Review from 2010:
Back to my side of the river, home of the Tennessee Titans, East Nashville. The first place I decided to hit up in my neighborhood was my East Side fave, Castrillo's, in Riverside Village. I've always touted this place as the best in East Nashville, which, admittedly isn't really saying all that much. Last Wednesday I really just wanted something fast and good that I could take home and Castrillo's, not having a proper dining room, definitely fit the bill. Also, for someone who hates calling businesses to order food or anything else, it's the perfect place to order from. Once you've ordered from there once, they've got all your info on file and you don't even have to leave a name or number. You just call, tell them whether you want it delivered or not, and tell them what you want. It's pretty simple and painless. The first thing that caught my attention when I got there to pick up my pizza is that they show you your food before you pay for it. I had never encountered that at any other pizza place. It must eliminate several mix-ups and headaches. After using a Kroger receipt coupon, my total for a large pepperoni was just over $11. Add a couple of gas station Cokes and I was up to about $14.
When I got home I was ready to sit back and have a pretty perfect evening with my favorite East Nashville pizza and my favorite TV show, Criminal Minds, coming together to make this happen. Unfortunately, this was not the case; they both disappointed. Criminal Minds was a rerun and Castrillo's had fallen victim to the incredible challenge that is the Pizza Summer. Until now, I wasn't eating real pizza once or twice a week and critiquing it. I was all about grabbing a crappy $3 Kroger frozen pizza or a Totino's Party Pizza and not even thinking about it, so when I hit up a place like Castrillo's it was always a treat and tasted far superior to anything else I was eating on a regular basis. Now that I've got the taste of places like Angelo's Picnic Pizza and Taste of Italy on my tongue, Castrillo's just can't hang.
The crust has always been so much different than any other pizza around town, but has also had this oddly familiar taste that I haven't been able to place. Until now. I've always thought of it as an interesting crust spread with tons of garlic butter and parmesan cheese, but it's really not interesting at all.... it's Little Caesar's Crazy Bread. That little light bulb pretty much single-handedly destroyed all hope for this pizza. All I could think about were $5 Hot-N-Readys and $2 Crazy Bread that's been sitting out for a good while. The sauce, cheese and pepperoni were all really sweet as well and you dedicated readers might recall from my last post how I feel about sweet pizza. It just isn't supposed to be that way. The Pizza Summer has taken it's first casualty. I'm not necessarily saying that Castrillo's makes bad food, but it's more of a pizza-like treat than a real solid pizza.
Catrillo's is located in the ever-growing Riverside Village at the corner of Riverside Drive and McGavock Pike in Inglewood. They are open for lunch from 11am to 2pm and for dinner from 4pm to 10pm Monday through Thursday. On the weekends they are open from 11am to 10pm.
Next entry is the Protomen/Thundercon family reunion dinner at Caesar's Bistro on White Bridge Pike.
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