HomeMade Pizza Company

Very odd business practice. I was curious about this place. I thought it was a pretty cool concept. But nothing more. We walked away…
Moments later, a pedestrian says to us, «hey, dat boi ova dea cawlin y’all»
Lord behold, as we turned around it was an employee from that pizza place. We walked to him and he mentioned that we stopped and looked inside and he felt the need to tell us what the place was about. For some reason, if I was alone I don’t think I would’ve gotten waved down. But my girlfiend has that magnetic effect. Whatever.
We walked in. And stood there as the man explained the different prices, giving a lecture as if we were in a time share seminar. Great. So out of pressure we said sure we’ll buy a pie. And as I whipped out my visa the man looks towards the back and the cook nods. They only take cash?
Hmm, maybe that was a sign to get the hell out of there! Can you believe we walked down the block, crossed the street, then walked back up to avoid being seen?
I felt like I stole something and got caught walking that walk of shame. But for the price they had per pie, I feel that we would’ve gotten robbed. Better them than us!

I understand when businesses are doing promotions they get busy. Knowing that I placed an order 24 hours in advance. They gave my order to someone else and weren’t willing to prioritize my order even though they gave it away. Really?! You have good pizza but this does not make me want to come back ever. I’d say its best to come here only if you have 45 mins or more to spare as ordering in advance in clearly pointless. And they are not quick. Perhaps asking for people’s confirmation numbers or ASKING people to tell you their names instead of you just asking if they are person X. I have a very unique last name so I am 99% sure no one came in with my last name…

Love the pizza, love the salads, service has always been friendly, prompt, accurate (Logan Circle & Chevy Chase locations). I love baking it at home because I get my pizza fresh and hot out of my oven, instead of lukewarm out of a pizza delivery bag.

What a terrible concept for pizza… I order it on the phone and it takes 40 minutes to make, I pick it up, I cook it and I pay the same price as other conventional delivery places??? Really!!! Wtf? This sucks.
The pizza was fine but not nearly good enough to be worth all the super hassle.

I’m ashamed to live in a city where people can complain about the concept of baking a freshly made pizza themselves. Come on. I’m going to review the FOOD and the service.
I’ve eaten from HomeMade before, but a different location. The pizzas are great, ‘gourmet style’, perfect crust, great toppings, etc… The salads are awesome and the cinnamon rolls pretty much made my day.
Service was fast and friendly. I really don’t have any complaints. I stopped in on my way home from work, ordered at the counter and was on my way home in less than ten minutes. Got home, threw the pizza in the oven and in 15 minutes the bf and I were enjoying pizza that’s much better than any of the delivery options in my area.
This isn’t a ‘gimmick’, it’s an alternative to ordering delivery pizza (HomeMade’s quality is far above delivery), or cooking up something frozen.
You people are ridiculous. This place is great!

I live nearby and I see approximately 3 to 5 people toting around these big clear pizza bags every day while I’m taking my puppy for her evening walk. Yesterday we happened to be fresh out of food and I decided it was time to give HomeMade a shot.
I got the BLT pizza with a large Caesar salad (and an oatmeal cookie for dessert). All things were delicious. The pizza crust was thin, but it was very tasty and crispy. I also liked the slightly-​sweet tomato sauce and the huge flakes of fresh parmesan. The cookie was baked sugary goodness. It wasn’t mind-​blowing pizza by any means, but it was satisfying.
Now, I’ll address some of the concerns of other reviewers. Yes, you pay a decent amount of money for a pizza you have to cook yourself. But, as someone who doesn’t enjoy cooking yet still struggles to do it on a regular basis in order to prove that domestic goddess status is totally attainable even if you don’t have any natural talent, I really enjoyed throwing that pizza into the oven for 10 – 15 minutes and calling it a day. Hey, it’s just like I actually cooked something! You get to eat a good dinner without dealing with the take-​out guilt later.
So, if you’re like me and you have all sorts of strange cooking-​related insecurities and desires, this could be a really good thing for you. I’m definitely planning to go back.

So I haven’t had a pizza yet, but today a friend and I picked up a cobb salad for their salad specials (M, T, W), which are $ 3 for a small salad and $ 5 for a large salad. These salads are amazing, very filling, fresh, and the dressings rock. Highly recommended and I may begin to use this place to pick up lunch salads for the rest of the week. I promise to try out the pizzas soon and post an updated review. For now, you should know the salads are amazing. Especially if you pick it up M, T, W when the prices are suberb!

