#marzonis

[mbeandowell]

Come into #marzonis today & try our fried green #blt #burger served with your choice of #brewpubchips or #shoestringfries #yum

[foodphilosophy]

Marzoni's Brick Oven and Brewery

Left to right: Patchway Ale, Stone Mason Stout, and Pumpkin Ale

Fried Zucchini

Crab Dip

Bruschetta

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

A few friends of mine decided to go to out Marzoni's. Its a restaurant that boasts it's brick oven fired pizza and beer that's brewed in house.

First off, we started with a round of beers, before the beers even got there though, I have to note that we were immediately greeted with a basket of hot bread sticks. But back to the beer, we each decided to try something different, one friend went with the Patchway Ale, which was a light, hoppy beer. I went with the Stone Mason Stout which is a dark, thick beer that has a slight coffee flavoring to it. I absolutely loved this beer, it had a deep strong coffee flavor and I would definitely recommend. My other friend grabbed seasonal Pumpkin Ale that they’re running right now; it comes with a cinnamon sugar rim. I later got my own Pumpkin Ale, I liked it, it had a good pumpkin flavor and the sugared rim was a nice touch. The added bonus to the beers was that we were there during their half off drafts night, so our beers were only $1.88 apiece. Monday nights from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., is for sure the time to get a beer. However the normal $3.75 per 12 ounce draft is a great price for beer that you know what brewed in house.  

The beer is not the only reason to go though. Their food is excellent; it is a little more expensive, almost 9 dollars for the pizza (we got a small, four decent sized slices), 12 for the crab dip, and around 8 dollars for the zucchini and the bruschetta, which isn’t bad because you are paying for quality, but something to keep in mind. The fried zucchini was good, crunchy outside and soft in the middle. The bruschetta was also good, it came out warm with a nice balsamic glaze over it, which is how I believe bruschetta should be. There was a little more basil on it then I would have liked, but I just picked around it.  The crab dip was by far the best appetizer that we got, it came out in a hot bread bowl and it was full of flavor and had chucks of crab meat in it. It had a great seafood flavor to it that was delicious, but not over powering or too salty. Then there was the pizza. They’re known for their brick oven which is visible in the restaurant. We got a mild buffalo chicken pizza (you can also get it in hot), with wheat crust (which that choice alone is awesome). The pizza came out hot and had lots of chicken cheese and chucks of blue cheese melted on it. It was so great, the crust was crispy and had just enough chew to it and the buffalo sauce was not too hot and mixed very well with their choice of cheeses. It’s a great pizza that I’ve had many times before and it never lets me down.  I’ve had other food here and the kitchen consistently delivers great meals. It is definitely a spot to check out.

The atmosphere is nice to; they have a bar on one end with some booths and tables around it and then more seating on the other, if you want away from the bar. They have a few televisions set up around the bar, so I imagine it gets pretty full when big games are on. Despite that when we pulled up the parking lot was full we were able to get seated immediately.  I’m assuming the crowd was there for the half off beers, but even with that, it did not seem crowded inside or overly loud. It was a nice relaxing experience. As I noted before you can see the brick oven at work and the pizzas being taken in and out of it, if you sit on the bar end you also have a clear view of the brewery inside. I really like that you can see where you food and drinks are being made. Marzoni’s has two locations, we visited the one in Duncansville, but there is also another one in the Greenwood section of Altoona, both equally satisfying. In conclusion there are many reasons to visit Marzoni’s whether it’s for the beer or the food; I really don’t think you will be disappointed.