Neenan’s Shack: Brick oven Pizza

Neenan’s Shack is a tiny pizzeria located at The Palms: Bacolod’s newest watering hole.  Most of the establishments at The Palms serve meals that go well with alcohol.  The area is open-air and diners are seated outside.  During the day, the stores at the Palms are closed but things get livelier in the late afternoons when the stores begin to open.

Neenan’s Shack is simple with only a few things inside the store.  Only the bare necessities are inside with a couple of staff who takes your order.  Service is quick but on busy nights there is a wait because many people are ordering.

 

Neenan’s shack serves only three major items with variations – a smart move since their resto is small.   They serve 6 different kinds of pizza, Burgers and Nachos. The most expensive item on their menu is their Super Combo pizza at 210 pesos.  Not bad at all.

When you dine at Neenan’s – you will undoubtedly see their awesome oven. It’s a simple, wood-fed dome oven that gets extremely hot.  Pizzas cook in 5-10 minutes.  It looks quite impressive.  You’ll also notice one of the owners pattering about the restaurant. It’s Mr. Neenan himself, an irishman who, along with his Filipino partner decided to settle in Bacolod and put up a small business.  Mr. Neenan is very friendly and he looks a bit like a friendly leprechaun.

Here’s what it looks like inside the oven.  The pizzas are placed far in the back, a bit near the fire and baked.  The heat of the fire is contained within the oven’s walls enabling the temperatures to rise.  This extremely hot oven cooks pizzas blazingly fast.  Plus, you get a nice smoky taste and flavor along with your pizza.

We ordered two pizzas but really one was just enough as the pizzas are very filling.  We had their Super Combo Pizza as well as the Margherita Pizza.

Verdict:  Good

The pizzas are cheap and easy on the pocket.  The pizzas come in only one size but basically one is all you need – very filling! The cooking or dough preparation process needs a bit more work as the pizza tends to puff up a bit.  Toppings tend to get pushed to the center.  In general the pizzas are soft and chewy but a bit soggy in the middle. The tip of the pizza tends to flop down while eating spilling cheese and toppings.

Some people prefer their pizza soft like this while others prefer their pizza a bit firmer and crunchier.   The owners are constantly improving their business and their product so a big pizza stone will soon be in use at Neenan’s.

I liked the freshly baked aspect of the pizza and the quality of the dough.  Although the pizzas are cheap, they’re not bad.  They’re very plain and simple, very rustic.  Neenan’s is a great place to drop by and have quick pizza when you’re hungry.

Neenan’s Shack is located at 18th street, Bacolod City behind Starbucks and Shell gas station.

Opening hours are 5pm-12mn.  You can get into contact with them via their Facebook Page.

https://www.facebook.com/Pizzasfromheaven/