Cincinnati Pizza Quest- Ramundo's

Having tried many pizzas while living in a metropolitan city back in the day, pizza holds a special place in my heart. I don't eat it often but once in a while I get a craving for a damn good slice of the pie. One day when Liz of get in mah belly and I were trying to name one good pizza place in Cincinnati and couldn't, we knew we had a major undertaking at hand. We agreed to start a blogging project, for ourselves and for other Cincinnatians that feel the same way about pizza in the Queen city. And that's how Cincinnati Pizza Quest was born. The idea is to try a new pizza joint, mostly locally and independently owned, each month and blog about them. We will rate the sauce, crust, cheese, topping(s) and overall pizza on a 1- 5 scale, 5 being the best. Ambiance and service will not be rated but we will share any positives or negatives for either of those.

Our January pick was Ramundo's Pizzeria in Mount Lookout. I never knew this place existed until Liz mentioned it. After walking in, it's obvious the majority of their business comes from carry out and delivery. There were two high tables to grab a quick bite to eat and a large, long kitchen behind the counter. The service was amicable; they let us stand at the register counter to eat our hot-out-of-the-oven pizzas since the two tables were taken. There is also outdoor seating for those nice weather days.

Overall I thought my pizza was good, nothing exceptional but good. I give their sauce 3.5 out of 5. It was well flavored with spices and not sweet, a definite plus for me. The sauce was voted best sauce in 2006. The crust was a 2. I ordered the New York Style crust because I like to be able to fold my pizza in one hand and sadly their crust fell apart when folded. It was also bland in taste. My one topping (pepperoni) was a 3.5; tasty but a little disappointing with the greasy oil. Liz' cheese pizza on the other hand won me over. I give it 4.5 because it was properly seasoned with salt and oregano. The oregano stood out in each bite. The husband's supreme on regular (non new york style) crust tasted pretty good as well. We favored the thickness of his crust over our own.

the regular crust

Ramundo's is a hole in the wall and that's part of their charm. Even though the crust on mine didn't taste great, the sauce, cheese pizza and the service are worth returning for. Ramundo's gets 3 slices.