As much as pizza review is an opinion, some things are certainly fact. Good pizza is all about the sauce to cheese ratio. Too much sauce and the pizza is too rich. Too much cheese and it’s too tangy. Too much of both and you have a floppy slice. My criteria for a good pie is a crisp dough with little to no flop, a sauce not too spicy or sweet, and a cheese that doesn’t overpower the rest of the ingredients.

For the sake of consistency, I will be reviewing cheese pies.

This Wednesday I went to Firehouse Pizza in Madison, New Jersey.

First, let’s start with what some consider the most important part of a slice—the crust. I wouldn’t say the crust is necessarily the defining feature of a good pizza, but it certainly is important. Firehouse has a somewhat sweet and salty crust that stays crisp and light. A crust is at its worse when it’s large and breadlike. Pizza isn’t a sandwich and a crust shouldn’t be bread. Firehouse keeps its crust thin, as it is supposed to be.

Another important factor is the ingredients, and my pie tasted great. The cheese was fresh and the sauce was robust. Their pies are consistently this way—a remark of their quality.

Now for the ratio, which Firehouse has nearly perfected. There is a rather equal amount of sauce to cheese; one does not overpower the other. The slice is not overwhelming. I could easily eat four slices (which I did) without feeling bloated or ill. There isn’t a ton of cheese and sauce on the pie, which in the pizza game is generally a good thing. A pizza shouldn’t be filled to the brim with ingredients. “Less is more” certainly applies here.

Firehouse is my standard. All the ingredients work well together to form a mild and savory pie.

Firehouse gets a 7.8 out of 10 from me. It’s not a pie that I would rave about, but if I had friends coming over, it would certainly be on the table.