Central de Pizzas

Central de Pizzas is the Mexican versión of a Pizza Hut or Papa John’s … only with less attention to details. The décor in each location is boring at best and lacks any cohesive design concept. The restaurants are not well-maintained. The service is inconsistent and substandard. And the pizza is not bad, but it’s average, at best.

The menu at Central de Pizzas includes empanadas, calzones, salads, sándwiches and, oddly, breakfast with eggs, all done, with a lack of flare.

So, do you get this less impressive pizza at a price that’s less than competing restaurants? No. The pizza at California Pizza Kitchen just four blocks away in Nápoles, that was no better, but no worse than the pizza at Central de Pizzas, served in a much nicer ambience was almost half the cost of the pizza at Central de Pizzas.

About five blocks in the other direction, you can get a much better pizza at Café Toscano, in a much cleaner and stylish restaurant, for about 25% less than the pizza at Central de Pizzas.

So the question is, why would anyone go to this place for pizza? Well, at 11:45 pm on a Sunday evening it might be only place in the neighborhood open and serving food. The competitors close an hour earlier. But absent having a pizza urge late at night, there’s likely a better choice for pizza in most neighborhoods.