As I walked through the freezer section of my local grocery store, the box for Vito & Nicks II pizza caught my eye. The photo of the pizza looked enticing and the promise of a “Cracker Thin Crust” peaked my attention.

Having grown up around Chicago my expectations for Vito & Nicks II may have been skewed slightly higher than normal for a frozen pizza, but you cannot make claims of “The Best Pizza Anywhere” and “Restaurant Quality” and not expect people to call you out if those claims fall short. I guess one way to get around this is by saying your customers are the ones saying it, not you, and that is exactly what Vito & Nicks II does on their pizza boxes. Don’t get me wrong, this is a decent frozen pizza. But it is a stretch to call it “The Best Pizza Anywhere!” It is even a stretch to say that it is “Restaurant Quality.”

The pizza itself looks like most frozen pizzas. It rests on a cardboard disc and is wrapped in transparent plastic. The crust had dock marks on it, not a good sign, but the toppings seemed to be plentiful, and dispersed evenly across the surface, a definite plus.

I adjusted my oven rack to the middle position, preheated it to 450⁰, set the timer for 14 minutes, and waited for it to bake. I don’t know if it was my oven or the instructions, but I had to let the pizza bake for an additional three minutes to allow all the cheese to melt and achieve a look similar to the picture on the box.

The pizza had a pleasant aroma while it was baking and was golden brown when ready. A good start for a frozen pizza.  There are things which keep it from elevating to a level above the generic frozen pizza class. 

The crust is thin but never approached the cracker texture advertised on the box. Similar to the majority of frozen pizza, this one lacks flavor while the upper portion of the crust is soggy and keeps it from attaining the promised crispness. 

The tomato sauce was gummy but with none of the sweetness common with many frozen pizzas. It doesn’t have much tomato flavor though.

The cheese is fine for a frozen pizza, but it does have that weird frozen cheese way of holding the individual shred shape until some magical temperature is reached that allows it to melt. It tastes fine and there was a decent amount. The flavor was ok but didn’t stand out in any way.

The sausage and pepperoni used on the pizza are, and I cannot emphasize this enough, very generic. The texture of the sausage is lacking. It has a pureed constancy that has no chew and is disappointing. The pepperoni has a little bit of flavor but is just ok. Both meats are nothing special and pretty typical for run of the mill frozen pizza.

In the end, for a pizza making some bold claims, Vito & Nicks II is very generic frozen pizza. It is disappointing though because of the claims advertised on the box. If it’s on sale and you’re hungry for generic frozen pizza, this one fits the bill. Don’t be fooled though, this is definitely not “The Best Pizza Anywhere.”