Wolfgang Puck Pizza Bar

NOTE: After a rebranding Wolfgang Puck Pizza Bar is now WP Kitchen + Bar.

Located at 607 Green Valley Road in the Friendly Center, Wolfgang Puck Pizza Bar specializes in gourmet pizza. Pasta, entrees, apps, and salads are also available. There is a full-service bar and daily specials.

This fiefdom in Wolfgang Puck’s corporate empire offers plenty of sizzle but little steak (the flatiron steak presumably notwithstanding). At first glance, there is a lot to like. The Friendly Center location is easily accessible, the hostesses friendly, and the atmosphere dark, modern, and inviting. The menu, though somewhat concise, holds plenty of appeal. In addition to Puck’s signature salmon pizza, pies here come topped with everything from duck sausage to spicy shrimp to more traditional (pomodoro, margherita, etc.) permutations. Should you opt to go another direction, braised short ribs and a few of the pasta preparations tantalize as well.

Once you are comfortably ensconced, however, it does not take long for the bloom to wear off. Though the servers are polite and attentive, order-to-table time is slow. When your food does arrive, you will be confronted with the knowledge that you almost certainly overpaid for whatever you happened to order. The pizzas are personal pan sized (about four slices) and mostly run $11-$15, a poor value for the quantity. The pasta dishes ($13 for a meatless ravioli) are similarly wallet-unfriendly.

Further, while the food is competently prepared, nothing reaches the level of must-have. The duck sausage on my pizza was mild, a good complement to the tangy onions, but a letdown in and of itself. A dessert sampling of donut bites inspired a similar reaction: they were warm and satisfying but still very much just donuts.

For a certain segment of diners, Wolfgang Puck Pizza Bar offers tasty food and appealing ambiance, and that alone is enough. But for food-savvy Greensboroians, it’s a sucker’s bet. Innovative pizza can be found at a better value elsewhere.

7/10