Finale’s Pizzeria
8885 N. 32nd StreetA co-worker and I had a quick trip to Galesburg the other night and I hadn’t eaten all day. I was really hungry, but time was at a premium because we still had to go back to Grand Rapids. I knew I didn’t have a lot of choices, but I knew there were some pizza places along the way in Richland.
Google can be my best friend when I’m in a hurry and in an unfamiliar place. I mean, I know a little bit about what’s in Richland, but Google gives me options.
I got a couple of options when I put in pizza places in Richland, but only one was on my direct route back to Grand Rapids. That’s the one I chose.
Finale’s Pizzeria is right outside of Richland on 32nd Street in Richland Township. It’s actually kind of hard to spot coming from Richland. It shares a building with Texas Corners Cleaners, but there’s no sign on the 32nd Street sign of the building. I trusted my GPS and pulled in to the parking lot because I could see lights on in the front of the building.
Finale’s Pizzeria has been open since July of last year. The space is actually pretty large and doubles as a pizza place and ice cream shop. There’s a large dining room that was empty on the Wednesday night that I stopped in to pick up a pizza, but it was also pretty late in the evening.
I had called in my order as we were leaving Galesburg and after a quick stop at the Circle K for gas, I walked in to the shop and the two guys working knew exactly what I was coming in for.
I had called in an order for a 14″ pepperoni and ground beef pizza. I wasn’t given any option for crust and I didn’t ask so I assumed they only did one. The bill came in just under $10 so there must have been some sort of deal that day that I didn’t know about. The posted price had it costing $16.50, but again, I didn’t ask any questions.
We still had work to do in Grand Rapids, so I grabbed the pizza and threw it in the back of the car and started driving. When we got back to the office 40 minutes later, I sat down, started working, and started pulling slices out of the box.
The pizza is a pretty thin crust which I love. The crust is pretty firm with a crispy edge. The menu says the dough is made in house and it’s definitely a light, airy crust with a lot of crunch.
The pizza is topped with a thin layer of a semi-sweet sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese that came out of the oven slightly browned. The meat was piled on pretty heavy handed. There was a large pile of crispy ground beef mostly in the middle of the pizza with slices of pepperoni spread pretty evenly throughout.
This really is my kind of pizza. I loved the crust which is not something I say really often. I’m a big fan of the thin crust and I love how this thin crust is able to hold up to the traditional triangle slice. The ground beef on top was crispy and delicious, but the rest of the toppings were not burnt which added a great contrast between the beef and the pepperoni.
Finale’s Pizzeria isn’t really close enough to me that I can make it my go-to pizza joint, but if it was closer, I would. I know I’m in the minority a lot of times when it comes to thin crust pizza, but it’s what I prefer and Finale’s does it exactly how I like it.
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