Amherst Pizza & Ale House
55 Crosspoint Pkwy, Amherst, NY 14068
Web: Amherst Pizza & Ale House
Phone: 716.625.7125
Rating:    [learn more]
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"To say that the pizza was absolutely overloaded with meat wouldn't do it justice: more meat accidentally fell off when dislodging a piece than some pizzas include intentionally."

We know, we know: we tend to over-order when we're reviewing restaurants, and we were surely overwhelmed on our second visit to the Amherst Pizza & Ale House in Getzville. But who would have guessed that a Buffalo News photographer would want to take a picture of us and our loaded table for Cheap Eats? (We politely declined.) Or that we'd be carrying home the better part of two of the items we ordered?

Tucked into the same CrossPoint Parkway plaza as the once-great Sun Garden and a nice little Dunkin' Donuts, the Amherst Pizza & Ale House looks and feels like a clean, modern sports bar: there's a large, well-equipped bar inside, alongside standard-height and tall tables, all in dark wood, plus a patio outside for smokers, small gatherings, or just an escape from the ever-present sound of rock and country music or ESPN channels that are playing indoors. There are families, like the one photographed by the News, but there seem to be even more singles and couples at the place as bar patrons, some dressed in the professional attire we'd expect given the nearby CrossPoint Business Park, and others in sports jerseys and hats as they wait to watch televised games. On both of our review visits, the place was busy, and yet we were impressed by the service: friendly, attentive, and forgiving of both the kids and adults who could easily mess up the place. We tipped generously.

Service aside, the three things that we found most noteworthy about the Amherst Pizza & Ale House were the food quantity, the food quality, and the beer list. It's worth emphasizing up front that quantity is not the same thing as quality: a restaurant can't rate four stars in our book on the mere fact that we left full and with food to take home - no matter how satisfied they may be, our dogs don't get a say in our reviews. That having been said, we were impressed on both of our visits by this restaurant's portion sizes for the dollar: on our first visit, we ordered a double order of the Nuclear-level traditional Chicken Wings ($13) and one of the Williamsville Sandwiches ($10), with a portabella mushroom, roasted red peppers, and red onions under a layer of melted provolone cheese on grilled white bread.

We weren't totally blown away by the quality of either of the dishes, but it was obvious that the Ale House wasn't skimping on the portions: the menu claimed that the wings were the largest locally available, and they were in fact jumbo-sized - twenty slightly crispy wings in a sauce that we'd call decently spicy but only passable in depth of flavor. The sandwich was large and filling but forgettable, served with a collection of big, golden french fries that were properly cooked to a tasty crisp, but in need of some salt and ketchup. We were impressed by the selection of beers, which included virtually all of our favorites, and their prices: 23-ounce cups of a few good ones, including Yuengling, for $3 on Thursdays. At the very least, we felt that this was going to be a nice place to occasionally visit for a snack and a drink.

But we missed something the first time that we were determined to remedy on our next trip: the menu and walls were covered with references to "Award Winning Chicken Wings" - words we frankly don't take seriously any more - and so we'd ordered the traditional wings. Then we looked closer, and realized that the ones that had won awards were taken from the list of 11 additional, untraditional flavors, most notably one called Crown Royal BBQ. So on our second visit, we cautiously went with a single order of ten Crown Royal BBQ Wings ($8), planning to split them as an appetizer. And this time, we were impressed: the plate arrived with the same plump, meaty wings we'd seen before, similarly fried to a respectable crisp, but they were coated in a thick, sweet, and tangy barbecue sauce with the slightest hint of Crown Royal whiskey flavor. We nodded at each other in agreement; these were truly very good, and having tried plenty of barbecue wings locally, we'd say that this sauce could definitely be an award contender, particularly on char-grilled chicken.

Similarly meaty was the pizza we ordered: the Ale House's medium, topping-less pizzas start at $10, and we generally go for a certain combination of meats and veggies. But we were in the mood for a little something different, and ordered the Meat-Lover's Pizza ($15), which the menu described as possessing "generous amounts of ham, ground beef, sausage, pepperoni, and steak," along with mozzarella cheese, pizza sauce, and a plain crust. To say that the pizza was absolutely overloaded with meat wouldn't do it justice: flecks of ground beef and sausage, tiny ribbons of thin-sliced steak, bits of ham and pieces of pepperoni completely covered every slice, and more meat accidentally fell off when dislodging a piece than some pizzas intentionally include on their slices. Bear in mind that none of these pieces of meat was phenomenal in quality - nor was the crust - but this was one of those situations where the whole was better than the sum of its parts, bolstered by some legitimately great, binding mozzarella cheese in the center. We had so much of the medium-sized pizza left over that we considered donating the rest to a local homeless shelter; even the remaining pieces would feed three people.

Another shockingly generous item was the Antipasto Salad ($10), a dish that has the potential to be modestly or impressively meaty, depending on the restaurant. Once again, though the meat wasn't gourmet-quality, the sheer quantity was staggering: layers of ham, salami, spicy cappicola and pepperoni were near the top, about ready to spill off of the bowl, with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pepperoncini, olives, garbanzo beans and grated mozzarella cheese in copious doses underneath. There was so much here that an otherwise reasonable complaint - the salad's two tiny cups of Italian dressing - would come across as foolish, given that most restaurants would be glad to serve a third as much salad and twice as much dressing for the $10 asking price.

The only major disappointment in our second meal was an appetizer, the Stuffed Banana Peppers ($9), which we'd call one of the least appealing versions of this dish that we've yet had in Western New York. Billed on the menu with an interesting disclaimer - "Warning: These could be very hot. No Returns" - and claimed to be stuffed with cheese and sausage, the peppers arrived exceedingly mild and in a bowl with sliced white roll pieces and what looked to be the remnants of a taco, including small flecks of lettuce, grated cheese and chunked tomato. Unlike the cheese and bread crumb heavy stuffings we've had elsewhere in these peppers, Amherst Pizza & Ale House's stuffing was almost entirely sausage, with at best a tiny dash of cheese and no breading, and didn't taste quite right to us. This truly bland dish was well below par given the other items we tried on our visits.

A lot of discussion and thought goes into our restaurant ratings, and this one's no exception: there are at least three different ways we could have rated the Amherst Pizza & Ale House, and we felt that fairness required us to go right down the middle. Had we judged the place solely on our first visit, or on the least impressive item from our second visit, we might have been inclined to rate lower, while some people might reasonably fall in love with this restaurant based on its bang for the buck, its beer menu, or a single item that they've found and loved here. On balance, we felt that a three-star rating was the most appropriate, as the quantities were always very impressive, the flavors generally ranged from pretty good to very good, and the service was consistently great. While the Amherst Pizza & Ale House may not make the very best pizza or wings we've had locally, it does well enough with both - and its beer menu - to merit return visits, and certainly to satisfy our wallets. Next time, we plan be a little more conservative on the food and a little more liberal on the ale.