Give Pizza A Chance

Great selection of fresh pizza, a lot of options for vegetarians and vegans as well. The employees are always nice and courteous. Also after 3pm $ 5 for 2 slices, can’t beat that. One of the best pizza spots down town for sure.

I gave pizza a chance. I have given it several chances. I will continue to give it chances. This pizza deserves it.
The margherita is really tasty, but the tomatoes are sliced pretty thickly. Both of the «Mother of God» variations are great, especially the deep dish. It had been a while since I had eaten some good deep dish. The «Mom’s Favorite» is, if you like gorgonzola, delicious. If you don’t like gorgonzola, then why are you ordering this pizza? I’m lookin’ at you, Scott L. My favorite, however, is the «Man Date» with canadian bacon and dates. Delicious.
Friendly service, good pizza, great crust, and a BOGO happy hour? Where can you go wrong? Give pizza a chance, guys.
Give pizza a chance.

I work within a block of this set of food carts, and about once a month I break down and give pizza a chance when I’m sick of anything else.
What’s good about this place? As other Unilocalers have noted, they have a roof for when it’s raining, they are generally friendly and nice, they have a good after 3 PM special to get two pieces of pizza for cheap.
What’s bad? The pizza. It’s really a bummer. They have a great location and essentially no competition for pizza in a several block radius, so they make money. But they could really make a killing if they could just… make better pizza.
The dough itself is a good amount of chewy but generally just tastes like bread dough with no other flavors. The toppings carry all the flavor, and the best way to describe them is too aggressive and one-​dimensional. Garlic! Spicy! Feta! So if it’s a flavor you like, you’ll like the pizza, but if not, it’s just greasy, and a little colder and more expensive than what you wanted, and a little disappointing for how good it smells.
And yeah, yeah, I understand, it’s just pizza. But the competition… There is some serious cuisine being served nearby. I’m sure I’ll still break down every now and again, only to be reminded there are better choices.

The pizza is great… but the owner is GREATER. Big smile, hearty laugh. Generous. He’s the best. Pizza, yes the pizza is also fantastic. I recommend two slices to get your fix for lunch. I always want to sneak out of the office for a 3pm Pizza Happy Hour (reduced price pizza!!) but have yet to do so.
They also have some homemade soda that is very nice.
Final plus… seating. There’s a bar (like) area and stools attached to the cart (covered).
Totally recommend it.

This a review by a vegetarian
The crust was probably good on first bake by dries out during reheat of the slice.
«Mom’s favorite» was kind of nasty. I love caramelized onions but something about the melted Gorgonzola was off-​putting. Didn’t finish it

Great pizzas! I usually stop by when it’s buy one, get one free pizza (awesome deal, by the way.) My favorites are the Greek, Green One, and Mom’s Special. The Greek is loaded with huge chunks of artichokes, feta, red onions, kalamata olives, and tomatoes. So flavorful and so good. The Green One is spinach, feta, and garlic aioli. Simple, but delicious pizza. And my favorite, the Mom’s Special: bleu cheese, caramelized onions, and garlic sauce. It’s SO GOOD. I’ve only had it once (actually got the last slice that day), and I’ve been craving it ever since. The flavors all work well together and the bleu cheese doesn’t overpower the other ingredients at all. Their crust is great as well. Thin, kinda crisp, and a bit chewy.
Their sodas are really great as well! I’ve tried their colas and root beers, and they were not too sweet, refreshing, and a great accompaniment to your meal.
Give their pizzas a chance! You’ll be glad you did.

Aww shucks! I was really excited about this place too! Unfortunately I was unpleasantly surprised. I got a small limp slice of margherita pizza with only one little tomato, and not much sauce. Will definitely be looking elsewhere for my next slice.

Really good for a quick bite to eat, and decent pizza. I don’t come here for the regular kinds, you want to get their specials. I remember for a while they were having this one with figs and goat cheese and couldn’t stop going back for lunch.
It’s cheap and quick and for a food cart not a bad price. I haven’t tried the deep dish pies yet, i’m a New Yorker so I don’t do thicker crusts.
My co-​worker loves their breadsticks; I think they’re ok.
Will keep going back for a good slice as it gets nicer out.

After having only a big bowl of my traditional sick time lunch (chicken and vegetable with extra garlic), I was feeling a bit peckish around 3 o’clock yesterday. I needed a quick snack to get me thru the rest of the day.
Give Pizza a Chance has a great deal after 3, two for one slices. I walked over to take a look at what was left. They only had about 10 slices left but they were a good variety. I got a slice of Greek and another of a pizza called the Man Date. The Greek slice was the usual combo of feta, tomato and olive with garlic sauce, red onions and artichoke hearts, very tasty. The other I’d never seen before and it’s not on the menu. Intrigued, I save that slice for last.
Once I finish off the Greek slice, I pondered the other. It had some sort of smoky cheese (maybe gouda) as the base with thin sliced ham and chunks of date sprinkled around. I took a bite. Wow… smoky flavor from the ham and cheese mingled with the sweet from the date was delicious. They should put this on the regular menu. It’s unusual and quite flavorful.
The owner and crew make the dough fresh every day so the crust is light and fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside. They make both thick and thin crust. I prefer the thin myself. It has a nice crispy crunch to it.
Service was good. It was the owner himself. He was there rolling dough. He’s quite friendly and a bit chatty but you’ve got to do something while the pizza warms up, right?
For a slice of something beyond the typical chain pizzeria, give this place a try. It’s definitely worth it.
The bottom line:
Service: ***
Food: ****
Price: ****
3.6 round up to 4

