rworange Feb 16, 2011 10:46 AM

Telepizza – Kielbasa pizza, funky chicken and raspberry creme brulee

Telepizza started in Spain and seems to have picked some eclectic locations to expand internationally – Poland, Guatemala, Portugal, Dubai and Chile.
http://www.telepizza.es/

It’s not bad … at least in Guatemala. Yep, chain pizza but good for that category. There’s a medium- thick crust, the sauce is ok, average olive oil (sometimes liberally applied), the cheese and toppings are decent.

I thought it was part of the Pollo Comparo chain, since it is served at PC’s in Guatemala, but from what I can tell, it is just an alliance of some sort.
https://www.1777.com.gt/iCad/Default.aspx?op=showSubmenu&m=PIZZA

There’s nothing that unusual pizza-wise in Guatemala. Occasionally they have a shrimp pizza special, but I haven’t tried that yet. They also offer lasagna which I haven’t tried either.
https://www.1777.com.gt/iCad/Default.aspx?op=showProductsInMenu&m=LASAGNA

The company has lots of 2 for 1 deals. For $220 quetzales ($27.50 USD) we had four large pizzas: six meats, Hawaiian, house pizza and five cheese.

The deal also included 2 large pitchers of soda.

The only different pizza is the six meat (6 carnes) that includes sliced hot dogs, bacon, ground beef, ham, pepperoni and salami. It was ok, but with its generous topping of the meats, it looked better than it tasted.

Simple was best. The five cheese pizza (mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan, cream cheese, Monterrey) was good and had a nice oil pool in the center that would do any NY street pizza proud.

And actually, this was country-specific. Everywhere else in the world, Telepizza sells a four cheese pizza. Guatemalans are crazy for cream cheese (it's even in sushi), so that is the fifth cheese here. It works well, IMO.

The toppings were only average for the house pizza (onions, bacon, ground beef, peppers, mushrooms). There were leftovers to take home of this one, so I guess no one was too excited about it.

Didn’t try the Hawaiian as I don’t like that anywhere in the world … pineapple and tomato sauce … ugh. Others seem to like it though.

I was looking at the country specific menus and in Poland they have kielbasa. However, kielbasa in Polish just means “sausage”, not the standard ring found in the US. So that could mean anything.
http://www.telepizza.pl/menu.html

Spain seems to have a good many pizzas with bacon, including a bacon cheeseburger pizza. Chile offers garlic fries and empanadas (though they look like McDonald’s apple pies).
http://www.telepizza.cl/menu.php

Portugal … well I don’t read enough Portuguese to figure it out … but they do have Funky chicken pizza (is that a good thing?) and Funny bacon (again, good thing?). There is also stromboli.
http://www.telepizza.pt/Homepage/Ementa/Pizzas/ementa.aspx?tabid=2434&code=pt

Some countries such as Spain and Portugal offer full menus.

After those main countries, to me it is a little unclear where else they might be. There’s a similar name, but with a space, in Europe – Tele Pizza. However, the colors and logos are different, so it may be another company.

This article about some of the shops closing in 2002, seems to indicate they might have a presence in other European countries.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DQA/is_2002_Oct_24/ai_93974429

This link has an interesting history of the company and some other possible locations such as Mexico.
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/TelePizza-SA-Company-History.html

Wiki states they are in United Arab Emirates and bought Jeno’s in Columbia in 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepizza

It turns they did open in Dubai, but nothing country-specific there. It seems they might be catering to the English-speaking crowd from their dessert offerings which include raspberry crème brulee, caramel apple granny bars and rockslide brownies
http://www.telepizzauae.ae/en/menu/deserts

They seem to be planning a joint venture in China
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/900...

It is just odd to me that the company doesn’t seem to acknowledge many of its world-wide locations.

So, while I can’t say much about other locations, they are good enough in Guatemala. Nothing to seek out, but not a bad choice in a food court type of situation. The family really likes it. Deciding between Domino’s or Telepizza in Guatemala … go with Telepizza.

Looking at comments on the web, it gets favorable ones around the world.

Anyone else tried Telepizza … and where?