Pizzawala’s (Kalamazoo)
3620 W. Michigan AvenueWe are creatures of habit. Friday night is pizza night. After a week of watching how much we’re spending, we can go a little nuts on payday and get something we all enjoy.
We have been trying to mix up our pizza choices lately. I’ve mentioned several times on this blog that Cottage Inn is our usual pizza of choice. The last few weeks we’ve done Little Caesars and Pizza Hut just to mix things up some.
A few weeks ago, we were driving to Lawson Ice Arena to drop the kids off at practice. We passed a pizza place on West Michigan that I read about in Mlive back in February. I didn’t think they were open yet but a few blocks later, we saw a guy walking with a pizza box from that store.
This past Friday, the kids were skating at Wings Event Center. L wanted me to come pick her up when I got off work because she was hangry but there was a K-Wings game that night which meant just getting in to the parking lot would be a mess at 6 PM when I would have been getting there.
I told her I was going to get pizza and have it there waiting for her when they got home.
Pizzawala’s is a newish fusion pizza chain with five locations across the country. The newest location is in Kalamazoo on Michigan Avenue west of Lancaster Drive. The pizzeria moved in next door to Munchie Mart in a space that was most recently Fresh ‘n Clean Barber and Beauty. The shop isn’t too far from Western Michigan University’s campus and it’s in an area that is surrounded by student apartments. This is the second Pizzawala’s location in Michigan with the other being in Canton. There is also one being built in East Lansing as a sit down restaurant and brewery.
The restaurant is a fusion between Indian food and pizza. The menu has the staple pizzas with sausage and pepperoni but they also do a “Bold Collection” that start with different sauce bases with an Indian flare.
The restaurant is carry-out only and the lobby is really small. I put in an online order for two pizzas, an order of wings, and a side of mac and cheese. The cost was right around $50. I got the store and it wasn’t quite ready yet. There’s no place to sit inside. There’s really only enough room for a couple of people to stand. The guy at the register said he’d bring it out to my car when it was ready and sure enough, ten minutes later, all the boxes were brought out.
We’re not big on bold flavors so I didn’t order any of the fusion pizzas. I kept it simple with what we usually order but I did want to try a few other things.
When I got home, I popped open the box with the wings. All of the wings are tandoori marinated and baked in the oven. There are different levels of sauces and while my gut told me I should go with a hot one, I actually ordered the Garlic Parmesan. The wings are a deep red from the marinade which also gives it a little bit of smokiness. The is a buttery sauce with flecks of garlic and powdered parmesan cheese. The wings were good but I wish I would have went for a little heat. The Garlic Parmesan flavor adds some flavor to the marinade but it’s really that marinade flavor that shines through.
I ordered the Cheezeroni for L to give her something other than pizza. They have a few mac ‘n cheese options which also include one made with Makhani sauce and one made with a spinach sauce. The Cheezeroni is a traditional mac ‘n cheese made with a cheddar sauce. You can add bacon, chicken, or paneer to it but I kept it a plain mac ‘n cheese. L said it was the best mac ‘n cheese she’s ever had. It was baked right in the aluminum pan that it’s sent home in. There’s a layer or bubbly cheese on the top and a thick layer of gooey melted cheese underneath it. She ate about half of the small pan for dinner and I ate the rest of it for another meal later in the week.
The pizzas I did what we usually do. One cheese, one pepperoni.
The cheese pizza I ordered is called True. It’s a simple pizza with just cheese. This is the base pizza where you can add your own toppings or just keep a plain cheese. I picked the Max (14″) size because it’s J and B who eat this one. They don’t usually finish a whole pizza and I don’t really love just plain cheese pizza so it’s not the one I really want leftovers of. The pizza had a really good golden brown layer of cheese on top.
In this size, the crust option is “classic” which is a typical delivery style pizza crust. I got a little bit of crap from J because she looked at the other pizza and it was a thinner crust. She was kind of annoyed with me for not getting the cheese in that same crust but it wasn’t an option on that size and I didn’t think we needed a larger cheese pizza. Next time, I’ll just order it and deal with the leftovers with a ton of Frank’s Red Hot
The other pizza I ordered for L and me was the “Icon.” This one is a simple pepperoni pizza and there was a lot of it on top which created a delicious later of grease and cheese. It’s not one I would suggest eating in the car as it’s bound to drip a little bit.
I ordered this one in the Giant (18″) size and the crust option is Fold (NY Style). This is the way to go. It’s a nice thin crust pizza with a foldable, snappable crust. This is the crust J wanted on her pizza. It really is a NY Style crust and even had a NY Style slice place flavor to it. This pizza jumped up pretty quickly to one of my favorite spots in Kalamazoo just for this particular pizza.
I really liked Pizzawala’s. We got a lot of food for $50 and all of it was delicious. The wings are unique, the mac was really good and the pizza instantly became one of my favorites. I will order the 18″ pizza next time for J so she gets the thinner crust too. I wish they had that style of pizza in the smaller sizes but I assume they’re using the same dough ball for the 14″ and 18″ pizzas which is why there is a different in the size of the crust.
Pizzawala’s is a great addition to the Kalamazoo pizza scene. If you’re an adventurous eater, there is definitely something new and unique for you here. If you’re not, there is still a delicious carry-out style pizza in a style you’re not going to get anywhere else.
SW Michigan Dining 