When it comes to local restaurants in Tampa, pizzerias are about as ubiquitous as they get. From streetside windows dishing out piping hot slices to boozed-up Ybor club-goers to tamer, family-style pizza joints, it sure isn't hard to find a slice of fresh-made pizza in the Tampa Bay area.
Enter Davis Islands, a growing hotspot for affordable dining in Downtown Tampa proper that's been steadily flourishing with a variety of locally-owned restaurants with cuisines ranging from Thai to Mexican, new American and more.
Opened in late 2012, Islands Pizza takes over the spot of neighborhood pizza joint on Davis Islands with a traditional selection of pies and slices, other Italian favorites and appetizers, a full bar and more.
The pizza at Islands is unique in the sense that it toes the line between thinner, New York style pies and more doughy, Americanized versions of pizza, making for a surprisingly executed hybrid that doesn't necessarily blow you out of the water, but definitely excels above your average-quality pizza in Tampa.
Meat toppings on our meat lovers pie tasted incredibly fresh with bits, no chunks, of real bacon, spice-tinged sausage crumbles, and bright-red pepperoni that all made for an artery-clogging, but equally delicious slice. Bonus points for a nice, golden crust with just enough chewiness to let you savor its flavor, but not sit there like a cow chewing its cud for like, 10 minutes.
Other selections like a pre-pizza cobb salad were equally fresh with real, hard-boiled egg, fresh cooked bacon, bright green avocado, and tomatoes over a bed of romaine.
As the lone pizzeria on Davis Islands, Islands Pizza could probably get by just fine servicing the neighborhood with good-enough, but run-of-the-mill pies and other underwhelming offerings. It's always respectable, though, when a local eatery, or any business really, strives to a heightened level of quality not because they're coerced to, but because that's the way it should be done.
What do you think? Check out Islands Pizza, then leave your own rating and review on the Islands Pizza 813area business listing.