Before I got completely wasted yet again, a semi-​friend invited me to have a pizza dinner at his house. Pizza? I’m down!
I thought we were gonna order from somewhere, so I was going to try to nudge him into ordering from some pizzerias in the area that I have yet to dabble with.
I met up with him at the Metro stop and yapped the whole way. I didn’t know where we were going because he didn’t know the name of this place — he just knew how to get there. And that you take the pizza home and bake it yourself. Fine.
After a brief walk, we arrived, and pranced on in.
He told me to order. I’d never been here before, but I managed to figure it out without making a complete doink out of myself in front of everyone. You can pick between a 12″ and 14″ pizza, between regular or wheat dough, and a wide array of ingredients (you get charged per ingredient).
The cashier was friendly and talkative. And helpful. And she wasn’t bitter to be there. At least not visibly.
It took a rather long time to get our unbaked pizza together. I would say it took a good 15 minutes. My guess is because they weren’t taking everything out of a can and plopping it on top of some unbaked disc of dough. Curious, I checked what was going on. I saw them shaving the blocks of cheese to clog my arteries. Sweet.
A few minutes later, our pizza was ready, as were our salads. We made a brief stop at the liquor store, and then headed on over to his place.
He baked the pizza according to instructions. It was pretty good. However, the pizza and salads wound up costing about $ 36.
Additionally, the crust is rather thin, but that didn’t bother me.
Overall, the pizza was good. I wouldn’t go there regularly, unless I want an empty bank account. But it’s good every once in a while.

The pizza is good, but very pricey for what is in essence a DIY experience.
I suggest order the pizza once, try it, then recreate it yourself for less money.

Well, for starters I do wish that they were open for lunch. But because this little place looked so nice from the outside, I made a point of waiting until 3 today (Wednesday) so I could try it.
Second, I didn’t realize they don’t bake anything in the store. Since I had walked from my office and didn’t have a heat source that I would be able to use to bake a pizza, I almost walked out. But, I’m glad I didn’t. I bought their «big salad» which is full of artichokes, tomatoes, onions and peppers. Yes pricey, but a very decent portion, very fresh, and very good. Definitely a nice selection for vegetarians. I will be back to try the «seasonal salad» which as you’d imagine incorporates seasonal produce.
I also got warm smiles and polite service. They’ve done a nice job with the simple interior; it definitely feels «homey» in a Crate and Barrel sense. The fresh cut dough and flour on countertops just evokes a nice feeling. I’m sorry to hear that other people have had bad service here — and it certainly sounds like they have — but my experience was very good and I look forward to going back.
I just wish I didn’t have to wait until 3PM to do it.

I can’t say for sure how the stuff here tastes, because they are 0 for 2 for my business. The first time I tried to grab a bite from here, I ordered it online a few minutes after 8pm and it told me that the pizza would be ready at 9:15. An hour and 15 minutes to prepare an unbaked pizza? Hmm … So I stopped there at 9:15 and they were closed. A lady saw me from inside knocking on the door, but wouldn’t let me in and wouldn’t give me my pizza. Good thing I didn’t pay online!
For some reason I decided to give these guys a second shot. I ordered it a little before 7:30pm and the computer spit back an «order ready by» time of 8:45. I was hungry, so I called and spoke to the lady at the register and she said it would be ready in about 20 – 25 minutes (8ish). So I show up there at ~8:10 to play it safe, and I give the Ziggy Marley looking fellow behind-​the-​counter making the pizzas my name. He very rudely tells me that I am way too early to pick up my pizza, that the time I was given was 8:45. I explain that I called and they said it would be ready, and I asked how much longer it would be. He, again very rudely, repeats that it will be ready at 8:45 and asks why I think I’m special and deserve to have my pizza made earlier than promised.
I guess they won’t have to worry … I’ll never have my pizza made there again! There is never a line at the door when I walk by daily going home, and the few times I’ve stepped in there have been no orders or customers waiting. I’d stay away from here. Granted DC has horrible service in general, but these guys are unacceptably horrible.

I really like the pizza here and I’ve already been by three times since they opened a few months back. The pizza here is amazingly fresh and it is easy to bake at home. The only catch seems to be the prices, which are quite high for take and bake – running about $ 13 – 14 for a medium and $ 17 – 18 for a large pizza, which is higher than most delivery pizzas. On the other hand, this is gourmet pizza.
They are generous with the toppings, although some of the toppings pricing is a bit off (they charge a two topping premium for most chicken items and red peppers and a single topping fee for whole wheat crust). They have addressed the pricing issue by having a $ 10/​$ 13 special for two topping pizzas between Monday and Wednesday. At that price point, I will be a repeat customer. Thursday-​Sunday, at the regular price, I will make other plans.

Why are people always down on yuppies and the things they like? Yuppies generally have great taste — fancy sandwiches, Whole Foods, froyo… these are all good things.
So I will stand up for yuppie pizza, which this definitely is. I got the Miesian or Italian Margherita to bring to my friend who had just had a baby. Ordering online was easy, baking it was easy, it tasted great. My friend was impressed and I didn’t have to cook anything, so I think it served my purposes. I would try other flavors but next time, I’ll google for coupon codes before I buy.
My main request — do you have to use clear plastic bags for takeaway? I didn’t like everyone on the metro gaping at the toppings on my fancy, overpriced yuppie pizza. Don’t judge me!

