Crust and Cream on the Way
Set to open in a week or so the latest food option Crust and Creme is profiled on Richmond Magazine.com. The C&C as I plan to call it is in the former Westover Mercedes Service on West 47th Street and Forest Hill Avenue.
This Italian-American eatery promises to serve hand-made pizzas and burgers and made-to-order subs. “We make the best Philly cheese steak in Richmond,” Saif asserts.
The kitchen is partially exposed, so diners can watch as their food is prepared from a small dining area. And there’s no need to worry about mass-produced burgers and pre-made frozen patties. “We hand-make our burgers while you wait,” says Saif. Pizzas will feature the restaurant’s signature sauce and dough. For non-meat eaters, The Crust and Cream will offer a variety of salads as well as vegetables grilled with olive oil.
After they’re open for a little while, I’ll be hosting a Southbank Pizza Throwdown. With the help of some guest judges we’ll find out who has the best pizza between Crust and Creme, Maldini’s and O’Toole’s. Stay tuned.
They seem to have put a lot of effort into fixing the place up, and, on paper, the food sounds pretty good. Hopefully the execution will be there to give our neighborhood another legit dining option.
I wonder if they’ll have an ABC license? I bet the “best” Philly cheese steak sure would pair well with a cold draft beer.
Can’t wait to see the rest of the menu. Hoping for some vegetarian gyro type options.
Great idea on the throwdown!
Welcome to the neighborhood can’t wait for more great food in our area
Are they having trouble deciding how to spell “Cream” or “Creme” ? At least they haven’t also gone for “Kreme” or “Kream”! “Krust and Kreme” — ugh!
The problem with spelling was/is mine. I assume that Richmond Magazine has the right spelling but we’ll have to wait and see how the sign spells it out. Apologies for my mistake.
I still say it’s the most unappetizing name they could have come up with.
I hope they use real steak and not steak ums and they could come up with a decent cheeseteak.
Sign is up this evening – Cream it is.
pic’s on my blog and Flickr
. . . no steak umms, AND no lettuce and tomato if you want a proper cheesesteak. No mayo, either, for the love of all that is holy!
Perfectly said Foust!
Best cheesesteak in town? We already have a place in the neighborhood that holds that title. It’s called The Forest. And as for the pizza showdown, you should include The Forest in that challenge too.
Ordered a Philly tonight…and it came with lettuce and tomato. Can’t taste the mushrooms or onions, if they are even in it. Definitely not the best cheesesteak in Richmond.
No bueno. And super rude service.
@#14, sounds like authentic Philly service.
Thanks for the heads-up, Wes. Lettuce? Tomato? Humph! Philly cheesesteak it ain’t!
Went last night and they are ill-prepared. They were training and the lady at the register was a little too Jersey Shore for my taste. The pizza and breadsticks were good. Will wait till they work out the kinks and try again for better service in the future.
What does “a little too Jersey Shore” mean? Too ethnic or or too drunk?
I took my kids yesterday afternoon for ice cream. The chocolate ice cream was fantastic. Kid’s cones are just 95 cents, and sprinkles are free!
Pretty terrible. The pizza dough was obviously not homemade.Tated exactly like Little ceasers but 3 times as expensive. they shut down the ice cream about an hour before they closed and the service was terrible. Quite possibly the worst name an eatery could have. I personally will not be going back. Pretty bummed i had high hopes.
Southbank Pizza Throwdown!!!!! I would love to get in on judging that. I have grown up in the neighborhood and seen all the pizza places come and go. Now I write for a few blogs about pizza. Italian Delight should be in that throwdown for history’s sake if nothing else.
http://pizzaliciousblog.blogspot.com
Pizzalicious Lauren
Let’s start with the name. Bad. There is something seedy about the words “crust and Cream”. The atmosphere: think food court at the old mall that used to be popular. The manager: I know what the other person above was saying about “jersey shore”. Every word out of this woman’s mouth was a shout. She was super rude to the person in front of me and rude to her coworkers. I assume that she is the owner based on her attitude.
