When I first looked up King Dough online, a restaurant that proudly advertises homemade wood-fired pizzas, I was excited. The existing reviews online about the restaurant were also promising and I was optimistic about what was to come. However, I was disappointed.
When I got to King Dough, the atmosphere was very modern, with contemporary decor with a lot of windows, fun art pieces, and blue lights that really gave the restaurant a laid-back vibe. There was even a wall made from two clear garage doors that could be opened up to the patio for warmer weather, without making the restaurant look industrial. The atmosphere was really modern, a bit loud and echoey, but it would definitely be a place that I would want to hang out with friends, that is if the food had actually been good.
My friend and I decided we would split two dishes: I ordered the Creamy Polenta Bolognese, which was listed as a pasta dish having pecorino, parsley and brown butter, and my friend ordered the Margherita pizza. We also ordered bread and butter as an appetizer.
The bread and butter wasn’t bad except for the fact that the bread was grilled and tasted a bit like a plain grilled cheese without the cheese. The bread and butter was six dollars, which was not too bad of a price for the quantity that we got, but it was a bit underwhelming.
As someone who didn’t immediately know what the dish was, I thought it was noodles with a creamy sauce, as the dish was not explained well by the menu or waiter. I understand I could have looked the dish up online, but at the same time that is not my job and I think that the restaurant could have put a more detailed description of the dish. Instead of the expected noodles, there was a white mush that is apparently what the adjective “creamy” in the title meant, and there was even additional sauce on top of the mush. I am not a picky eater and I will try pretty much anything at least once. I know that I honestly misunderstood what I ordered, but that doesn’t change that I tried it and that the flavors were not pleasant. I like a wide variety of foods and it is very rare that I do not like something. I have never sent a dish back to the kitchen in my life, but I sent back the Creamy Polenta Bolognese. It would have been a wasted $15 if I had not. However, our waitress was very nice about me sending the dish back and apologized for not explaining the dish in a better way. She made sure I didn’t want anything else to eat as well.
I still had high hopes for the pizza, which came to our table about 15 minutes after my dish had. The pizzas are only offered in one size—13 inches—and range from $11 to $18. The Margherita Pizza, which costed $13, looked promising, but I tried a bite and there was almost no flavor. I ate a whole piece just to see if maybe the first taste was off, but it was not just the first bite. By the time I finished the piece of pizza, I was not only not hungry, even after eating barely anything, but I was ready to leave. They had gelato listed as a dessert option that honestly I wanted, but at that point in my experience at King Dough, I did not even trust the gelato.
The items on the menu were slightly overpriced based on the size and especially quality of the food we got. The pizza that sits out all day in the dining hall at UIndy is frankly better than this pizza. I will not be going back to King Dough.
