Pizza Village Cafe II - Belleville, NJ

This is a really backdated post. I have been meaning to blog about this place for the longest time (I believe we first tried the food here back in Dec) but never really got around to it. Since the first visit, we have returned many times. Therefore, the food featured in this review is not merely from one visit, but over a space of time (I think we have been back like 4 times since the first?).
Pizza Village Cafe II is located in a strip mall, just next to the huge State Fair Superstore. We found out about this place when we were visiting the Christmas decorations outlet at the State Fair. From the moment we walked in, we knew that this pizza place is different from the rest. Not only was it super clean, but the staff working there were really polite and helpful. Definitely not your typical hole in the wall pizza place. We noticed lots of families dining in and it's really kid friendly too. We have always ordered out whenever we go there but I wouldn't mind dining in, in the future. Another good thing about this place is the availability parking spots. There are ample free parking lots located right in front of the restaurant. No need to drive around just for a parking spot.
So, what's good there? Well, the menu is quite extensive. Apart from pizza, they also have pasta, sandwiches, calzones, stromboli, wraps, wings, salads, Italian style dinners as well as a host of appetizers. During our first visit, we tried their Garlic Knots (6 pieces for $1.50). It was really good! Warm dough knots with lots of garlic butter, herbs and huge chunks of garlic. Mmmm mmm good! It is so good that we would make it a point to order that every time we get food from Pizza Village. It's like our 'must order' item on the menu.
Their wings ($7.75 for 10 pieces) are rather good too. You have a choice of two flavors, BBQ or Buffalo. We tried the Buffalo wings and it was not too bad. I am not a big fan of coated wings (I'd rather have them naked) but this is really not too bad at all. The wings also comes with free celery and bleu cheese.
I hate to admit this but although this is a pizza place, we have never really tried their pizzas. The nearest we got was when I ordered their Sausage Calzone ($6.25). From the taste of the calzone, I can tell that their pizzas should be really good too. The calzone dough was really good and it was stuffed with a whole lot of sausage, ricotta and mozzarella cheese. Really really good. The marinara sauce wasn't the greatest but it wasn't bad either. I'm not really bothered about that though, since I would usually eat my calzones without sauce anyways.
Now, what we really really like from Pizza Village are their sandwiches. Seriously, they make awesome sandwiches. I don't know if they bake their Italian breads in house or they buy it from somewhere else but either ways, it's yummy! Kevin tried their Ham & Cheese Sub ($6.50) and he said that it was really good. All cold subs are served with lettuce, onions tomatoes, oil, vinegar, mayo and spices, in a huge Italian roll. Yummy stuff!
Their Hot Italian Sandwiches are really good too. Kevin (and myself) is in love with their Italian Meatball Sandwich ($5.50). The meatballs are really really good and it's served with just the right amount of home made sauce and topped with loads of cheese. Delicious meatballs, home made sauce and melted cheese, all stuffed into a huge Italian roll = SUPER AWESOME MEATBALL SANDWICH!
Since we loved the Meatball Sandwich so much, I decided to try another of their Hot Italian Sandwiches. The Home Made Eggplant Parmigiana Sandwich ($5.50). Don't get me wrong, it was good but not quite as great as the Meatball Sandwich. If we were to compare the eggplant parm sandwich with other eggplant parm sandwiches that we have tried, I must say that it ranks pretty much up there. However, if we were to compare the meatball sandwich to the eggplant parm, then the meatball sandwich reigns supreme! :P
Another one of their sandwiches that I totally love is their Philly Cheese Steak. They have regular Cheesesteak ($6.00), Cheesesteak with Mushrooms or Peppers ($6.50), Pizza Cheesesteak ($6.50), Cheesesteak with Pepperoni ($6.50) or Cheesesteak Hoagie ($6.50). I tried the Special Steak ($6.75), which is pretty much Cheesesteak with everything :P The Special Steak comes with Mushrooms, Sweet Peppers, Fried Onions and their delicious Cheese Sauce (remember to ask for it, it's by request only). This is really an awesome sandwich, you should totally try it. Overall, I must say that Pizza Village Cafe II is a great place to go to if you are looking for some quick, affordable and uber delicious food. Two thumbs up. Oh btw, they deliver too!

Pizza Village Cafe II - Belleville, NJ
229 Main St
Belleville, NJ 07109
Tel: (973) 450 1818
Fax: (973) 450 3000
Web: http://pizzavillagecafe2nj.webs.com/

