Coal Pizza Company

We showed up late-​night so this may be related, but the pizza was just OK in my opinion. Other members in my party liked it, so fair enough.
It was strange that they couldn’t serve us a drink. We were told no one who was working was licensed /​old enough to, but thats fair enough I guess considering how late it was. They did have a decent selection of beers though.

The marinara sauce was a little off for my liking, but the rest of the table seemed to like it. Pizza was OK. Super friendly staff and I highly recommend the cannoli. I added a star when I tasted the buffalo chicken pizza. SO good.

This could possible be the worst pizza in Indianapolis. I love pizza and in my opinion it’s pretty hard to mess up pizza, but I’m here to tell you, Coal City successfully messed up pizza. They may have good ingredients and the topping combinations are intriguing, but they fail to pull it off. We had a Tuscan pizza and breadsticks delivered to the house. The crust was nice and crispy, but there wasn’t enough sauce and cheese on the pizza and it was very dry. There was a nice spice from the crushed red pepper, but the roasted peppers were lacking and the toppings didn’t sing like I hoped they would. The whole pizza fell flat.
The breadsticks were even worse. They tasted as if they had been sitting for a while. They weren’t soft and doughy and were like biting into a bread product that you would buy off a grocery store shelf. Although, the dipping sauces were the highlight of the meal and had the most flavor.
I like that Coal Pizza offers delivery and that they use bike messengers for their delivery, but I definitely think getting room temperature pizza and breadsticks affected the overall taste and presentation of the meal.
Can’t say that I would go to the restaurant or order from them again.

First of all, let me tell you that I am pretty easy to please when it comes to pizza.
They cook their pizzas under 5 minutes, but for some reason, my boyfriend and I had to wait 50 minutes. I could maybe be more lenient if the restaurant was packed full and busy, but no exaggeration, it was almost empty.
We got the pizza to go because we had to be home at a certain time. Big no-​no.
We got just a regular cheese and low and behold, the bottom was completely burnt, which ruined the whole taste of it. The middle was soft and just not cooked right. It just didn’t really make sense.
Usually it’s good service but bad food, or horrible service, but great food, but unfortunately, this was one of those experiences where it was
bad service and bad food.
Sorry guys. :(

I was pleasantly surprised to find out they serve alcohol. My martini was mixed just right.
The Mangia Rolls came out piping hot. The Cesar salad had a bit of a kick to it. The pizza crust was light & fluffy. The Tarte Flambé has bacon on it and you can’t go wrong with bacon :-)
Definitely recommend.

«Hey buddy, wanna try that Coal Pizza place?»
«Cold Pizza???»
«No, COAL Pizza»
They’ve gotta change the name here or something. Nobody wants to go to cold pizza. My wife and I stopped in and were pretty excited to try something new downtown. Everything was just okay with the exception of the calamari which I really enjoyed. I liked that they had a few local beer choices and the menu was fairly diverse.
It just seemed that the place had theme issues. Is it a bar? Is it a middle to upper scale pizza place? We were really the only people in there on a Friday night which explains why we had good service. It should have had at least six more couples. Everything was just one click away from Eh to Good.
A simpler review would read «yeah, it’s okay»
I’m in no huge hurry to return but I wouldn’t say no.

Where should I start? This place is being run by a bunch of amateurs. We tried to make a reservation online and the connection was broken.
The server tried her best but had no idea how to serve wine. I know, this is a pizza place! But, come on, let’s have a little training.
We ordered the Caprese Salad. The mozzarella was tough, like it had come from a shoe factory.
Next, the menu we were given was not the actual menu they were serving!!! There were changes and the new menus were not available. What!!! One table left because they could not get what they wanted.
The pizza was very ordinary and slightly burned on the bottom. Is this coal-​fired? No spatula either.
Forget about any ambiance.
All in all, this place is a joke and we will never return.

I enjoyed the pizza, but the service was lacking. If it takes 90 seconds to cook the pizza, it shouldn’t take 45 minutes to deliver it. I guess I could have called Domines and got it in 30 minutes. PIzza would have been horrible, but at least it would have been delivered.
Tuscan pizza was tasty, the margherita not so much. It was fairly bland. The mangia rolls needed more flavor. It tasted like hard rolls.

I was hoping for more when I first decided to try this place out. Like most people, I was interested to try a pizza baked at 900 degrees for only 90 seconds. Sounds impressive, right? Unfortunately it fell flat. I gave them a second chance and again it just didn’t wow me.
Admittedly, the outside crust is pretty good. It’s seasoned pretty well and has an enjoyable chew to it. The underside, however, was floppy and soft. Maybe there were just too many ingredients on top for the heat to penetrate through during such a short baking period.
To sum it all up: the pizza isn’t bad, but it’s just not that good. Also, in my opinion, the carne calzone is much too small to carry a $ 12 price tag.