(My thoughts from a late October trip to Give Pizza a Chance)
I went with the Chanterelle Chevre this time ($ 4). Basically, chanterelle mushrooms and chevre (goat cheese) on a pizza. My slice went into the oven for a few minutes to heat up. The result: a lovely slice of pizza!
The dough is comprised of half white flour and half whole wheat flour, and its preparation might have resulted in one of the best crusts I’ve had on a pizza. The crust was firm and crunchy, yet retained its chewiness. The sweetness of the pizza sauce balanced well with the perfectly melted goat cheese. The rich, earthy Chanterelles finished off this foodgasmic experience. It took some effort to not go back to the counter and buy the whole damn pie. Just top-​notch seasoning all around.
Ever see those TV spots where a person bites into the pizza and pulls back slowly so you can capture that stringy cheese epic moment? Yeah, that happened here — multiple times.
For some amazing pizza, hit up Give Pizza a Chance in downtown Portland! Whether you want one slice or a whole pie, you’ll be glad to give this pizza a chance!

Am I allowed to write a Unilocal review if I didn’t even try the food?
As I was standing there perusing the menu, a man who identified himself as the owner walked up and proceeded to chatter at me nonstop for a long enough time that I felt compelled to Unilocal about it. Not only was he NOT helping his obviously very busy employee as she scrambled to manage the throng of the noon lunch rush customers, but he didn’t pick up on my multiple attempts to end the conversation so I could look at the menu and decide what to order. We were there long enough that I eventually lost my place in line… and he was STILL talking at me. As my hunger got the best of me, I ended up leaving and not getting any pizza at all, and instead escaped to the creole/​cajun food cart next door, which was quite tasty. So maybe I should actually be thanking Give Pizza A Chance for redirecting me to a delicious cajun lunch?

Mrs. BurgerDogBoy has been suggesting I get to «Give Pizza A Chance» since she read about it in Portland Monthly. Funny, I hadn’t tried it, I hit that food pod quite a bit. In the pic of the stand, you can see «Swamp Shack» next to it, some great Creole food, and next to that, «Tabor», who makes an excellent schnitzelwich!
On to the pizza. I ambled by shortly before noon, and perused the pies on offer, the big rack has a stack of ‘em, with little handmade signs describing their toppings.
I went with a slice of their all meat pie, pepperoni, sausage, C-​bacon. It’s a thin crust effort (tho they have deep dish as well), and they boast about their organic flour and locally sourced meats. A little sign out front says the pepperoni is now from Otto’s. Nice.
By most pizza eater’s definitions, the thin crust is «New York» style, meaning you’ll find some flex if you want to roll your slice — and you can see this in the «hang.»
The outside is crispy while the innards are chewy, always a miracle to me. Light on cheese and sauce, some scattered salty pork parts, this is a great pie, and someday I’ll grab a whole one and nosh on it for days (they are big!)

This is my favorite by-​the-​slice option currently operating in downtown (but I still desperately miss the 9^th and Alder ‘Escape From New York’). ‘Give Pizza’ is a great place to grab a quick slice — friendly folks at the counter, fantastic crust, minimal packaging to feel guilty about, and loads of choices, considering the amount of space they have to work with. The caramelized onion and bleu cheese variety didn’t thrill me as much as I had hoped, but I’m an east coast traditionalist at heart, so I keep happily coming back for plain cheese, which really allows the crust to shine.

It’s been a while, but I remember being damn impressed with what pizza greatness was being manufactured in such a modest sized space. You were my first (and sure to not be the last) experience with whole wheat crust, my initial uneasiness settled at first bite. Being born but only semi-​raised on the east coast has afforded me a tongue for authenticity without the militant traditionalism and style policing when it comes to appraising quintessentially NE & New Englandy foods. Where Give Pizza a Chance deviates from pizzadom’s solemn scriptures, it does so with talent and finesse.
And what a joy it was to be able to re-​embrace such a typically untrustworthy, long-​since abandoned childhood treat as sodee pop. Tack magically healthy cigarettes onto the menu and I’ll pay you rent to pitch a tent outside.
Best part (unless prices have changed since my last visit):
$ 10 large cheese (must be ordered by 1pm… i think).
Bravo, GPAC. Keep on. The review’s really a 4.5, but I can’t remember enough about you to go all the way. A return trip will change that.