I’m offended this is considered pizza. Not even close. $ 19 for a large 4 cheese «pizza.» Flimsy crust that’s thin as paper. Tomato sauce that tastes like Chef Boyardee. Cheap government cheese. I’m sure all the ingredients are fresh as they advertise, but by no means are they good quality.
Even more upsetting, you have to cook it yourself??? That’s right. You pay $ 19 for a cafeteria style «pizza» that you then take home and cook yourself.
I’m a Chicago girl and get my pizzas shipped from
. Money better spent.

Hands down am surprisingly impressed with how good the pizza is. I mean, you walk out with a damn expensive $ 15 medium sized pizza (come on, HomeMade, your large is like a small medium at Domino’s) that’s not even cooked, and you’re like, really, did I just pay $ 15 for an uncooked pizza? And you pop it in the oven, and you’re like, wow, this is very good. And I love your salads.
But damn, your service can be amazingly bad. I would order from you every day. Mostly because you have tasty, carb friendly, large serving salads (unlike SweetGreen). I thought it was a first 2 month glitch. But you can’t seem to get anything right. This is like the 3^rd time I’ve tried hard to not walk out. You look confused when I ask for an order on SALADS (which take like 5 minutes, normally, to put together) that was made 45 minutes ago. You look confused when I point to the salads on the counter and say, «That looks like my order.» And you say, «But your pizza’s not ready.» Then you continue to look confused when I say, «But I didn’t order a pizza, only salads.» Then you try to charge me $ 15, when my email confirmation clearly says «$ 10.50.» Then you went through giving me multiple receipts, saying, «I’m not sure if we charged you double.»
All the while, the kind gentleman behind me is saying, «Um, is this your $ 15 large pizza (implying it looked small)?» And then someone piping up from the peanut gallery, with, «Oh…no…did you order a large?»

Inside they have a sign that boasts that it took «years» to develop this crust. Well, lemme tell ya, just because you took that long to try to develop the crust doesn’t make it good. I mean it’s okay but nothing to brag about at all. It’s just kind of dry and bland.
The toppings are interesting but I am not feeling the crust at all.
My favorite part of HomeMade Pizza? The Cookies! Go figure.

While I agree that not delivering a pizza I have to bake myself is pretty weak, this is the only place I’ve found so far making whole wheat crust. I also have a slew of $ 5 off coupons. Our pizza was really fresh and filling, but it is a «small» large. I also would ask for either less cheese or more sauce, because it was a little off.
The other D.C. locations deliver, so I’m wondering if this one will start offering that sometime soon. * fingers crossed *

If you’re going to review this place don’t review the business model, review the quality. Grow up.
The pizza is delicious. The salad is delicious. Yes. You have to bake the pizza yourself. That’s the business model. Christ.
My complaint is that Homemade is too expensive. If I have to pick the food up myself, then bake it myself, it should be way, way cheaper than a delivery pizza.

We tried this place for dinner on Sunday night. We had a new customer coupn so it really wasn’t that expensive to try for the first time.
We got a little cutie to try just the cheese pizza and added ricotta to it. The little cutie’s are only like 5 dollars and they have week day deals on certian days that you can get this 9″ pizza for 3 dollars. I really wanted to try one of the salads because they all looked and and sounded delicious, maybe next time.
We also got a medium BBQ chicken pizza. It was awesome. Best BBQ Chicken pizza I have ever had. Really fresh delicious ingredients and the cheese they use is incredible.
Cookies and Cream ice cream was delicious too!

I went on opening day, and like the other reviewer, I got a Caesar salad and pizza. I’m new to the whole concept of buying a non-​cooked pizza, so there were tears running down my face when I realized that they don’t sell cooked pizza. You have to take it home and cook it. So here are my thoughts:
1) SALAD: The salad was mediocre. Wasn’t bad, but it *definitely* wasn’t a $ 12 take-​out salad. The chicken on the Caesar salad was the kind of processed chicken you find at McDonalds but would never find at Whole Foods. The dressing was questionable, but overall it just wasn’t a great value. For a much, much better salad, go to Stoney’s around the corner and order the Caesar or (better yet) the greek salad. Stoney’s has great salads, or if you want a take out salad, you can get a better one and (who thought I’d ever say this…) cheaper one at Whole Foods.
2) PIZZA. So the pizza is good. It’s the kind of pizza you’d find at a fancy restaurant, and the ingredients all look good. But you have to cook it at home, so by the time I pay $ 20 for a pizza and take it home and cook it, why not just go to Posto across the street where the ambiance is better and i don’t have to cook. So the food isn’t terrible, but the value proposition just isn’t there.
Their claim to fame seems to be that Oprah likes this pizza. I’m not sure what crack she was smoking when she decided that this was the best pizza in Chicago, but if I lived in Chicago and needed a slice, this wouldn’t even be on my radar.
I would not go back to this place. Save your trouble and get a frozen pizza from Whole Foods. Then, take it home to your wood-​fired oven and cook it on your stone slab. Oh… what’s that? You don’t have a wood-​fired oven at home? Then your crust will probably be soggy and you will wish you had just gone to Posto across the street.