Fairlington Pizza, Center Plaza in Alexandria

[u-bet!]

What a great pizza I had from Fairlington Pizza last night! I phoned in my order of a medium New York style pizza with sausage, mushroom, green pepper and onion, and was told it would be ready in 15 minutes. Exactly 15 minutes later, it was ready when I walked in the door (they don't deliver, so if you're late picking it up and your pizza's cold, it's your own damn fault). It was still piping hot when I got it home, which admittedly did not take long, since I only live about a half mile away. The toppings were chopped into fairly small pieces and were covered with a generous layer of cheese. Still, I was able to clearly distinguish the flavors of all of the toppings. The crisp crust was perfect - not too thin, not too thick. The sauce tasted of fresh tomato with a little extra "kick" to it; hard to describe, but it tasted like there was something in there which made it more than just garden-variety pizza sauce. Overall, the ingredients were well-proportioned and the pizza tasted very fresh.

I'm looking forward to trying some of the other pizza places in the area (such as Atlantis and the Monis family's place on Duke Street whose name escapes me and which I'm too lazy to look up), but, after a recent disappointing experience with Cafe Pizzaiolo, I'm glad to have discovered such quality pizza so close to where I live.

[Chris Cunningham]

Fairlington pizza is like an old throwback. Small and family owned. They do a decent pie and I like their subs. Nothing spectacular, but fairly priced and great bread toasted properly in the oven.