Eating a chicken pizza always seemed akin to watching intramural-league flag football as a spectator sport. A totally pointless undertaking if you also have access to the more-rugged standard - pig-based pizza and pro football, respectively. A chicken pizza at Pieology recently convinced me otherwise.

Like Pizza 120, this California-based restaurant chain utilizes a fast-casual mechanism. Customers traffic through a line, in which cooks customize orders as specified from a nifty selection of toppings. In late April, Pieology opened a Huntsville location at Bridge Street Town Centre, next to Bar Louie.

Pieology was well-staffed with smiling folks during our Friday lunch hour visit. At least five employees on the line. So even though the restaurant was packed and the line fairly deep, things moved quickly. Unfortunately, Pieology was out of several toppings, including two alternative sauces we were specifically interested in, pesto and Fiery Buffalo sauce, as well as vegan "cheese."

We built a "Kustom Pizza" on each of Pieology's three offered crusts: House-made, whole wheat and gluten free. All pies are 11-and-a-half inches and $7.95 with unlimited toppings. (Add $2 for gluten-free.)

Five minutes after we ordered them, three pizzas were sitting on our patio table. Earlier after being told there was no Buffalo sauce on-hand, we used olive oil as a base for our aforementioned chicken pizza on a gluten-free crust. Pieology's spicy chicken was pleasingly zesty and next time I'd ask for more of that instead of adding regular chicken, which was overtly bland, to the pie. At a cook's suggestion we added red onions and cilantro. The latter topping really made the spicy chicken pop, in tandem with the feta and mozzarella cheese. The gluten-free crust was appealing crisp and the young lady doling out crusts asked if gluten-free was a preference or allergy to know if she needed to change into new disposable gloves.

We did a "nice-to-meat-you" style pie on the house-made crust, with red sauce, pepperoni, sausage, meatball, ham and bacon with mozzarella cheese.   One cook suggested brushing olive oil on the exposed crust edge. This ended up making our meat-heavy pie much greasier. Overall thought Pieology's ingredients were a click better quality than at Pizza 120, except for the Italian sausage which was smaller and less flavorful than 120s. Pieology's red sauce is pretty subtle too. And we actually like the house-made crust the least of the restaurant's three options thereof.

Built a veggie pizza on whole-wheat crust, and as an ordained member of the whole-wheat cult I thought this was probably the best WW pizza crust I've had yet. Excellent crunchy-chewy dichotomy. We used garlic butter as our sauce here and it imparted more kick than we anticipated, but it worked. Roasted red bell pepper and sliced Kalamata olives added zip to this pie, also outfitted with feta and ricotta cheeses and mushrooms. Very hearty and satisfying for a garden style pie. We also tried a Half Classic Salad ($3.95). Nice mix of organic greens and the dried cranberries added some tangy-sweet brightness, although the candied walnuts listed as an ingredient were not to be found. The gorgonzola was a little loud and out of tune with the rest of the salad - feta would be better.

The very fruit raspberry vinaigrette worked OK on the salad, but the plastic mini-cup the dressing was packaged in excelled at restoring balance to our wobbly table after the container was placed under one leg.

The table was the last available in the entire restaurant - one of seven on the well-shaded patio outside. The restaurant's oblong interior's decor is minimalist/industrial with high ceilings. And is home to the largest single-occupancy men's restroom I believe I've ever been in - noticeably bigger and cleaner than a couple studio apartments I've lived in.

Pieology 365 The Bridge Street Ste. 101 256-801-8132 pieology.com Monday- Thursday: 11 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. Friday - Saturday: 11 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. Sunday: 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Recommendations: Whole-wheat, gluten-free crusts surprisingly good. Suggestions: Don't add olive oil to meat-heavy pies.   Alcohol: Nope. Ambience: Semi-industrial interior, shaded patio. Service: Smiling, fast. Vegetarian-friendly: Yes. Price range: $7.95.

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