If You Want To Gauge The Quality Of A Pizza Place, Watch Out For These 2 Red Flags

"Bad pizza is still pizza," is a nice sentiment, isn't it? But while it's emblematic of the undeniable appeal of pizza at all levels — from a greasy takeout slice to Naples' finest pie — let's face it: At the end of the day, when you're paying money for food, even so-called "bad" food, you want to know that it's good enough to warrant the price-tag. Or, at the very least, that it was made when you ordered it.

If you find yourself in a pizza joint and want to get a read on what kind of a pie you're in for (or if you should make a run for it) there are a few telltale signs to look out for. To find out a little more, we asked Nicole Bean, who along with her family owns and operates Pizaro's Pizza Napoletana, which has two locations in Houston, Texas. How do you know, for example, if your slice of pepperoni's been sitting out for longer than it should have been? 

"The best way to tell is with the cheese, which will coagulate after some time removed from the oven," Bean told us. If you get served pizza with gummy, solidified cheese, it's a dead giveaway that your slice isn't fresh. That's a pretty big red flag, where a pizzeria is concerned. "You may also notice the crust is tougher or more chewy, indicating it's drying out," Bean said. Your crust should have a bite to it, but should be light and crispy, too!

An open kitchen is a cool feature in any restaurant, but beyond the entertainment value of seeing a skilled pizzaiolo at work, a pizza place having an open kitchen is actually a huge green flag. It shows pride in the skill of their chefs, but also in the quality of their ingredients. Pizza is a simple thing — flour, yeast, water, tomato, and cheese, in its most basic form. This simplicity means that the right cheese or tomato sauce, for example, can make or break a pizza. If you can see proper canned San Marzano Tomatoes on display, for example, or a chef making dough from scratch, you can be pretty confident that you're going to get something at least halfway decent.

If you don't, on the other hand, you might have cause to be a little suspicious. Using pre-made sauce is a big no-no for any good pizza shop, so if you see a jar of Rao's hanging around on the counter, you should probably think twice before ordering that slice. And that's not the only sign that a pizza place is cutting corners when it comes to the quality of the food they're serving you. Neon cheese that looks more like a puddle of plastic than fresh mozzarella, sad, watery vegetables, and overly greasy pepperoni, for example, are all telltale signs. So, keep an eye out — you might just be able to save yourself from a bad slice — or worse, an upset stomach.