Thursday, March 3, 2011

Mr. Lee's - CLOSED

I happened to be in the East Ridge Road area the other day so I drove by Mr. Lee's, the new place going into the former site of Doughboys. The "OPEN" sign was on, so I stopped in.
I think I must've been one of the first customers, because the four people there were all busy with getting things in order, including a big "Grand Opening" sign that hadn't yet gone in the window. But there was pizza available, so I got a couple of cheese slices.
The slices were given quite a long reheating in the oven, from which they emerged hot but not particularly well-done in appearance, so either the oven wasn't all that hot or the pizza was cold when it went in.
From the appearance of my slices, I frankly wasn't expecting much. They didn't look particularly good, with a thick yellow-white blanket of mozzarella atop a thick crust.
But in fact they weren't bad. The crust was pleasantly crunchy on the outside, and while the interior was not particularly bready, the slice was neither greasy nor overly dry either. It appeared to be pan risen, with a golden brown bottom and a crunchy edge.
The slices were well dusted with what I believe was Romano cheese. Noticeable to the eyes, palate and nostrils, the Romano added some interest to the well-melted but bland mozzarella. Underneath the cheese was a moderately applied layer of thick, sweetish tomato sauce.
Mr. Lee's will be offering 12", 16" and sheet pizzas, with 14 toppings to choose from, as well as calzones, wings (Buffalo, garlic basil, Boss and sweet-and-sour sauces) and hot subs.
I've declined to rate a few places lately, and I don't want to give the impression that I'm discontinuing the practice, but sometimes it just doesn't seem that useful, and this is one such occasion. This pizza was OK, it wasn't great, but it was better than I expected, and it was better than it looked, frankly. And I will give kudos to the owners and staff for friendly, eager-to-please service.
But my ratings, as imperfect as they are, are meant to provide some guidance to what you might expect to get if you go to a given pizzeria, and considering how recently Mr. Lee's has opened for business, I'm just not sure that a rating would be all too helpful at this point, before they've really had a chance to get on their feet, as it were. This pizza would fall somewhere in the B to C range, but I plan to go back in a few weeks before I give it a grade. For now, I'd say that Mr. Lee's is worth checking out, and I'll leave it at that.
Mr. Lee's Pizza & Wings, 1963 E. Ridge Rd., in Great Win Plaza, 338-9009
Sun. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

2 comments:

  1. This was an honest review of Mr. Lee's. If I were driving by, I would order a slice. I like the idea of using Romano Cheese.

    pizza all over Rochester,
    albert grande
    The Pizza Promoter

    ReplyDelete
  2. Out of business, now rolling pin bakery

    ReplyDelete