Cousins Pizzeria - Bloomfield, NJ

Our fridge was totally empty last Thursday and we were too lazy to go out grocery shopping. By dinnertime, our tummies were rumbling but again, we were just too lazy to go out for dinner. You know, it's just one of those days when you don't feel like doing anything but sit in front of the TV and stare at it :P We agreed that we should just order some food in but the question was...WHAT? Should we get Chinese? BBQ? Pizza? Japanese? Wings? Sooooo many choices!
I remembered picking up a menu for Cousins Pizzeria from the lobby of our apartment complex a while ago. So, we decided to give this place a try. According to the menu, we could order our food from it's website online. However, when we tried to do so, that particular page wouldn't load. So, we ended up calling and placed our order thru the phone.
Usually, whenever we order food in, it would take only between 20mins to 4omins (and that's really rare) to get here. We had to wait for almost 1 and a half for Cousins Pizzeria to get our food to us!! ONE AND A HALF HOURS! That's crazy. If it was a weekend, I would understand. Maybe they are really busy. However, it was a Thursday night. Why would they need one and a half hours just to bring us our food? To make matters worse, the delivery guy forgot our soda. Lucky thing Kevin noticed and asked him where the soda was. He then said it must be in the car. Geeezz, is it really that difficult to bring us our food within an acceptable time frame and also to get the order right?
We ordered 10 pieces of mild buffalo wings ($6.95) to share. It comes with blue cheese and celery. As expected, the wings were already cold when it got here. In all fairness, the wings were rather huge though. So, that's a good thing. However, the sauce was just alright. Nothing to really shout about. It might have been better if it arrived hot. Oh well...
Kevin tried the Large Meatball Sub ($7.75). The only good thing about that sub was that it was huge! It was almost the size of one whole french loaf. Apart from that, everything else wasn't all that good. The meatballs were not even full meatballs. They were cut into half. Kevin said that they tasted pretty bad, just like those cheap instant frozen meatball that you could pick in your grocery store's frozen food section. I don't think he will ever order that again.
I ordered the Sausage Calzone ($6). It was really nothing to shout about (apart from the fact that it was pretty huge!). The pizza dough was alright, but I wouldn't say that it is as good as some of the pizzerias in this area. What about the stuffing? Well, there were lots of ricotta and mozzarella cheese but the sausage was horrible. Totally tasteless. Also, by the time the calzone got to us, it was already really cold and soggy. The marinara sauce? Hah! Don't get me started on that. It was just some watery red colored sauce. I didn't even bother to try it. Horrible.
When we looked at the bill, we noticed that they slapped on a $2.85 delivery charge. No where on the menu does it say that there is a delivery charge. It only says that they will charge us an extra of $2 if we used a credit card to pay. The only thing we saw regarding delivery was a $10 minimum. Most of the places in our area do not charge for delivery, let alone $2.85! If they want to be competitive, they better think twice about this stupid fee that they have added on. Really slow service, mediocre food (well, it was actually worse than mediocre) and to top it all off, a delivery fee...hmmm, I think this is the last time we will be ordering from Cousins. There are just too many delivery places near us that serves awesome food, with no delivery charges and would only take about 20 mins from the time we order to the food arriving piping hot at our door.

Cousins Pizzeria - Bloomfield, NJ
543 Bloomfield Avenue,
Bloomfield, NJ 070003
Tel: (973) 680 8200
Fax: (973) 680 9292
Web: www.cousinzpizza.com

Frankie Cee's Pizzeria - Little Italy, NYC

We were in Little Italy on the 4th of July weekend and were looking for a place to have dinner. Now, Mulberry Street is just lined with cafes and restaurants, so we didn't really know which one to pick. Most of them had all types of "promotions" going on, with waiters standing outside, trying to lure in customers. We decided to walk away from the popular and touristy part of Mulberry street, in search of something that will not put a huge dent in our wallets.

We found Frankie Cee's Pizzeria right at the edge of Little Italy. Unlike all the other places, there wasn't any smooth talking waiters, trying to lure us inside. All we saw was little checkered tables filled with people and the menu painted on the walls. It looked like a laid back place to have dinner, so we decided to give it a try.

There were all kinds of pasta, pizzas, sandwiches and Italian entrees available at very affordable prices. I later found out that this place used to be called Pizzeria Cee's and it used to be a market. Their pizza was so good and popular, that they decided to expand, put in tables and chairs and make it into a restaurant. The pizza seems to be a crowd favorite, with a steady stream of pizza pies coming out from the kitchen while we were there.

Check out all the condiments on the tables. You know you are in Little Italy when you can find so many herbs, cheeses and oil on your table :P Also, I just love the location our table. We could just sit back, relax and watch the world go by. Sitting there with our drinks, just people watching, makes me feel like we were in Europe and not in the heart of NYC! Must be due to the influx of sidewalk cafes/restaurants in that small area and the smell of fresh pizza, baking in the oven!

They had quite an extensive drinks menu, with all kinds of sodas, sparkling water, fruit juices, wine and beer. Kevin had a Sam Adams (which is part of his dinner set) and I had an Orangina ($2.50). Boy, it's been a while since I had an Orangina....so that was goooood! :D For those of you who have not tried Orangina before, you have to try it. It's sparkling orange juice with pulp! Yummmy yummy stuff!

Kevin ordered their pizza special. You get an extra large slice of pizza (either plain cheese or pepperoni) and a bottle of domestic beer/ glass of wine for $6. Not too bad of a deal actually. Kevin said that the pizza was really good, with just the right amount of sauce and cheese. The thin crust was also very yummy.

I ordered the Ham Calzone ($5). This calzone was sooooooo good. I cannot believe the amount of cheese they had in there. I have always said that there is no such thing as "too much cheese" but really, there was just too much cheese in there! In a good way, of course! :P The moment I cut the calzone into half, the cheese just started to ooze out! I bet they just stuffed the whole block of cheese in there..lol! The dough was super yummy and baked just right. Very very nice. Also, I just love the marinara sauce that came with the calzone. Really flavorful with big chunks of tomatoes...definitely not the watery stuff that we usually get from the other pizza places. The calzone was so huge, I couldn't even finish it. Next time, we will just order one to share!

So, what was the total bill for all this food? Only $14.70 (and that's including tax)!!! What a good deal! This is even less than what we would pay if we were to get dinner from McDonalds! The only downside is that they do not accept credit/debit cards. Everything is cash only. They do however have an ATM inside the shop if you didn't bring along enough cash.
Overall, we had a great dinner. Awesome food, really friendly staff, affordable prices and a perfect view of Mulberry Street. What more could a person ask for? I would definitely recommend Frankie Cee's Pizzeria if you are looking for a no frills restaurant in Little Italy that serves awesome and authentic Italian food at really affordable prices.

Frankie Cee's Pizzeria - Little Italy, NYC,
186 Grand St.
New York, NY 10013
Tel: (212) 9252954
Fax: (212) 2269046