Runz Pizza: Unpalatable Food in Maadi

Restaurants

Runz Pizza

- 02/12/2012

Runz Pizza: Unpalatable Food in Maadi

2, Road 233
Pizza
0225162520

reviewed by

Tanya El Kashef

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It was a cool evening in November when we found ourselves unsuspectingly drawn to a small pizza place on Road 233 in Degla, Maadi. Perhaps it was hunger that clouded our vision, or maybe our yearning to discover something new gave us illogical hope. Either way, this is how the story turned out.

Runz Pizza sits in the middle of many other establishments on a busy little road towards the back of Degla. With a mostly red and green interior, and only a counter to one side with an oven behind it, Runz Pizza offers takeout and delivery options only. Taking in whiffs of freshly baked pizza, we snagged a menu and went home to try out what this unassuming shop has to offer.

A meat buster pizza is 60LE for a ‘large’ which is more like a medium size in the rest of the world. We settled on a pizza with half of it topped ‘meat buster’ style and the other half we topped with ricotta cheese (10LE), dried basil (free topping) and black olives (4LE).

Fascinated to find poutine (25LE) on the menu – a Quebecois speciality – we instantly added it to our order. Along with apple cinnamon sweet sticks (15LE for four pieces) for dessert, we were set to go.

Runz Pizza was an instant disappointment. First, the delivery took a considerable amount of time to arrive, and when it did, the food failed to make up for the delay.

Peering into the tub of poutine, our hearts knew that it would not be what we’d hoped for. Traditionally, the dish involves French fries, topped with gravy and bits of cheese. The menu had already suggested an alternative recipe – it had minced meat not gravy – but the big tub of grey meat was definitely not what we’d had in mind. It looked so off-putting, in truth, we did not dare try it at first. When we did, it was soggy, lukewarm and inedible.

The pizza, while looking a lot more appetising, did not match in taste or texture. The ricotta cheese side had no distinct flavour but rather a combination of unpleasant ones – mostly salty. The side with the meat had us questioning what certain burnt brown bits were, seeing as it was supposed to be topped with pepperoni and Italian sausage. The crust was dry, yet somehow soggy at the same time. All in all, it also proved to be equally inedible.

The final course of the meal were the apple cinnamon sticks. However, following suit, they were nowhere near satisfactory. Extremely undercooked, rolled up dough, the centre was more like a liquid cinnamon sauce than anything else.

Being the positive people that we are, there was an ultimate up side to Runz Pizza; it taught us a few things. We have learnt never to take a risk with unknown, obscure food stops, unless someone else has already gone on the adventure and suggests it’s ok to do so – like Cairo 360. And secondly, never try poutine outside of Montreal.