14385 N. Florida, Tampa
I was hungry for pizza one afternoon, and I thought I’d give Hawkeyes a shot. My choice wasn’t totally without some influence. They send me some ads that honestly look rather attract, and I knew they have acquired some local accolades…um I thought they had. Their webpage displays the logo of the Tampa Bay Times Best of the Best awards. They don’t say they actually won that award, and they didn’t. The home page also says they were voted a Neighborhood Fave again, for 2025. Considering the list of winners, this might be a rather dubious distinction even if they were voted a Neighborhood Fave. But they weren’t. To be fair, the pie I got wasn’t bad—not sure it was award winning—but it was good. But discovering this deceptive advertising kind of made it taste a little sour.
The Pie
The shop claims a Brooklyn heritage so we would expect a thin crust that is a little bit crispy-but has a nice crispy to soft ratio, with a sauce that is a little sweet and lightly spiced. It was, in fact a thin crust pizza. It could have been a little crispier on the bottom, but it wasn’t bad. The sauce left a bit of a lingering aftertaste in my mouth, which isn’t in itself, bad for pizza. This usually happens when the sauce is heavy with garlic and Italian spices. I like both of those things, but Brooklyn pizza usually goes a little light on the sauces, and instead features the tomatoes and cheese. The sauce was tasty but it wasn’t as tomato-y as a good Brooklyn pizza. Brooklyn pizza does not normally have a lot of toppings because it is thin and often foldable. I did get more on mine just so I could experience how the toppings were. There was not a lot of cheese which is also common for the Brooklyn pizza. I’m pretty sure the mushrooms were canned but the green pepper was fresh and still had a little crunch—which was nice. My slices were smaller than the usual foldable Brooklyn pizza but I only ordered a small, as I was just getting it for lunch—so that one is on me. The pepperoni tasted good but was not as large as what is common on the Brooklyn style, but this is common in most pizza shops.
The experience
It made a good lunch. I’ll give it that. When I picked the pie up, the woman at the counter opened the box to let me see it before giving it to me. I thought that was a nice touch—making sure the customer approves of the pie before sending it home. The pizza place is nestled into a strip as many local pizza shops are. This one had a nice little dining area—which many places don’t have—and it looked comfortable.
The verdict
Was this pizza the “best of the best” as their deceptive advertising implies? No. Certainly not. Was it a good lunch? Yes. For a neighborhood pizza shop, it wasn’t bad at all, fitting it somewhere in the middle between not so good and very good. Besides their false or misleading advertising on their website, I did find the website to be a little confusing. For instance, on the phone app, I could find a 12 inch pie since I just wanted a small one for lunch, but I could not find that one on the computer-based website. Somethings were also in different places between those two, so it was a little confusing. Considering that this was a pretty good neighborhood pizza shop (that very well might improve over time) I really wish they would drop their pretenses of claiming some things they’re not, and just concentrate on being the best neighborhood pizza shop they can be.