Pete Tittl: Pizza Bob's could be savior of East Hills Mall?
| Wednesday, Sep 30 2009 04:41 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Sep 30 2009 04:41 PM
3000 Mall View Road (East Hills Mall)
871-2000
Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.
Prices: Lunch special $5.59, sandwiches $6.06, chicken and ribs $7.93-$17.32, salads $2.32-$7.83, large regular pizzas $13.52-$18.44, large combo pizzas $16.80-$20.05. No child's plate.
Payment: MasterCard, VISA, American Express and Discover accepted. Does not accept personal checks.
Dress: Casual.
Amenities: Wheelchair accessible; no alcohol served; some vegetarian options.
Food: HHHH
Atmosphere: HH1/2
Service: HHH
Value: HHH
Next Week: Pyrenees Cafe
PIZZA BOB'S EAST HILLS
If the East Hills Mall had any luck, it wouldn't look like it does today. Once it had three anchor stores: Harris, Mervyn's and Gottschalks.
Who could have guessed that all these years later all three would be out of business, not just in Bakersfield but everywhere?
Fortunately, it still has the movie theater, and a church has moved into the old Gottschalks property. Divine intervention doesn't hurt. There are unusual businesses you don't find anywhere else, like Skull Harbor, where boys and girls can have pirate-themed birthday parties.
No, it doesn't have the throngs of people that thriving malls have, but there's nowhere to go but up.
One of the best additions is Pizza Bob's, which is already established on the east side with its location at the intersection of Niles Street and Morning Drive.
(Oddly, that is the home base of the local Minnesota Vikings fan club, and they meet there regularly to watch their team. For some reason, Bakersfield has an awful lot of Viking fans. And I'll bet they'll invade the place next Monday night when Favre faces off against the Packers for the first time.)
There was once a Pizza Bob's at the corner of Ming and Ashe in the southwest, but that eventually closed and became a Magoo's. Now Bob himself has opened a second restaurant, probably geared to give movie-goers an option other than hot dogs and other snacks at the two restaurants flanking him (it's a location that was once a Sbarro Pizza restaurant).
If you've been to Pizza Bob's, the product here is identical: thick-crusted Sicilian pizza rich with whole milk cheese and only real Italian sausage, sandwiches, chicken and ribs (all oven baked, the menu says, for healthier living) and even Sloppy Joe's ($2.80).
When we visited, many customers seemed to be picking up pizza by the slice at $2.95, but a few were ordering as we did and eating at the metal tables.
Of course we had to get a medium Sicilian ($15.25) with sausage, but we also got a small (10 inch) garlic chicken ($13.50) and I believe in the process we discovered a new artistic creation that will be a personal must-order favorite. It had a white sauce reminiscent of ranch, a lot of chopped chicken, tomato wedges, purple onion and a fair amount of minced garlic on top. My personal philosophy is that you can almost never have too much garlic, though my companion could certainly list a few dates when she believes I crossed the line on that. If so, it was worth it.
Service was a tad slow, but it looked like we got there at the start of a rush, and possibly some delivery orders (they are delivering from the location).
I'd estimate we waited a good half hour for our food, but everything is cooked fresh to order, so the business may have nothing to do with it.
Here's hoping that Pizza Bob's is the first in a string of new additions to get the East Hills Mall back on its feet.
