The Hungry Housewives
Each time it’s a family members birthday, we celebrate by letting that person choose any restaurant for the night. Normally, Hubby picks Claim Jumper but this year (due to his cravings and the distance to travel on a week-day), he picked his other favorite: The Rock. This growing franchise opened in 1995 in Tacoma, WA and is now expanding to Canada, Oregon, and more so keep a lookout for one near you! What’s best about The Rock (besides the food which does include items other than pizza), is the decor. The entire place is dark and “cool” looking like back-stage at a rock concert with album covers and other items gracing the wall.
Like any pizza joint, you can get a big pie to share but the gourmet, hand-tossed, wood-fired pizzas here are so unique, that people usually order then like any entrée and get personalized dishes. They bring them all out to you on a large cookie-style sheet on a pop up table, and the server will give you your first slices. They will box up any leftovers- if any- which I always like instead of just tossing you a box to do yourself.
Since Hubby likes straight up “MAN” type food, he orders the Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy (9″ for $11.29). The menu says: “We start with a tomato sauce pizza add plenty of pepperoni, sweet sausage, peppered bacon, meatballs, ham and extra mozzarella. Who thought of this name?” Yep, the name is all guy, too, but I have to say, the few bites I stole made me a fan! Hubby said it was “very good” which sums it up.
My 12 year old ordered the Crazy Little Thing (9″ for $11.29) described as “A classic tomato sauce pizza piled high with white onions, green pepper, sliced mushrooms, crushed garlic and black olives. You’ll love it!” What’s different about this is the olives are WHOLE which is nice since some places slice them so thin, you can’t even tell you’re eating an olive. My son said he loved everything about this pizza!
My daughter and I shared a pie called Evil Ways (9″ for $9.99). They say it’s “A rich pesto cream sauce topped with artichoke hearts, red onions, spinach, mozzarella and sundried tomatoes. Can’t change this one“. I wish it had more artichokes (I think they were under the cheese) but anytime I can order a pizza that isn’t cheese or pepperoni, I’m a happy camper! The sauce on this was especially yummy.
To try to make the 5yr old happy, we ordered him a side of French Fries (which he wouldn’t touch but we enjoyed!). Also, for a few days he’d been asking for a Pepporoni Pizza ($4.49) so we ordered him one….which he didn’t eat either but -of course- we ate that, too! What’s cool about the kid pizzas is that they send dough to the table for the kids to play around with and (if you want) they will use as the base for their pizza.
Since we were celebrating a birthday, they brought us out a complimentary dessert to share which was DElicious! It was a chocolate chip cookie topped with ice cream and drizzled with chocolate served in a cast iron pan. Was nice and warm from the oven….I’m still thinking about it! …But doesn’t free birthday cake always taste awesome? 
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