Does Rico’s pwn Colony or are they just n00bs? Rico’s Pizza – Stamford, CT

Pie 1 from Rico's

If you have been reading the local papers, you probably noticed that Colony Grill (our review here)  hasn’t been too happy with Rico’s Pizza.  According to an ad that Colony put out in the papers, Rico’s has stolen the Colony Grill recipe.  How did Rico’s get their hands on the recipe, you ask?  Jeff Morganteen from the Stamford Advocate wrote in a recent article, “The former employees, father and son Walter and Jonathan Martinez, worked in the Colony Grill kitchen and in June helped Stamford resident Rico Imbrogno open a new pizza place serving near-exact replicas of Colony’s thin-crust bar pies, complete with “stinger” hot peppers and its signature hot oil. Walter Martinez worked at Colony for more than a decade before being fired last year.”

Sausage, hot oil, stingers, cherry peppers, and onions at Colony Grill

Lines have been out the door at Rico’s, thanks to Colony Grill’s ads, claiming that Rico’s is nothing but a chump.  Really, was that a smart marketing move?  Draw more attention to your competition and make them more popular than a NASCAR hat at Walmart?  Well, Rico’s was already on our list of spots to try, but this definitely bumped it up on our priority list.  We tried to get delivery for three nights, but after an hour of continuous busy signals each night, we gave up and hoped for next time.  Well, lucky us, got through last week and got delivery.  Why was it so hard to get a call through?  A person on Urbanspoon actually saw a manager take the phone off the hook when it was too busy.  Maybe that’s why? :)  As if those days of trying wasn’t frustrating enough,our pizza took an hour and 50 minutes to reach our doorsteps. #FAIL

Now, to get the pwn vs. n00b comparison review, we ordered the same exact pizzas that we had at Colony.

Pie 1:  Sausage, hot oil, stingers, cherry peppers, and onions.

Pie 2:  Meatball, peppers, hot oil, and black olives.

Pie 2 from Rico's

The first thing that we noticed was that the cheese-to-sauce ratio was off. It was barely there, and what sauce was there was killed by all the cheese. In fact, the cheese was so loaded up on the pies it made weird pock-like lumps.  Colony had similar bubbles, but Rico’s are way more pronounced and solid. All in all, Colony’s pie had a better ratio with definitely more sauce and not too much cheese.

Meatball, pepper, hot oil, and black olive pie at Colony Grill in Stamford CT

Here too, pie 1 was our favorite because the spiciness of the hot oil and stingers kicked it up a few notches.  The sausage added a great contrast as well.  The ingredients were fresh and nicely cooked just like Colony,
but unlike Colony’s, the hot oil made the pizza soggy and floppy.  It’s kind of weird, but Colony’s pie was drowning in hot oil, yet stayed crisp.

Verdict

Rico’s is good, but not great.  You can’t go in here expecting a pie just like Colony because there are noticeable differences. We know that we don’t want to be pizza fascits (remember the signs?), but it was just okay.  Service, in terms of delivery and experience, was far below what anyone would expect from delivery.  They do get some extra points, though, for also having wedges, wraps, salads, and empanadas.  Empanadas?  Yeah, weird, we know.  We’d love to give it another go by stopping by and getting a pie right out of the oven, but for now we’d rather head to ZAZA, Remo’s, Capriccio, Colony, Tappo, or Coalhouse Pizza.

Noms: 3.25

Cost: $$

Address: 170 Selleck Street

Stamford, CT

Phone: (203) 674-8970

Site:  http://www.ricospizzaonline.com/index.html