On at least four or five occasions we’ve tried to go to The Parlor, a former beauty salon turned upscale pizza restaurant, but there has always been a long wait to get seated. Given that, and it’s consistently good reviews, we made a plan to eat a late breakfast so we could hold off having lunch until 3PM, figuring this was way past lunchtime but too early for happy hour. We were right, there were only a few cars in the lot - we were really excited and had high expectations of a delicious meal. Whoever was responsible for the renovation did a fabulous job. There’s lots of exposed brick, wood, glass bricks, and a cute little patio. At the bar there are some salon-type chairs: I don’t know how comfortable they’d be for cocktail sipping, but they’re a witty touch. My favorite part of the decor is the planters lined up along the path to the door. They’re filled with fresh herbs and tomato plants. We were even more convinced that we’d have a great meal. And our server didn’t let us down either (service has been the major negative in most of the reviews). He was pleasant and helpful.
We started off with a roasted beet and avocado salad ($9.75). The colors of the golden beets and mellow green of the avocados made for a beautiful plate, and the walnut crusted goat cheese was the perfect foil. While a little on the expensive side, we felt it was worth it. We couldn’t wait to dig into the pizza!!
According to the menu, the Smokey pizza ($14 for a 12”) is topped with speck (smoked prosciutto), olive tapenade, ricotta, and fresh arugula. Sounds good, doesn’t it? It arrived at the table heaped with arugula, with a few pieces of speck on top. I think they put so much arugula on the pie so you couldn’t see the paucity of the other ingredients. The only taste that stood out, overpowering even the arugula, was the tomato sauce. OMG, it transported me instantly to my high school cafeteria - and that’s not a good place for me to be !!! Do you remember those thick slices of bready dough topped with a thin, tinny tasting sauce? Aaggh, get me out of there !!! At least at The Parlor the crust was thin, but it was limp as a noodle, and tasteless. I actually, for the first time in living memory, didn’t take home the leftovers. That’s how bad it was.
I wouldn’t tell you not to go here. The Parlor is a pretty place, and the salad was outstanding, but I wish you good luck with the pizza.
The Parlor
1916 E. Camelback Rd. Phoenix
602-248-2480
theparlor.us
Monday - Thursday 11 - 10, Friday and Saturday 11 - midnight
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