A little over a week ago, Claydough’s Pizza & More opened at the intersection of East Brainerd and Graysville Road in the old Mr. T’s location. At this point in time it is strictly dine-in and carry-out, no delivery.

Being in this particular location they are going to have to offer something really special to compete with the crowd-favorite, Lupi’s, just a few blocks down the road.

Pizza is a thin sourdough round ($3.99, $8.99, $10.99 for cheese) and a toasted Ciabatta pizza ($4.49 and $7.49). Any additional toppings are priced depending on the size of the pizza, but for a large, it is $1.95 per topping. You can create your own by selecting from their list of sauces and toppings or choose one of their “Pizzas with Personality”.

The menu offers numerous toppings including a few I would call unusual, such as broccoli, cauliflower, artichoke and sauerkraut! One of the personality pizzas is the Reuben featuring diced corned beef, sauerkraut, mozzarella and Thousand Island dressing. Other specials include the Carnivore (pepperoni, ham, sausage, ground beef), Clubhouse (cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, bacon, chicken, onion, roma tomatoes and mayonnaise), and the Greek (feta, spinach, red onions, kalamata olives, roma tomatoes, black olives and diced chicken). Personality pizzas are priced at $6.99, $14.79 and $18.79.

In addition to pizza, Claydough’s has Calzone (regular and giant, $3.99 and $8.49), salads, wings, and baked pasta bowls. You can also order bruschetta pizza or sourdough dipping bread. We talked about trying the wings (buffalo, teriyaki or barbeque) at a later date ($5.75 for 10, $10.25 for 20, and $24.50 for 50).

Wayne and I ordered (order at the counter) a pizza with bacon, onions, ground sausage, pepperoni, and mushrooms. The toppings added $9.75 to our pizza price, for a total of $20.74 excluding tax.

After your pizza goes through the oven (it rides through on what appears to be some sort of conveyor belt), the crust is brushed with butter, and then brought to your table. You need to get your own plates and silverware near the soft drink machine. We felt the pizza was good, had an adequate amount of toppings and the crust was done and crispy around the edges. We had three or four pieces to take home.

I kept seeing their sign “Home of the Gooie Pie”, and of course that sounded like something I would like, especially when I saw “peanut butter” listed as a topping. We ordered a small 7” dessert pizza for $3.99. The first layer is your choice of Creamy Peanut Butter or Rich Smooth Fudge, that is topped with a layer of Marshmallow Cream, followed by pecans and milk chocolate chips. All this is zipped through the oven prior to serving.

Maybe it’s just me, but I was a bit disappointed in the “Gooie Pie”. For one thing, it wasn’t very “gooey”; maybe it needed more marshmallow cream. Secondly, it wasn’t sweet enough to really be called “dessert”. It was good, but it just seemed to be missing that sweet dessert element. Possibly it should come with both peanut butter and the fudge – maybe that would make it more like a dessert. Whatever, it just didn’t hit the spot for us. For an additional price you could add Butterfinger chunks, M&M’s, crumbled Oreos, or York Peppermint Patties. Any of those might have made it sweeter, but not gooier. They also sell Mayfield Ice Cream and milkshakes.

We would not hesitate for a return visit to Claydough’s – but – if the lady who was wiping off tables and letting her kid run through the place yelling and making so much noise is there again, our order will be “to go”. The floor and walls are a hard surface and those loud noises simply echo and bounce off. Maybe they could serve him one of the Kid’s Pizza specials to occupy him (7” pizza with blue alfredo cheese sauce and mozzarella cheese with a drink for $4.49).

One notable issue is parking. There are a few places directly in front of the entry, but they are a bit difficult to maneuver due to the closeness to the street-side curb. I noticed the lady cleaning off tables taking up one of those front spots, whereas the customers were parking around to the side. Because of the dance studio attendees using that parking, we parked at the far end of the center on the opposite side. The restaurant is wheelchair accessible.

Hours for Claydough’s Pizza & More are Monday through Saturday from 11:00 AM until 9:00 PM. They are closed on Sunday.

READER PET PEEVE OF THE WEEK:
“Servers that mix up the Coke and Diet Coke.”

We look forward to receiving your comments and pet peeves regarding restaurants. cdojanet@chattanoogadineout.com