Guetti's Revisited: Sausage Pie

A little over a year ago, I did a post on Guetti's in Chili. I gave my slices from there a D+, which still puts Guetti's in my all-time bottom 10.
I decided that I really ought to go back sometime, just to give Guetti's another shot. I just couldn't believe that those slices were really typical of Guetti's pizza, because if they were, I didn't see how the place could stay in business.
So not long ago, I went back, this time ordering a medium sausage pie. I was taking a gamble getting a pie - if it were as bad as those slices, I'd have wasted ten bucks - but somehow a made-to-order pie seems like a better gauge of a pizzeria than premade slices.
I don't ordinarily get sausage on my pizza, but Guetti's makes its own sausage, so I thought this way I'd get to sample that as well.
Things weren't promising initially. My pie had the same pale yellowish hue underneath (most accurately pictured in the second photo, right) as the slices did last August. And there was a little oven soot, which I never like to see (that's soot you see in the third photo, not charring). I know it's just burnt flour, but I just don't like it on my pizza.
The crust was thin to medium in thickness, and was oddly fragmented in one area (see bottom photo), with one section separating from the other like a sheet of sedimentary rock. The crust had a dense texture, a doughy aroma, and a distinct flavor or raw flour.
Things got better on top, where there was a thin layer of browned cheese, atop a very tomatoey sauce; bits of tomato skin were visible here and there in the sauce, which was moderately applied, and in good balance with the cheese and crust.
The sausage was a definite plus. It had a mild, yet prominent pork flavor, and added a nice, meaty complement to the other components, without much grease. It wasn't exactly breakfast sausage, but it made this pizza reminiscent, in a good way, of a breakfast sandwich.
The crust also improved as I worked my way out to the edge. At last, here I found some crispness, along with the aroma and flavor of fresh bread. Had that extended to the rest of the crust, this pizza would have been a real winner. I'm not sure why, but this pizza also seemed better the next day out of the fridge. Somehow the bready flavor came through better, and the flavors seemed to work together more than they had when the pie was still warm.
A mixed verdict here, then, with some good things and some bad things. This was a marked improvement on the slices I had last August, with that really awful, gummy crust, but it still fell short in some areas. Again, the crust was the main problem - the area around the center of the pie just seemed under-risen and undercooked, with a dense texture and raw flavor. Yet the outer crust showed that there was real potential here, and the homemade sausage helped bring this pie up a notch or two as well. Put it all together and average it out, and I'm going to come out right in the middle on this one. This time around, I'll give Guetti's a C.
Guetti's Pizza & Subs, 25 Chestnut Ridge Rd. near Chili Ave. 247-9410
Mon. - Thu. 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sun. 1 p.m. - 9 p.m.