High Point Pizza

Thanks to Courtney for this one!

High Point Pizza
477 High Point Terrace
(901) 452-3339

In the two and half years we've lived in Memphis, our family has tried dozens of restaurants in search of that one place with the perfect mix of good food, reasonable prices, and comfortable atmosphere. We haven't yet found it. What we have found is plenty of places that fall into what we call the "once is enough" category.

On Saturday we gave High Point Pizza a chance to be “our” place. High Point offers good non-chain pizza in an okay atmosphere, tucked away in a great neighborhood.

We came to High Point on Saturday after a brief discussion and little planning. I thumbed through my Entertainment Book for coupons, but nothing jumped out at me--plus there was a steady chant of "pizza, pizza" coming from the back seat. High Point has been on our short list for a few months and it seemed like a good day to try it.

High Point does a lot of take-out business, but has about eight tables inside and a patio area. As an added bonus on Saturday, the only TV in the place was tuned to the Memphis-UTEP game (which we were not getting at home because of evil Comcast's insistence on broadcasting some of the Tigers games on their own sports channel and not on ESPN).

The menu is fairly standard with pizzas in the $12 to $16 range (depending on size and toppings). If I did not have my kids I would have tried the Margarita pizza, which is my favorite of all pizzas, but I was already committed to "pizza with red circles" so we ordered a half pepperoni and half cheese. High Point also has salads, side orders (fried macaroni and cheese, cheesy bread) and one or two Italian dishes (stuffed shells) along with beer, iced tea and soda.

There were two people working – the cashier/waitress and the pizza maker. Our waitress handed us Styrofoam cups for the water and a number to put on our table. We sat down to watch the Memphis-UTEP game and to try to keep the kidlets entertained. We hadn't planned too well and were forced to use straws, water cups and saltines. There was a tabletop version of Ms. Pacman (my all time favorite video game) but I was out of quarters and didn't feel like breaking a twenty.

The staff and handful of customers were amiable and didn't blink at the kidlets. There were high chairs, but we opted to just let them sit in the chairs. It took about twenty minutes for the pizza to come out, which is pretty standard for a place making pizza from scratch. If you've never had High Point's pizza, they make a thin crust with a not-too sweet red sauce. Their personal touch is to slather the top of the pizza with garlic butter.

The waitress/cashier brought us out plates with the pizza – and I wasn't sure if I should leave a tip. I had dropped tip money in the jar on the counter, but I wasn't sure if I needed to tip again. (Does anyone know the protocol on this?)

Because we are in the middle of the long road of potty training, the bathroom was utilized twice. The single-unisex bathrooms were clean, but not fancy.

My one complaint – it was really loud. (Some sort of fan or cooling system was running.)

I've heard great things about this pizza joint – friends of mine who live in High Point Terrace swear by the place and lots of regulars stopped by for takeout orders. There was another couple eating in with a young boy and they seemed right at home. It is a good, serviceable pizza place, but the pizza wasn't quite good enough to make it “our” place.

Editor's note: I'd say tipping at the jar is sufficient in this case.