The food: Since when does pizza margarita have white sauce and chicken? Do they not know that this is a classic dish? Anyway, it was bland and chewy. The tabouleh was really sour and I threw it out. I will give it another try, but I’m not optimistic.
I’m holding my breath. I’m the “Adopt a Street” dude with the trash picker and cover FH from 41st to the Boulevard. I cringed when I saw this place was going in as a pizza and sandwich joint.
Carryout=trash.
Manager lady is extremely rude. She was yelling the entire time I was there.
“Whaddya want!?!”
“Stand over there!”
She botched two orders while I was waiting for my food. Customers came in who ordered take out said they got the wrong order. Lady didn’t care. Then after waiting for nearly 10 minutes I asked if my food was almost ready and it turns out that the lady never submitted my ticket to the kitchen. So I walked out.
My first concern was their cheesy sign. After all the work done on the place, one would think they’d've put a bit of that money into sign appeal. I guess ad-firms just weren’t in the budget.
From what I’m reading here, I can only imagine the leftover crowd they’ll be attracting.
Who knew that Southside had such sophisticated palates? More West Enders should pony up the toll to experience all the wonders we offer.
Give ‘em a break. The ice cream is good. The pizza is fine. And they are still figuring it out. They need a little time and a supporting neighborhood. If you have helpful advice, give it to the manager (he was in the back the day I went, not at the cash register) and have a little patience while they work it out. This place can either turn into decent little addition to the neighborhood or can turn into nuisance property. Help make it a place that the neighborhood wants to go to.
If folks aren’t careful, this blog is going to do to Crust and Cream what others did to Friend or Pho.
Also worth noting that C&C is making a donation to the upcoming I Heart Tree 5K in Forest Hill.
This tread is worse than the Richmond Resturant report. At least we have a new business there. I don’t like Maldinis(sp?), and have never had good service there, but I am not hoping for them to fail and leave us another empty building.
The opinions expressed so far are going to deter people from even trying this place.
I hope they do well, too. I stopped by and got two pieces of pepperoni pizza to go, fresh from the oven. The slices were large, the pepperoni flavorful, and the crust just needed an extra minute or two to crisp up fully.
The woman at the register was courteous and friendly.
I’ll be using this place for lunch time-to-time.
Oh, and there are two trash cans outside (per my original post).
We ordered delivery and while it took almost an hour and a half to get to us the food was good. Had we ordered something hot I think we might have been disappointed but the cold sandwiches tasted fresh and the bread was really good. The price is great too- $13 min for delivery but two whole sandwiches covers that. We are excited to have someplace to order out with more menu options than mandinis, but will always order pizza from there. We will order Crust and Cream again, now that they know where our house is.
Went yesterday. Had a cheese steak (very good) and a meatball sub (just ok). Place is extremely random. Looks like it was thrown together on the cheap. The oddness of the sign and hand drawn parking lot spaces now make sense. Might go by for a quick slice or sub again but it won’t be a mainstay. Seems like “The Eatery” catering to a low end crowd. Disappointing.
I ate there the other day. The pizza was pretty good. So far thats all Ive had. Im glad this place is here. No other pizza place delivers to this area, that I know of. And Assantes got shut down. the only thing i didnt like is how they charge a 2 dollar delivery fee. i was like, I hope he doesnt expect a tip because that 2 dollars was it. Other than that I give it 3 1/2 stars only because i havent had the icecream yet. im about to try it now. delivery is pretty fast for me on weekdays.
With gas at the Westover Hills Exxon at 3.29 today, I guess they have to start charging delivery fees – especially if they can’t always count on a tip. Otherwise it would be a losing proposition to offer delivery.
We had C&C for the first time last night. I had the falafel wrap, husband had Philly Cheese steak (hold the lettuce & tomatoes), son had pizza kids’ meal.
