Bingo! Bernie & Betty's Pizza

After many recommendations we finally got into the mom and pop joint on the corner of Spring and Allen in Springfield. It was a plus that we got to enjoy this pizza with family and on a Saturday night. So there was good company to go along with even better pizza.

Where they're located:
1101 Spring Street
Springfield, IL 62704-2925

Call 'Em:
(217) 528-1821

The Pizza:
Pepperoni, Tomato and green pepper

The Crust: Thin

The Dish:
We attended mass at St. Joseph's Catholic church on the northend of town and then met at B&B for some dinner. This was my last "birthday dinner" as my birthday was already 10 days gone but we are close with my wife's Aunt and Uncle and so they wanted to take me out to eat for my birthday. I thought this would be a good a time as any to enjoy some pizza from Bernie and Betty's.
They take reservations here so we had a table set for 5:45PM and were immediately seated when we got there. The restaurant wasn't too busy at this point which we appreciated because we were heading out to watch some MMA later in the evening.
We ordered drinks and an appetizer and waited for the pies to arrive. Deep fried mushrooms, mozzarella cheese and onion rings arrived quickly and weren't remarkable. Probably no different than you can get anywhere else around town.

I think the service could have been a little more attentive considering we got there early before the restaurant filled up. There were a couple of times when thirsty diners at our table were left staring at empty glasses. That's not to say the service was bad... Our server was very friendly and accomodating, just not easily accessable. Luckily... The pizza helped me forget about all that.

How'd it eat? There's no reason to beat around the bush. This pizza was very, very good. It was loaded with fresh toppings, an even amount of gooey mozzarella cheese, a wonderful sweet, tangy tomato sauce all on top of an expertly baked, crispy, crunchy thin crust. I didn't find any drawbacks to this pizza at all. While I enjoy most pizzas I sample there are almost always little aspects of each pizza I would like to see done differently or improved. I have no such comments about Bernie and Betty's thin crust pizza. This is certainly one of the best pies in town.

Being that I had dinner here with a group we decided to try one of the Bernie and Betty's San Francisco sourdough crust pizza pies. The toppings chosen were sausage and Canadian bacon but the crust was definitely the star on this pie pan.

I gotta say... there was a little bit of sweetness with the sourdough that was amazing. I'm not sure if it was the sauce that was doing it but this crust really meshed well with the sauce and the cheese. The Canadian bacon was outstanding as well but I didn't care for the sausage much on this pie. Switch the sausage out for some pineapple and this crust and mixture would be perfect for a Hawaiian style pizza. Don't plan on gobbling 5or 6 slices of this pie down in one sitting unless you have an enormous appetite. The SF sourdough is seriously filling.

Overall I was most impressed with the pizza sauce that Bernie and Betty's delivers but the overall package is about as good as it gets in and around Springfield. Also included in the offficial review is the SF sourdough pizza which is an excellent choice if you are looking for something different than a traditional Springfield thin crust pie. Either way you're gonna be a winner.

SPP Ranking: 9.2