REVIEWS: Project Pie (Alabang)

Who doesn't like pizza? Well, I for one does not know anybody who wouldn't have a go for a slice or two. I think it would be safe to say that everybody loves pizza. Cheese, New York, Hawaiian, All Meat, Deep Dish...oh I'm drooling already!

Even the A-List celebrities during the recent prestigious Oscar Awards had their fill at it when Ellen Degeneres did rounds to offer slices from Big Mama's and Papa's Pizzeria. Yes, even Meryll Streep sank her teeth into her slice while Brad Pitt jumped from his sit to get his share for him and his wife Angelina. Who wouldn't have a go once you've sniffed the heavenly smell of freshly baked pizza, piping hot with lots of gooey mozzarella and spiced pepperoni. Oh dear!

What else could you ask for in a pizza? One might wonder, wouldn't it be great if you could customize your own pizza to your liking? No, not just great, that'd be marvelous!!! And lo! Yes it is possible now! James Markham, the maker of Project Pie is a genius! He's gotta be real pizza lover to have thought of a custom pizza parlor. No more plucking unwanted bell peppers for the choosy ones or grunting over pulling out onion rings when all you want is an all-meat pizza.

Located along Commerce Avenue in Filinvest City Alabang, we decided to hold our business meeting with our wedding clients over pizza for lunch. The pizzeria was strategically situated right beside Jollibee and McDonald's, probably to lure in customers who'd rather have some real food over greasy fast food. Project Pie is the very first international franchise of the company outside the United States. They first ventured into business in 2012 and instantly became a success. And now, they are making waves here in the Philippines, first along Shaw Blvd., and now in the South.Our first try at custom made pizza at Project Pie was shared with a couple of friends. Mabelle and Melan, one of our bride and groom to be clientele friends for the month of April 2014.

We were there to do some contract signing and food tasting for their wedding cake, together with my darling husband and our little boys. My team loves pizza, especially my oh so adorable little Keiran who prefers eating his pizza upside down. I don't know why, but he prefers to have all the flavors directly touching his taste buds as soon as he bites through a slice. Needless to say, he too had his own custom pizza, ordering his way to his own liking. It was refreshing to see that Project Pie also offers greens for the health conscious and the health buffs. This was a good thing for our Mr. and Mrs. to be since Mabelle already informed me ahead of time that her husband-to-be prefers fish and vegetables and she herself is trying to eat healthy for their big day. I wanted to have salad too, but I held back since I'm actually craving for Banapple's Super Caesar, next time maybe.

So, off we went to discover the rave about this new pizzeria for ourselves. The place was almost packed at 11am, so we opted to be seated at the 2nd floor where it was more spacious. The second floor was more ideal to hold a meeting, with less excited buzzing and musings from customers ordering their pies.

Keiran decide to have a red pizza (with tomato sauce), topped with his choice of ingredients; mozzarella, ricotta, feta, parmesan, pepperoni, grilled chicken, bacon and more ricotta on top. Since he's having a red one, I decided to go for white pizza (olive oil base). I wanted to experiment with my pizza, but decided to go with toppings I am sure to love, mozzarella, ricotta, feta, parmesan, red onions, mushrooms, black olives, fresh basil, pepperoni, prosciutto, bacon, italian sausage and more ricotta on top. We also had some soda priced at P65 and bottled water for P50. The soda was refillable, I was advised that it's up to three refills only, but by the looks of it, one can refill as much as they can since nobody is really in charge of keeping watch at the refill station. I would have loved to have some Chardonnay, but since I am still very much into being a breast feeding mom to my 8 month old Kollin, I resisted the temptation.

What we went here for, Artisan Pizza

This machine presses the dough balls into thin round pizza crust ready to be prepped.

From doughy balls into scrumptious pizzas...

This guy is in charged of taking down notes of EVERY ingredient on every customer's personal pizza. He kinda messed up with our orders, got Keiran's pizza switched under my name and vice versa.

Busy, busy staff. See how much pizzas are waiting to be baked and eaten?

The pizza oven. Caution: It's really, really hot!

Chilled drinks beside the counter.

I would have loved to have some Chardonnay, but since I am still very much into being a breast feeding mom to my 8 month old Kollin

Organized  and tidy :)

Trial and Error. I guess this is the staff room slash main kitchen slash stock room.

The soon to be Mr. & Mrs. Bajada

Our custom artisan pizzas, at P285 a pie, not bad. Keiran's Super Pizza...

...and Rika's Scrumptious Pizza

Wall of inspirations? It's actually scribbled with quotes from various people which kept diners amused while waiting for their pizzas.

Mabelle's choice of pizza, Pizza #8 by Kat Cruz, the Pizza of the Month.

Melan's healthy meal, a salad of course.

For food tasting (please excuse how weather beaten they are due to  the scorching heat that day) Hershey's chocolate cupcakes with Dark English Ganache and Creme de Menthe Ganache

Our pie plates after we've wolfed down the pizzas

Friends since College Days (Shh, baby Kollin's discreetly enjoying his lunch of breast milk)  

The Menu

My take on Project Pie? The thin crusted pizza was great, really delectable and crisp. However, once cold, it becomes rather chewy and hard to bite through (but it's still good). Service was good, friendly and prompt staff, though the lady staff who took our orders was a little hard at hearing, we had to repeat our choices a lot (well, the place was packed with buzzing customers, so it's forgivable). Like I've mentioned, our orders got switched, but the server was nice enough to fix it for me with a courteous smile. Though the cashier said our orders upon paying will only take three minutes to serve, I waited downstairs for about at least 15 minutes. The place was really clean and organized, they could use some improvements though with their music as it was a little too loud for those who wants to have some little chit chats. Overall review, Project Pie is worth a try for pizza lovers and definitely worth the money. Our dining experience was considerably good, we'll be back soon definitely.