Pie Five Pizza Co.

The pizza is somewhat pricey (with tax a little less than $ 9 for the Athenian), but it’s worth the splurge every now and then to me. I love pizza and the Athenian is delicious. It’s the only thing I’ve ordered from Pie Five.

UPGRADE YOUR INGREDIENTS!!! The concept of creating your own pizza is great. However, they were lacking in the flavorful ingredients department. To start, I ordered the whole grain crust and it was disgusting. It taste like a low quality dough. The Tuscan marinara sauce taste like tomato paste from the can with herbs. Overall, I did like the variety of toppings they provided I just think they should step up the quality of the ingredients so it will make for a better tasting pie.

Five stars for the pizza, but I had to dock them for the salads. The concept of Pie Five is simple and complicated at the same time. Everything is customizable, so if you don’t like your pizza, I feel like you have no one to blame but yourself — I can’t really find fault with the ingredients for toppings, so the only thing I can think of is if something goes horribly wrong with the crusts (which has not been the case during any of my visits, and I’m somewhat of a regular now).
The line to order your pizza movies fairly quickly, it’s the cooking and paying that holds up the process. But the workers seem to have a good camaraderie and they make the assembly line run seamlessly. The manager is also really friendly.
When it is your turn to order, know 1) which crust you want and 2) which sauce you want. They have several to choose from and the ordering process isn’t really explained to you if you’re a newcomer so you might feel flustered/​overwhelmed/​confused. There are four types of crusts: pan, whole grain thin, artisan thin, and gluten free. Gluten free costs extra. I like to go with the whole grain to take a somewhat healthy route, but the pan crust always looks good — the results always look like a pizza should. Their sauces include Tuscan marinara, spicy marinara, olive oil, Alfredo, and bbq sauce (probably more). They also have several cheeses to pick from, but I usually go with the mozzarella blend. Once you pick your crust and sauce, go crazy. You can pick as many or as few toppings as your heart desires, all for the price of $ 7.99 (excluding tax) — the total with tax is around $ 8.79 if you forgo the side salad, drink, or dessert. A plain cheese pizza is cheaper, btw.
Normally when I have creative license to pick toppings (think frozen yogurt joints), I like to put every topping that I like, which ends up with some weird flavor combinations instead of a good pairing. For that reason, I recommend choosing a signature pizza (preselected toppings that actually go together) and adding or subtracting toppings as you see fit. I’ve had the farmer’s market (veggies), Tuscan chicken, five star (similar to a supreme), Athenian (think Greek flavors) and the margherita pizzas, with a tweak here and there with the toppings. The farmers market and Athenian are my favorites so far, but there are still some on the menu that I would like to try. My friend always gets the Tuscan chicken pizza (and hers looks delicious every time)!
I recommend adding more toppings if your pizza looks sparse — I can eat the whole 10″ pizza in one sitting if there’s not a lot of toppings, but if I get a pizza loaded with toppings, I feel full before eating the whole thing and end up having a snack for later (but note that I’m the kind of person that usually has leftovers).
They offer a «bundle» meal which is your pizza + a medium drink + your choice of a small salad or a dessert (the desserts look amazing every time), for about $ 11, which is a good deal.
And finally, there is a reason it is called «Pie Five» and not «Salad Five.» The salads are nothing special — it’s a salad (overpriced too) that you could get anywhere. The only thing that makes this salad different is that it comes in a crust bowl (think taco salad shell bowl but crispy pizza dough instead). The large salads are the same price as the pizzas, so if you’re at Pie Five, go for the pizza.

LOOOOOVE this pizza. This place is just like chipotle, moes or subway where you can basically pick your dough and decide what fresh toppings you would like on your pizza. They also have wheat or gluten free options! I chose regular pan with alfredo sauce, mozzarella, chicken and spinach. The personal pan pizza literally takes 5 minutes to go through the oven and let me tell you! It was soooo good. Perfect crunch to the crust, right amount of toppings and very flavorful. The line was quite long when I arrived but the food is totally worth it. I’ll be returning!

Pie Five is a custom pizza place that is similar to &Pizza, but the difference is the boxes are easier to carry, and the pizza are round and personal sized. When I heard that Pie Five was opening in DC my mouth watered. I also knew this was the end for other pizza places in the DC area as this is my go to spot. When Pie Five posted that they were opening in DC I literally ran to this location.
Upon arrival, I saw that the line was busy. Keep in mind that this is a busy location, and I did go during lunch hour, about 12:30. There were about 15 people in front of me, but the line just whizzed right through and I was only in line for 5 minutes. So Pie Five does live up to their name.
The food at this location was great too. Even though the line whizzed right through, the food was up to quality, and tasted very delicious. I will definitely be back for more Pizza Pie. BTW, this location actually serves Breakfast in the morning!
This is a place you must check out.
As for you Pie Five, Here’s a High five, keep up the great work!