Old scratch pizza - a short introduction
Do not let the name fool you – the only devilish thing about Old Scratch pizza is its name. For those of you not familiar with the term – old scratch means devil. Old scratch pizza is a fairly new place – it only opened a little over than one year ago, and it gained almost a cult following among Dayton people in the first few months after opening. On big holidays, the line to order food at Old scratch pizza will literally go outside the door. But what makes this place so special? Feel free to keep reading to find out.
Where is Old scratch pizza situated?
You will find Old scratch pizza on 812 South Patterson boulevard in Dayton, Ohio, right next to the Miami Valley hospital. This is considered to be a shady part of Dayton, especially after dark, so do not wander away from the parking lot on your own once it gets dark. And I am not exaggerating. You can hear of at least a few shootings every week in Dayton on the news.
Old scratch pizza has two parking lots – the front and the back one, and in case they are both full (which happens quite frequently), there is street parking available right next to the place. If you park on the street, make sure you are not blocking any driveways, because your car might be towed if you are.
Old scratch pizza looks like an abandoned warehouse. You will easily be able to recognize it – the building is grey, with a big Old scratch sign on it. Behind it, there is a big black warehouse, so you can look for that building first because it is more visible.
For some reason, the GPS gets confused and views the area around Old scratch pizza as a one way street and it will tell you to make a big loop around it. There is no need to do that - it is perfectly fine to turn left there.
The place, ordering and prices
Old scratch is a very special place. It has special food, special drinks, special long lines, and special ways of ordering food.
But let me describe the interior of the place first. Once you enter, you will notice that the interior really looks like a warehouse. There will be the front desk right in front of you, where you can order food. The seating area will be on your right, and next to it, you can admire the cooking staff, preparing pizzas for the customers. It is actually pretty impressive to see how they throw the pizza dough in the air, spin it around, and how fast they put the toppings on it.
The place has open seating, meaning that you can sit wherever there is an empty table. But the tables are big, and you cannot expect to have a whole table for yourself – other parties might join you. The place itself can get pretty loud, but that is just a park of the experience of eating at Old scratch pizza.
So how does the ordering process at Old scratch pizza look like? Once you get to the main desk, you tel the server your choice of food, and if you would like to order alcoholic drinks, you will have to do so at the bar, which will be on your right.
The server will ask you if you would like to keep the tab open, meaning they will keep your credit card information on file for that day, so you can order more food and/or drinks without having to use the credit card again. This is only useful if you know you will order food and/or drinks more than once.
Once you pay for your order, you will get a number that you will put next to you on the table, so they will know where to bring your food. All you have to do now is wait for your food. Which can take a while, but hey, you can take advantage on all the drinks that Old scratch pizza offers.
Beers at Old scratch pizza will cost you anywhere from four to nine dollars, and the pizzas cost twelve dollars on regular days, but at certain days of the week, they offer a ‘pizza happy hour’, meaning selected pizzas are cheaper than usual. And by cheaper, I mean almost half off.
Must – try foods
Prosciutto arugula pizza is almost half pizza, half salad. This is basically a regular pizza dough, topped with prosciutto slices and a ton of arugula on the top. See, if you did not know there is pizza dough on the bottom, you could easily mistake this pizza for a salad! The arugula already has the dressing on it, and there is also some cheese sprinkled on the top. This is the pizza I order most often at Old scratch.
The best pizza at Old scratch. And I am not the only one who thinks so - I see a lot of people order it every time I am there.
Funghi pizza is a regular pizza with a white pizza sauce, a lot of cheese and quite a few different kinds of mushrooms on top. The mushrooms can make this pizza quite salty, so if you are not into that, this might not be the pizza for you. Funghi is one of the pizzas that are eligible for the pizza happy hour, so here is your chance to try it on the cheap. And even if you do not like it, you will still pay only half of the price. If you are there during the pizza happy hour, of course.
Roasted cauliflower is the specialty of Old scratch pizza. And it is just what you might think – a big, roasted cauliflower head with buffalo sauce. Delicious, but it can be a little bit tricky to cut it up. And yes, I know I sound like a kid with that statement, but I dare you to try cutting it up without making a big mess!
If you are unable to finish your pizza, you can ask for a box and bring it home. It will taste great the next day too!
Must - try drinks (read: beer)
Old scratch pizza has an impressive selection of different beers, and I am always having a hard time picking the beer that I want to order. Well, good news is that you can sample beer before ordering, so the decision will hopefully be a little bit easier. But beware, most of their beers are pretty dtrong, so you might find yourself tipsy after sampling two or three of them.
Maine another one is a tasty (and very strong) beer. Of course, you will not feel its power when you are sitting down, so I had one, and I felt like it does not have a big effect on me. So I decided to order another one, and when I stood up at the end of my meal, I figured out that I am actually just a little bit tipsy. Maine another one has a citrusy flavour, and it is just the type of beer that I love.
Cupcake – flavoured beer sounds better than it tastes, but it is still something that is worth trying. As you probably know, cupcakes are usually sweet (no kidding). But the cupcake flavoured beer is somehow sour, but it indeed leaves a cupcake – flavoured aftertaste.
Raspberry – flavoured beer was Old scratch pizza’s specialty, and they only offered it for a limited amount of time. It was a big hit, so they promised they will reintroduce it at some point in the future, but sadly, I am still waiting for that day. Unlike the cupcake flavoured beer, the raspberry flavoured beer tasted (and smelled) more like raspberries than an actual beer. Yummy!
Mango – flavoured beer is a very special beer, and I still cannot decide if I like it or not. It does not taste much like mango, but it does smell like it, and it is very bitter. Even though I usually not like beers that are too bitter, I figured out that mango flavoured beer goes great with the Prosciutto arugula pizza.
My prosciutto arugula pizza with mango flavoured beer.
A few words for the end…
A fun fact for the end of this post - for their one year anniversary, Old Scratch was offering a free pizza for anyone who subscribed to their free SMS club on the anniversary day. I think they did not expect so many responses, because they ran out of pizza in a few hours. Sadly, I was out of town so I missed the opportunity, but hopefully, they will do the same thing next year.
Old scratch pizza is an amazing place for either getting food or drinks. Or both. Prepare for longer wait than usual, and you are in for a great culinary experience. Or should I say Great, loud and cheap culinary experience.