Pepper Bacon Red Onion Pizza. Brilliant but evil. Whoever came up with this will be a hero to many and a pariah to some.
But even if you steer around this temptation, there are numerous other toppings and crusts to draw you in. Although only a modest food cart, GPAC offers up more options of by-​the-​slice than any pizza place I can think of. It kinda makes me wonder how they manage all that in there.
And even if they only offered three kinds of pizza I’d still go there because the crust is what I consider perfect (recognizing there are many schools of thought on crust and, being from the West Coast, I have no credibility in the matter), the quality is excellent, and the house brewed sodas are unlike anything else you can find. At least not around here.
Add to that consistently friendly and happy service, a generous punch card program and location… and a delivery service? Baby, you’re looking at five stars!

Pepper Bacon & Red Onion Pizza. This should be a complete sentence! Delicious, perfect topping, perfect crust — crispy, crunchy, not burned in any spot… A terrific deal from Scott for $ 3.00 & oh so satisfying! I added a home made cola soda — made from a cola nut, black tea, & herbal tea — delicious with a slight soft vanilla after taste…
I was so hoping to break my lunch habit of ‘just going to the carts’. Alas! No… I will be a regular at Give Pizza A Chance!

Almost as good as Apizza Scholls but without the attitude so I give it a 5.
I’ve been a couple of times and it’s never floppy (I bet you wish you could say that about all of your previous boyfriends). Cardinal sin in my book.
I got a slice of pizza, a salad (they only have Greek but were kind enough to omit Olives for me) and a soda (homemade) for $ 6. I think 2 slices and a soda would be only slightly more and a better meal (hint to owner).
They have a counter with four seats you can sit out for the 2 days it’s sunny in Portland. Very nice.
Why not Give Pizza A Chance? I’m glad I did.

Mother of God! This pizza is good!
There is always plenty to choose from on their menu including vegan options. I usually get the special that comes with a slice, a salad and a soda for $ 6! The pies here are full of creativity and impressive flavors. Their Greek salad is perfectly made, drizzled with balsamic and feta cheese so fresh it could live in Bel Aire. Did I mention their hand crafted sodas are to die for?! Hello, cherry vanilla!
I can’t say enough good things about this cart and am lucky enough to work fairly close.

Another stop on the great exploration of «Hmm, what should I have for lunch today?»
I had to go the bank which is down on 6^th and Stark. I made sure to time it just right so I could take care of my chores and still be there in time for lunch. i wandered around the pod looking at everything and decided on pizza. There was a line which is usually a good sign, right? The people in the cart were hustling along so the pizza should be fresh. I don’t know, maybe my expectations were too high, maybe I thought I was going to get something that knocked me off the barstool and made my eyes roll back in my head.
I got a slice of Mama’s Favorite: garlic sauce, caramelized onions and blue cheese on a wheat crust. It was $ 2.50 for the slice and the slice was pretty good size. Maybe it was me, maybe it was the pizza but it was just meh. (insert shoulder lift and raising up of hands)
But i did try them so now I can cross them off the list.

Wow. This place has all the makings of a great pizza joint. Great sauce, excellent crust (nice and thin, but with some good thick chewiness on the outside) with a nutty hint, nice and well done, and plenty of options. Now I see why there is always a line at this place!
I tried the Mom’s Special, which was bleu cheese and carmelized onions on olive oil (no marinara), and it was seriously one of the better slices I have ever consumed. granted, I love both carmelized onions and bleu cheese, but the flavors offset each other enough so that the bleu was not overpowering and the onions not too sweet. I could eat a whole pizza of this stuff.
I also tried the pepperoni (what better litmus test for a pizza joint than the standard, eh?), and it was on point. Nothing spectacular, but a good solid slice of pizza. Much more well nuanced sauce than, say, Hot Lips or Schmizza, and with the thin well done crust… mmmmm. It was the lack of something stellar in the Pep slice that led me to 4 stars for this little cart, as after consuming the Mom’s Special, I was all gung ho about another 5-​star review.
You may note that i keep saying «well done». I like my pizza with some crisp, and without me even asking, he took the 2 slices I ordered and threw them in the oven a bit more, heating them to perfection. Awesome.
There were many offerings including standards and some funky ones, and I had quite a hard time deciding what to get. That’s definitely a positive for me. The guy also makes his own sodas at home, uising beet sugar and mostly organic ingredients, so they are supposedly not as sweet as a regular soda. This is very intriguing to me, but for some reason I didn’t snag one to try today. I will definitely be going back for a try.
With a sustainable practice of using mostly organic and local ingrdients, compostable dishes, utensils, and cups, and an all around good attitude, it makes me feel that much better about getting to-​go food and extra containers. I love that I see a lot of that consciousness in this town.
So I will definitely be giving pizza a lot more chances. This is some good stuff people, and in my book, outperforms some of the better pizza I have had in this town. I would definitely recommend that you Give Pizza a Chance too. :)