Little Venice Revisited

It's been over two years now since I reviewed Little Venice Pizzeria on South Avenue. I found a few flaws with the slices that I had then, and gave it a C-minus.
But it has been a while, and I figured it was high time to go back. So back I went, and ordered a small pepperoni pie.
This had a thin to medium crust, with a soft but dry underside. The bottom was browned and there was a tiny bit of oven soot (soot was an issue for me last time as well, although this wasn't as bad).Though the underside was soft, the edge had a bit of crunch, and was singed in a few spots.
A thick layer of melted mozzarella cheese gave this pizza a chewy texture. It was well balanced by the slightly herbal tomato sauce, which seemed to be more of a presence this time around, either because there was more of it or because this was a fresh pie (as opposed to reheated slices) and the sauce hadn't had time to dry out. The thin slices of pepperoni were a bit crisp along the edges, but quite greasy, which necessitated some mopping with a napkin.
This was not bad. Not something I'd go out of my way for, but very serviceable pizza, certainly. And though it was, compared to other local pizza, about in the middle of the pack, it was an improvement on last time. It still loses a point or two for the soft crust, slight oven soot, and for the very greasy surface, but overall the flavor and balance were good, so I'll give it a C.
Little Venice Pizzeria, 742 South Ave. 14620. 473-6710
Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 11:30 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 12:30 a.m., Sun. 1 - 11:30 p.m.