Please forgive me for saying it again, but can there really be more pizza places for The Pizza Snob to discover in his hometown? Well, last trip home to Bayonne I found another. On a targeted trek to the now “made-famous-by television” Pizza Linos, I noticed Rana’s Pizzeria, directly across the street from Bayonne High School. So on this next trip, I worked it in among excursions into that great Pizza City on the other side of the Hudson.
It was late afternoon, and school had long let out making for a rather quiet time at Rana’s. My cursory review revealed an opportunistic business enterprise that capitalized on their proximity across the street smack dab in the middle of Bayonne High School. My two takeaways were their offering of a before-school light breakfast menu and their student-friendly pricing evidenced in the photo below.
There’s only room inside Rana’s for two round tables leading me to believe that they are mostly a “grab and go” business. I got to choose from two plain cheese slice selections: a regular for only $1.00 and a jumbo for $1.75. (I believe that the later comes from their advertised $17.00, 28-inch “Big Daddy Pizza.”) They also offered some varieties not normally seen in these parts such as stuffed and deep-dish slices. For my taste test, I went with the regular selection which was perhaps a little smaller than usual.
Well, these guys sure know what they are doing. This was a pretty darn good slice! Trim and economical, it was not a heavy filler-upper. The cheese, crust and tomato sauce were all perfect. Something though held me back from a perfect score on this one, and I think that just a little more seasoning and toasting might have taken them up to the top. While I did detect a slight touch of garlic, a further sprinkling of oregano could have possibly done the trick. Although Rana’s slice was good and crisp and set me up for a classic Fold and Rip, I think that another minute or two of reheat would have made this one a little hotter throughout.
Constructive criticism aside, this slice is certainly among the best that Bayonne has to offer. And like, Pizza Linos down the street, my thanks go out to these guys for providing a great affordable opportunity for Bayonne Bee students.
PIZZA SNOB RATING ****½ Nearer Perfection
Rana’s Pizzeria
674 Avenue A (Between 29th and 30th Streets)
Bayonne, NJ 07002
201-823-2222
[No website]
