Sam's Pizza - Local Restaurant Review #1

By: Chesterton Plath, Mountaineer News Expert

Posted: March 1, 2020 | 05:30AM EST

My name is Chesterton Plath and I’m a PA-born WV resident since 1997, which makes me an expert. The Mountaineer News have tapped into my literary talents of making people mad in the YouTube comments section and asked me to write reviews. They didn’t specify reviews of what, so I’m going to take that as carte Blanche to review everything and anything. It could be movies or TV shows. It might be books. It might be local restaurants - suffice it to say that if I'll review it, it’s worth sitting up and taking notice of. Speaking of sitting up and taking notice, for my first review:

SAM’S PIZZA

As part of my day job, I have traveled a fair bit around the country, and I’ve visited various pizzerias, including some in Chicago - arguably the pizza capital of the United States. Pizza is, by far, my favorite food in the whole world and when i moved to Buckhannon, naturally one of my first stops was Sam’s Pizza in Tennerton, intrigued as I was to try what the locals could do.

Pizza Hut is Pizza Hut wherever you go. Ditto Dominoes. Ditto Papa John’s. That’s the point of a chain, that the three meat treat in Schenectady is the same three meat treat in Kalamazoo is the same three meat treat in Nitro. A good, independent pizzeria should have three things. 1] it should be dingy. 2] it should be greasy. 3] it should be staffed entirely by a**holes. Sams has none of these.

If you’re looking for the authentic pizzeria experience, go elsewhere. Seriously. The place is brightly lit, it’s clean, and the staff are genuinely nice. No guy named Gino in a filthy apron and a pencil behind his ear, who would rather be anywhere else in the world than serving you right now.

The good of Sam’s Pizza is….well…. the pizza. It’s excellent. The base and the crust are thin, yes, but it’s sweet. Not silly sweet, but the type of sweetness that pleases the tastebuds and doesn’t outstay its welcome. The cheese is cooked to perfection and the toppings are wide and varied, and not burnt to a crisp like some chains do.

On the whole, Sam’s impresses whether it’s takeout or dine-in. There’s real care taken with each pizza, and I’ve visited them at least once a month since I moved here. I’ve never been disappointed, I’ve never met a pizza I didn’t like, and I've never been served by an a**hole.

10/10

Local Restaurant Review #2 - Fish Hawk Acres