Everybody was really happy with the food — extra points from me for the excellent pickled vegetables on the wrap. That’s how you know it’s the real deal.
Service was a little slow, but largely because there was a lady who kept coming back in from her car to complain about her order one item at a time. This was too cold, that was too….something. I lost track. It was a lot to keep track of.
Everyone was super nice, we had a cheap and tasty dinner and we will definitely be back. It’s going to be a fun place to walk to when the weather warms up.
As much as I’d like to be supportive of a new local business, Crust & Cream gets my thumbs-down. I stopped in for lunch this past Saturday and was disappointed on all fronts. Let’s ignore the awful name, the awful sign and the food-court decor and get right to the point: if you tout yourself as offering not only an authentic Philly cheese steak, but “the best in Richmond” then you should have some familiarity with the dish. Philly Cheese steaks do not come with lettuce, tomato, or mayo. If that’s your default option, then I have to question your research and authenticity.
My order, a cheese steak and fries, took half an hour to prepare. The meat was overcooked and underseasoned and the onions were present in name only. The fries were unremarkable.
Do I hope they fail? No, I hope they iron out the kinks and learn to make a proper Philly Cheese Steak. Right now, though, Crust & Cream is more like C&C Mediocre Factory.
“Philly Cheese steaks do not come with lettuce, tomato, or mayo.”
amen.
“Right now, though, Crust & Cream is more like C&C Mediocre Factory.”
Making my day right here.
Philly Cheese steaks. Do they use the authentic artificial cheese product or substitute real cheese? Philadelphia junk food isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be in Philadelphia.
I say “it is what it is”. I remember the pizza joint in wmbg we went to regularly. The wallpaper was hung on an angle so it felt like you were on a ramp and the owner was kinda surly. It wasn’t gourmet or fancy, but it was fresh and hot and made right there and for a family of four a pretty reasonable way to feed us up.
I think all the complaints about the decor/signage is overkill. As a graphic designer, I’m a little horrified, but it’s perfectly suitable for a joint like that. A small mom & pop outfit isn’t going to want to spend several hundred dollars on a professional designer.
I’ve had pizza and a sub from C&C and while the service is always a little goofy, the food was good. Once the novelty wears off, it probably won’t be quite so busy, thus reducing some of the service trouble.
And to reiterate; it is what it is – a carry-out pizza/sub joint.
I agree with Page – it is what it is. We had gyros and a tabbouleh salad the other night, and they were pretty good. The service was friendly. The bright lighting outside seems to deter loitering, which is fine by me.
stopped in for lunch today. ordered the cheese steak without lettuce and tomato(to-go), guy at counter asked me 3 times to make sure and guess what is on my sandwich. Not only tomato and lettuce but shredded lettuce, and why do we shred lettuce? because it is rotten. secondly the sandwich had very little taste, not that i wanted to eat it at this point anyway.
First and last time
We have really enjoyed the sandwiches and pizza we have gotten on two or three visits. The veggie wrap is one of the best I have ever had! Also, the stuffed grape leaves and tabouli are wonderful.
Have been to Maldinis several times with out of town friends only to be rudely ignored by the hostess…she was talking to her coworkers so too busy to seat us in the almost empty restaurant. This happened three times…I won’t be taking friends there again. Went to Crust and Cream last week…same scenario…ignored and rudely talked to. Food delivered late and cold. When we asked for a reheat, the woman yanked it out of our hands as though we were unreasonable. I think customer service is on the wane.
Tried the ice cream the other day and it was out of this world. Just one scoop and I was satisfied. They sell Homestead Creamery Ice Cream, it’s all natural and made here in Virginia. Price was alot better than the place down near the park or baskin robbins. I noticed they make blizzards as well- I thinnk they call them Infusions. Why is everybody down on the name– crust for the bread and pizza dough and cream for the ice cream– better than Forest Hill Deli.
Their cheese steaks are good, but why doesn’t anyone around offer them with Whiz?
Mojo’s has the whiz!