I mustache you an important question—what makes the perfect pizza? Is it the cheese? The sauce? The crust? The thickness? Cupped pepperoni vs. flat? What is it, really? Perhaps I will feature a blog down the road on the elements of a perfect pizza (subjective, of course). Whatever that “it factor” may be for you though, I must say that Mustachio’s Pizza has it all.

Occasion

This corner-store pizza shop at the top of Elmwood Ave. in Kenmore is the ideal choice for when you’re just feeling like, “Hey, let’s order a pizza tonight.” And we did just that. It was the type of Friday evening where my boyfriend and I knew we wanted to stay in, but still wanted to make a night out of it (pop open the vino and pop in those Disney movies!).

Selection

Mustachio’s has nice reviews on Yelp, so those did help to confirm this was a solid place to get some pizza. A lot of the reviews mention menu items other than pizza, and that’s because the menu is HUGE! They have many options beyond the ‘za, including wings, subs, wraps, hoagies, calzones, strombolis, Italian-style dinners and much more. It’s safe to say we’ll be back. However for this occasion, a large cheese and pepperoni pizza for two to share was exactly what we wanted. The cost was $15.99. For a 17″ pizza (8 large pieces), this is a fair deal. I can’t complain about this price, especially when they have got coupons and deals available too.

Atmosphere

I don’t know about you, but I love local, small-business shops. My first job was working at a local pizza shop doing all sorts of tasks, from cash register, to taking phone and delivery orders, to washing dishes, to preparing food and even waitressing a little bit. To see the hard work being put in is inspiring. It makes you value the type of people you are surrounded by in the community that you live in.

Mustachio’s is right on the corner of West Girard and Elmwood, and you certainly can’t miss it with the mustache on their sign. I am curious about the name; perhaps the owner has/had a fantastic ‘stache. The shop itself is smaller, with a few tables to eat if you wanted. It seems to be primarily a pick-up kind of pizza shop. As I entered to get our order, I definitely felt the hustle, with the phones ringing and stack of pizzas waiting to be picked up too. Nonetheless, the Mustachio’s staff had a friendly, neighborly vibe. I appreciated that they got our order done so quickly (only a 20 minute wait on a busy Friday night!).

Love at first bite

*Insert physically emotionally psychologically spiritually completely content face when you open the pizza box for the first time.*

Safe to say I was pretty stoked to dive into this pizza—comfy sweatpants, messy bun and all after a long work week. At first glance, the slices were a decent size, the cheese was abundant and the cupped pepperoni was the perfect amount (not too little where you have to steal off of other pieces to put some on your). My boyfriend went for the biggest, cheesiest slice, of course. I stuck with a moderate-sized piece to start.

The pizza was wonderfully cooked—crispy, golden crust and definitely the right amount of grease! As for the taste, Mustachio’s Pizza is a great example of New York style pizza. Western New York seems to do a great job of making this style. It had the right balance of sauce and cheese so that you can still experience the crisp baked dough. The crust was an ideal medium thickness. This, however, made it pretty filling! It was not like being able to eat a full wood-fired super thin crust pizza. I can confirm though that Mustachio’s Pizza also tastes good leftover the next day too, cold or warm!

We paired it with a fan favorite wine of ours, the Geneva, NY Three Brothers Wineries’ Skirtlifter. This sweet red wine was casual and enjoyable for this particular meal while watching movies. Adjusting to our new life in Buffalo has been busy, so it was nice to reward ourselves with a relaxing night in and a pizza. Mustachio’s Pizza, you may be the go-to neighborhood pizza hard to top!

Since I am new to Buffalo, I would love to have a few options for my next adventure. Comment below your favorite pizza place in the Buffalo, NY area!

Keep up with where I’m headed to next by following @buffalopizzablogger on Instagram! There will be pizza pics galore.

Pizza & love,

Mandy