Review: Magoo’s California Pizza
Author: WIBIA | Filed under: Food Reviews, Location: Indianapolis, IN
Magoo’s California Pizza
4919 W 38th St.
Indianapolis, IN
317-293-4411
http://magooscaliforniapizza.com/
In a tweet, on this page (can’t remember when), Kevin from Urban Indy said there was an Indian pizza place on 38th. I have always thought this was a good idea, as you can take some crustier Nan as the crust and go from there. Not really the scene at Magoo’s though…
Setting: I have absolutely no clue what makes Magoo’s a “California Pizza” place. They have a California flag in the front, check it out:
Otherwise, I am shrugging my shoulders here. Very straight forward toppings. The restaurant is pretty big and I counted 76 chairs during my 12 minute wait for the pizza. The tables were clean, however the floor was pretty messy. They really need to pay attention to this. There was a large screen tv, however it was stuck on the dvd menu for a kids movie that I didn’t recognize. So, no tv, no music and you could hear the kitchen pretty well. Long story short, this is not a place for date night.
Menu: Odd ball menu for a pizza place, but then again that is why I was there. Chicken Tikki Pizza, Chappli Kabab Pizza and a lot of standards. They even had burgers and fries. However, at $4.99 for a cheeseburger, I am curious to see how many people order this. You can get any pizza “spicy” as well as “Indian Style, w/ Ginger.” Lots of options here. For more information, the menu is online…but know this is not your standard pizza joint.
What I Ate: Small 10′ Chicken Tikka Pizza $8.99. Garlic sauce.
I had the choice for red sauce or garlic sauce. The guy at the counter mentioned how good the garlic sauce is, so I had to give it a shot. Pizza arrived promptly and packed with toppings. Produce was fresh. The onions were raw and added a lot of crunch to the pizza, although I wish they were slightly softer. The chicken was the star of the show, it reminded me of tandori chicken on a pizza…very tasty. Actually, probably the best chicken that I have had on a pizza for a long time, if not ever.
I really enjoyed the garlic sauce and there was a lot of it. However, they should include that it is a garlic cream sauce. I also was a big fan of the crust, buttery with a little crispiness. The larger pieces had a nice bend to them, but not even close to NY pizza. Overall it was a really solid pizza and I would give it an 7.5/10.
Would I Buy It Again? Yeah, for sure. A great independent pizza place and I would like to try more off the menu. A good value as well. However, I would like to see them ditch their current California branding and keep down the path of doing Indian Pizza fusion. No one else is doing it and I think that they can do it well. They need to pay attention to the details of running a restaurant as well. Clean it up and make it a nice place to enjoy a meal. Based on the food alone, they have a good amount of potential.
-wibia
Tags: chicken tikka, Food, garlic, Indian, magoo's california pizza, Pizza
They really need to export this sort of idea one state to the left of Indiana. Not everything here is deep dish, and we could use something as innovative as this.
Man…I have yet to visit it. Looks tasty. Thanks for the mention.
They have to have something like this in Chicago, Cornjob (lol at the name). Look into Devon Avenue.
Also, a coworker from India said Indian pizza places are huge in Europe. I hope the idea takes off here.
I’m really glad you stopped here. We have a once a month gig on the West side, and have wondered if this place was worth a stop while we’re there. Now we know!
They actually have several Indian Pizza places in Illinois, including downstate. I’ve had several different kinds and have always enjoyed them.
For those who are not familiar, this will shed some light on what California-Style Pizza is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California-style_pizza
This place looks like it fits the bill to me.