In this thread you will see more of frozen pizza reviews where I will dive in the exciting world of flash-frozen pizza and frozen pizza-related items like Hot Pockets, Pizza Pockets, Pizza Bagels and alike. Frozen pizza is convenient, often tasty and frequently can be bought on promotional sales. But the most important part about frozen pizza is the wide selection of products and flavors that are available for purchase in America supermarkets and convenience stores. To start-off this thread I will begin with the review and product "side-by-side" comperison of Freschetta and Red Baron pizza from their "By The Slice" selection.

Both, Red Barron and Freschetta brands are owned and manufactured by Schwan Food Company: a multi-billion [dollar] corporation that employs more than 17,000 workers and also owns and makes another brand of frozen pizza that I like which is called Tony's. Before this review-comparrison I was already familiar with Red Barron pizzas, but I never could get my hands on Freschetta because the local food stores do not carry it, so when I was in Stop & Shop last week, I bought a couple of them.

On the team Freschetta we have 2 kinds of slices: "Chicken, Spinach & Mushroom Pizza" and the "BBQ Recipe Chicken Pizza".

And on the Red Baron's squad we also have 2 different kinds of pizza slices: "Supreme Pizza" and the "Pepperoni Pizza".

Small note on the product specs: Freschetta products cost $2.49 and only 1 slices comes in a box while Red Baron products were 2 boxes for $6.00 and each box had 2 slices of pizza. All of the 4 pizza varieties come in a cardboard heating tray that is sealed with plastic wrap.

Since I was excited to try the Freschetta brand pizza first and did, I will start off with their lineup:







Chicken, Spinach & Mushroom Pizza was the first slice that I tried from these 4 pizza varities and I liked it: it was very well balanced pizza that I though was worth the money even when I am not a fan of spinach. One of the ingredients that made this pizza selection stand from the rest is that instead of tomato-based sauce there was the creamy white sauce. All ingredients, including this sauce gave me the impression of artisan/gourmet type of pizza with this Freschetta selection. In a way I could see myself eating this kind of pizza somewhere in rural Tuscany away from New York's standard pizza variety. A glass of red wine could compliement this selection of toppings, but I am not a wine guy so do not take my word for it. But on the other hand give this pizza and a bottle of some cheap red wine from Trader Joe's a tandem go and let me know if my idea of pizza and wine works.





BBQ Recipe Chicken Pizza was even more intriguing product [by looking at the box] than the previous pizza, and I saved it for the 2nd tasting. I was really excited by the use of BBQ "pizza sauce" instead of the regular tomato-based pizza sauce. This BBQ sauce was not your average BBQ, I think that the guys in the lab made sure to give it unique taste and viscosity that would compliment the other ingredients of the pizza, generally the sauce was tangy, sweet and very pleasant. Chicken pieces were aso very tasty (non-marinated but included genuine chicken flavor, in other words not bland) especially when combined with sweet red peppers and red onions. A blend of 2 cheeses (mozarella and cheddar) was also present in the ingredients. The thing/imgredients that killed this pizza selection for me was the use of cilantro: I hate cilantro, the way it smells and tastes. If you like cilantro then I bet that you would love this pizza selection, for me it would be great pizza if the cilantro was not present.





Moving on to Red Baron's Supreme Pizza now. I tried Red Baron Supreme pizza a bunch of times before in the form of whole pies (cut into the slices for consumption). With this pizza you get the folowing ingredients: mozarella cheese, sausage bits, pepperoni slice bits, red peppers, green peppers and sweet onion pieces. In my opinion this frozen pizza from Red Baron hits the spot just right. Out of all frozen pizzas, Red Baron Supreme pizza seems to always work for me and its my favorite pizza of all the frozen pizzas out there. Great value (in terms of toppings), excellent combination, generous quality of topping - simply great; 5-stars. I just don't know and never encountered a pizza that would win my preference over Red Baron Supreme Pizza. If you never tried it then I urge you to give it a shot.





The 4th and last pizza slice will be the Red Baron Pepperoni Pizza. While not rich in the quantity of toping ingredients, this slice surely packs a lot of flavor and taste. The pepperoni slices were genuinely-quality ones and the after the slice was cooked, the flavorful grease could easily be seen with a naked eye, which was a sign of quality. Another good thing about this pizza is the amount of cheese and pepperoni slices that were topped-on, with Red Baron you have fairly generous amount of topping on the pizzas that is always balanced well with the good-tasting pizza sauce and the addictively-crunchy crust. I honestly enjoyed this slice so much that I decided to make another one right after I was done with the 1st one.

Here is my rating from 1st to 4th from the pizza slices that I have tried:

1) Red Barron Supreme Pizza
2) Freschetta BBQ Recipe Chicken Pizza
3) Red Barron Pepperoni Pizza
4) Freschetta Chicken, Spinach & Mushroom Pizza

My verdict is that Freschetta BBQ Recipe Chicken Pizza could have beated the Red Barron Supreme Pizza if the celentro was not in the ingredients. Red Barron Pepperoni Pizza is a solid-quality pepperoni pizza that was very well to my licking, but the only 1 topping placed it in the 3rd place. Freschetta Chicken, Spinach & Mushroom Pizza takes the last place because all the other pizza varities just kicked it's veggy-loving ass, and chicken bits could not beat the taste of Red Barron's greasy pepperoni slices. If you like the traditional selections/toppings then go with Red Barron, but if you like the trendy/gourmet combinations then give Freshetta a try. Both brands are quality products and. both brands also had similar if not the same type of crust, which was not too thin, crispy and chevy; not your average generic pizza crust.

P.S. When I tried the 2nd box of Freshetta pizza, I found that there was coupons offer printed on the inverse of the box.



I cut it out and found out the coupon was expired, so I wrote a letter (email) to Freschetta brand:

"Can you please send me some Freschetta coupons in the mail because 3 days
ago I bought 2 boxes of By The Slice pizza, and both boxes had coupons inside
that expired on 11/30/2011 -Alex"

and they replied:

"Dear Alexander,

Thank you for your email. We apologize that our Freschetta Pizza by the Slice
Coupons were expired. We have forwarded this information to our Quality
Assurance Team so they are aware of your concern. We will also be sending you a
discount coupon so you can try our product again. You should receive this coupon
within 7-10 business days.

Thank you for writing, and please let us know if we can be of further
assistance. You can reach us at 1-800-544-6855 Monday through Friday, 7 a.m.
until 9 p.m. CST.

Sincerely,

*******
Consumer Affairs"