I recently moved out to Los Angeles for the semester, and one of the first thoughts on my mind was the food. I had never been to the West coast before August, so I knew I would have to take full advantage of this semester, soaking up as much of the culture as I could. Since a big part of the culture of any locale is its food, I’ve been on a quest to try as many local restaurants as possible. One of the first places on my list was Prince Street Pizza, since it’s just down the street to my campus.
I immediately took note of the pizza place, as it was marked by a giant Arby’s sign. At first, I thought this was, of course, an Arby’s. But looking a bit closer, I realized it had been replaced by this pizza chain which has begun to expand out west. As soon as I made this realization, my TikTok FYP was assaulted with Prince Street Pizza content. Specifically, there seemed to be some controversy over its replacement of the Arby’s, as well as the pizza’s quality, due to its marketing as LA’s first drive-thru pizza joint. Many TikTokers hated everything about the brand, particularly the slices. This buzz immediately grabbed me, and I knew I had to do a deep dive for myself.
Replacing the Arby’s
This historic Arby’s closed on June 14 of this year, having been in business since 1969. The location was beloved, but had to shut down due to “lasting effects from the pandemic, shifting neighborhood demographics, rising food costs and an increase to the state’s minimum wage.”
Less than two months later, Prince Street Pizza set its eyes on the location to open its first drive-thru pop-up. That’s right — I caught this at the perfect time! Reportedly, the pizza chain plans to stay through at least Halloween, dubbing this venture an “experiment.” Depending on its success, drive-thru pizza may become the new trend — or a decided no go.
Is the food good?
I wanted to get a solid grasp of Prince Street’s most popular slices, so between my friend and I, we tried the Naughty Pie, the Sunset Slice, and the Spicy Sprig. Right off the bat, the names were certainly attention catching, if not slightly embarrassing to order. But opening the bag completely offset these beginning reservations, as I was immediately awestruck by my new favorite invention: grated parmesan cheese packets. I’m not sure if these are common in any way, as I had personally never seen them before going to Prince Street. However, as someone who ate piles of parmesan cheese on its own as a child, this was deeply exciting and set up the restaurant extremely well for me.
Each slice is Sicilian-style, which is also pretty new for me. While my dad’s side of the family is Sicilian, they all greatly prefer a traditional slice, looking down on any type of deep dish. I honestly enjoyed the doughier style though, and think it fit pretty well with their flavor profiles. Unfortunately, my favorite was the Naughty Pie, which my friend had actually ordered. Even though I only got one bite of this, that was enough to sell me on it. The Naughty Pie is covered in a spicy vodka sauce with prosciutto, pepperoni, ricotta, mozzarella, and, the star of the show, hot honey. In the past, I’ve been very critical of hot honey products and their distribution of the sauce, but Prince Street really has it down. This slice also has a good pepperoni distribution, which the Spicy Sprig suffered from.
The Spicy Sprig was predominantly pepperoni, truly coated in the meat. This created an extra chewy texture that personally overwhelmed me in combination with the doughiness. But the spice was perfect for my taste, probably due to their Fra Diavolo sauce. The Sunset Square was the final one I tried, and was pretty basic. It had a sweet marinara sauce, along with both fresh and shredded mozzarella. There seemed to be a layer of this mozzarella under the sauce, which I really enjoyed and created a sort of cheese-stuffed quality. While it didn’t stand out as much as the other two, it was still yummy, which is all I ask of pizza at the end of the day.
I also ordered the Italian Rainbow Cake, as Italian rainbow cookies are one of my favorite desserts on the planet. This was definitely my favorite thing off the menu, with a delectably creamy chocolate icing. Rainbow cookies are also known for their almost anise-y raspberry and almond flavor, which definitely stood out to me in this cake. They definitely captured the spirit of this popular Italian treat.
Overall, I can see why LA residents are mourning such an important fast food chain to the Sunset strip. However, I don’t think Prince Street Pizza deserves the hate it’s gotten. I think this is an exciting pizza option if you’re bored of the basic slices you can get anywhere, that has an authentic Sicilian flair to its food.