Comet’s Pizza

Cincinnati Magazine recently held a Pizza Madness tournament, and the winner is the only pizzeria in the field I have never tried. I have not even heard of Comet’s Pizza in Mason. Still, any place capable of harvesting that many votes seems worth investigating.

Comet’s is located on Main Street in Mason and feels like a small-town family pizzeria. Everyone seems to know one another, and the customers and proprietors are almost absurdly friendly. The restaurant has only a few tables and appears to do most of its business through pickup orders. Although Comet’s has been open for about 20 years, it feels like the sort of place families have patronized for generations.

The menu offers medium-crust pizzas ranging from 8 to 18 inches, along with a tremendous variety of toppings and specialty combinations. These include BLT, barbecue chicken, bacon cheeseburger, white sauce, and Hawaiian pizzas.

There is a theory that you should order the worst-sounding item on a menu. If something survives despite an unappetizing name, the taste must justify its existence. We attempt to follow this strategy but end up with a fairly traditional combination: the "Serious PMS," described as pepperoni, mushroom, and sausage - true boldness in pizza naming is far too uncommon.

The pizza is old-school midwestern and heavily topped. The medium-thick crust is browned around the edge and covered nearly to the rim with sauce, cheese, pepperoni, sausage, and mushrooms. It is substantial, greasy, and a little messy. The appeal is abundance rather than refinement.

The sauce is refreshingly simple. It has very little spice, allowing the basic tomato flavor to come through. The crust has significant browning around the edges, while the lighter undercarriage shows telltale signs of having been baked on a screen. The bottom has a good crunch, though the center is softer and more bread-like. I would prefer a little more something in the dough (maybe just salt), but the crust has a good enough flavor for this style of pizza.

Comet’s is not the best pizza in Cincinnati. Nonetheless, it is a good neighborhood pie and an above-average example of the medium-crust, screen-baked pizza found throughout Ohio. It may not justify a special trip across town, but it certainly beats the food options at the outlet mall.