Glad to have a new pizza place downtown! The breadsticks are deeelish, and one order was plenty for 4 people. Came with three dips (marinara, garlic sauce, and cheese sauce), but the cheese sauce stole the show. I think it was some kind of cheddar parmesan mixture, and we may or may not have ordered extra just for dipping our crusts… it was that good. I think my friends were embarrassed that I requested an extra vat of cheese sauce, but it didn’t stop them from digging in once it arrived. (On a different visit, I tried the mangia rolls. Don’t bother, they were dry hockey pucks.)
We tried two pizzas, the Tuscan with fennel sausage, roasted peppers, and crushed red pepper, and the Tarte Flambé with smoked bacon, onion, and gruyère. Both were awesome, and it was hard to pick a favorite. The Tuscan had a nice spicy kick, while the Tarte Flambé was pure cheesy bacon goodness. Could have gone without the plain white onions, though — they added nothing.
The menu says that one pizza is enough for 1 – 2 people, and I’d say 2 people is accurate. We took a few slices home, and we’re not exactly delicate eaters. Our server was sweet and seemed genuinely interested in whether we were enjoying our meal. All in all, our table was impressed, and we’ll definitely be back for more!

A disappointment.
I come to Coal Pizza as a foodie with a love for all things pizza. Every style has its appeal. Give me good pizza and a micro brew and I’m in heaven.
If you come to Coal Pizza expecting premium pizza of any variety, something with premium meats, a knowledgeable serving staff, and amazing flavors in every bite. You’re going to be severely disappointed.
As our waitress arrived at our table to take our drink order I inquired about a particular beer on tap I’ve never had before. This threw her for a momentary loop until she remember to pull out her notepad and read off something to the effect of ‘A light refreshing beer!’. To which I screwed up my face and asked «yeah?’. ‘Would you like one?’… ‘Hmmm’. Then I got up and walked to the bar so the owner could pull me a sample. He was very pleasant and obviously cared about beer. The beer in question was lemony swill, tasting like someone went fruity on a Budweiser. I settled on a tasty amber. Note to those explaining beer everywhere, use terms like body, malt, hops, talk about its smell, it’s genre, etc… These small breweries in Indy haven’t opened because people settle for a ‘light refreshing beer’.
We ordered the Greek salad, a prosciutto pizza, and a pizza that was half ‘cheese’ and half tomato and cheese.
The salad was dandy, though the greek salad was suspiciously like a caesar, matter of fact throw some croutons on it and it could have passed for one.
One of our party members inquired as to if the pepperoni was of the spicy or mild variety, they offered to grab us a piece. We were all obviously excited for a preview of our delicious 90 second pizzas… they brought out a piece of pep that could have walked out a plastic bag in the refrigerator section of Marsh. This was a preview of things to come.
The half cheese half tomato & cheese pizza came out first… someone gave the illusion of cheese dancing on this pizza, I’m not sure who’s idea of cheese this was. It was more like a light dusting. Meh.
The ‘Prosciutto’ pizza came out next, it was lovely. A hearty layer of cheese with some sliced honeydew mellon on top drizzled with balsamic. There was obviously a bit of prosciutto there, thing was… it was totally tasteless. The honeydew mellon and balsamic completely dominated everything about the pizza. This was junk prosciutto, it didn’t come from a local charcuterie, this was on the same level as the crap pepperoni we tasted earlier. It was… interesting. I understand what they were going for, but their ingredients were simply not up to the task. ON A PIZZA CALLED ‘PROSCIUTTO’ YOU’D THINK YOU COULD PICK OUT THE KEY INGREDIENT!
These pizzas were a victim of poor ingredient choice and lacking any sort of sparkle in the flavor department. A shame. For $ 16 for a 12» pizza I was expecting something excellent.
I should also mention how hot it was in the restaurant, we were all sweating by the time our meal was over. Always nice when eating indoors. Also, someone obviously thought out the high chair selection very well… choosing the variety that you can not flip over and sit a car seat in safely. Love those.
I’m going next door next time.

Skip: Mangia rolls. They’re a bit hard on the outside and not doughy enough on the inside. The pizza sauce they come with is pretty delicious but it doesn’t make up for the dryness of it’s counterparts.
Get: Tarte flambé pizza and arugula salad. On the pie, the cheese was incredible and the bacon was chunky, seared, smoked, sweet, and altogether awesome. I loved it! The salad had some great poached pears and incredibly smooth goat cheese. Winner!

So… my first experience with a pizza company that cooks by coal was in Clearwater, FL. The five 12-​inch pizza’s arrived at our table in a short amount of time. The crispy exterior was better than standard oven cooked pizza, the cheese was just right, and the pizza was thoroughly cooked, but not burnt.
Sadly Coal Pizza does not fit this bill. The pizza is flimsy… the only part on it that’s slightly crispy is the crust, and the cheese is not shredded but cut from a block of cheese making it difficult to eat. Rather tastes like hospital cafeteria cheese.
For the price = no good.

