fred doesn’t skimp on the toppings, though perhaps to the overall detriment of the pizza. One small slice of my pepperoni/jalapeño/romano has more than 10 jalapeño slices. I like toppings but I don’t need three layers of jalapeños.

SIZE
A small is purportedly 8″ is diameter though appears slightly larger.

PRICE
Fred loses major points for the price. For a small (8″) pie, a Coke, and a salad, I drop nearly $20 ($16.50 for the meal and a $3 tip)! Sure, I have three slices left over but that’s much too much to spend on a pizza lunch. A two-topping small (before tax) runs $11.40, which amounts to 22.7¢ per square inch. And they inexplicably don’t offer free refills on soda pop.

OTHER STUFF
My oily iceberg salad costs $2.50 and includes half a shredded baby carrot and a couple curlicues of purple cabbage. They don’t have Dr. Pepper, though they do offer Coke products. Standard issue in the shit-to-shake department–parmesan and red pepper flakes.

SERVICE
It’s not a good sign when one has to ask aloud “Where is our fucking waitress?” We arrived at the end of the lunch rush and ordered at 1:33 p.m. Pizzas are delivered a long 25 minutes later at 1:58 p.m. And is our waitress wearing sweatpants? At least they get our orders correct.

DECOR
Lots of Big 12 sports paraphernalia adorns the (carpeted) walls. Bad golf paintings too and at least a half dozen flat-screen TVs. If there’s music playing, it’s tucked unobtrusively into the background so as to be imperceptible, or maybe can’t compete with the roar of elderly folks hollering into one another’s hearing aids.