Not bad, not bad, not bad at all.
Everytime I scout away from Chicago and I walk across a restaurant with a posted sign that says, «Best (food item) in (Location),» I have the urgency to try it out.
On a friday afternoon, it was relatively empty. A table of 3 were sat on the second floor. They had multiple televisions if you wanted to catch the game etc. Staff is friendly.
As it was time for us to order, (since the board said Best Pizza in Indianapolis), I asked our server what’s good? She recommended the Tuscan pizza and one other I forgot. My friends ordered the BBQ Chicken pizza, a salad, and I ordered the Tuscan (quite obvious).
Food came in ~10minutes we received our second refill of soft drinks without asking.
From a Chicagoan and a person so aquired to eating Deep Dish pizza. It was a nice change of pace to eat Neopolitan and Non-​Deep Dish Pizza.
My friend really enjoyed his BBQ Chicken: it had a nice sweetness, tang, and feel of BBQ chicken pizza.
The lady enjoyed her salad.
I enjoyed the Tuscan, it felt mighty with just the amoutn of spice to it.
The menu indicates each pizza serves 1 – 2 people. For two big guys that didn’t eat all day with the readiness to devour steak at Fogo De Chao (closed during transition between lunch and dinner). We walked away with a box of half BBQ Chicken, and half Tuscan Pizza.
In the end, if I was to revisit Indianapolis and I have a hunch for some not so typical Chicago pizza. I’ll be sure to visit this place again.

These guys seem to be close on something very cool, but fail on the final execution. I assume they have a coal fired oven, which is a great thing – the dough is very very tasty and this is the hardest part to get right. They, however, make these pizzas too bready, and dont cook the crust long enough. I orded the za delivered to my hotel – the guy came on bike-​which is cool – and there is no delivery charge other than the tip.
I orded a margarita pie, which had no sauce, only sliced tomatoes – . Again, a great idea, with too much very tasty moz – but no sauce.
Coal guys – you are close – keep at it

I really wanted to like this place, but the pizza just wasn’t that impressive. Went with a pepperoni and sweet pepper pizza. You might as well save the $ 2 and not get the peppers because they added zero flavor. The pepperoni was extra greasy and not especially flavorful.
The staff was friendly, but that doesn’t make up for the mediocre pizza and premium pricing. I’d gladly pay more for great pizza … sadly Coal Pizza Company thinks you should pay more for average pizza.

Second visit to Coal Oven and still not impressed. The service was great. The waiter was attentive and friendly. Ordered the Tuscan with sausage, red pepper, and cracked red pepper. I was expecting a pizza full of flavor but instead received a rather bland excuse for the pizza. The dough and tomato sauce could use a little something. Far from the best pizza in town but there was no wait for a table on a busy downtown Saturday night. I might come back but I doubt I will be craving their pizza in the future.

The pizza was decent and different from most of the other places in Indy, but it was a bit over-​priced for what you get. The staff was abysmal. If you are going to be proud of serving local beers, at least have staff that have heard of the breweries. It wasn’t just our waitress, but the bartender she asked for help was clueless as well. The atmosphere a was bit unpleasant and obnoxious. Sitting upstairs with a half dozen TVs, each blaring something different is not conducive to anything but a migraine.
I will not be a repeat customer.

I’ve been here twice now, and plan to keep coming back. Both times the service throughout the place has been great, from the friendly hostess to the cooks that say hello as you walk by, to the funny and helpful waitstaff and bartenders. There is a substantial bar for such a small pizza place.
The food — oh, the food! I am a saucy girl, in that I put sauce on everything I can. They breadsticks here are monstrous. Bring a friend or five to help you finish them. Alone they are ok, nothing special. But add that sauce and you are off to the races. Everything is homemade. They offer pizza sauce, cheese sauce (this amazing housemade spicy concoction) and garlic sauce (EVOO and roasted garlic). Mix and match for sauce perfection.
The pizzas are coal fired for 90 seconds at 900 degrees. Hearing this, we expected a cracker-​like crust. Not so. The crust is more like hand tossed, but nice and crisy on the edges and chewy further in. I forget what it’s called, but I’ll never forget the taste — they have a pizza with tallegia cheese and bacon. The bacon is out of this world. Even after I was stuffed, I kept picking it off the remaining pieces. Even though the pizza is sauceless, it seemed like sauce because of the oozy melty cheese. I want to go back to try the pepperoni. They also have a duck pizza that intrigues my husband.

Hubby and I discovered Coal Pizza purely by chance and are thrilled that we did. Awesome atmosphere, chatty bar staff and OMG-​good pizza.
They have a tiny footprint, but make the space feel wide open and inviting. You’ve gotta stop in for a pint of local beer, some pizza, steak… and anything else you could possibly be craving.