Thursday, June 25, 2009
Order the extra large at Roma Pizza
TOM ANGLEBERGER Special to The Roanoke Times
In addition to pizza, Roma Pizza in Blacksburg has calzones, gyros and salads, such as this Greek salad.
Tom Angleberger knows what he likes. So we've asked him to eat at NRV restaurants and write about them. If you have a restaurant to recommend,
e-mail him. Tom Angleberger
Recent columns
Roma PizzaPizza, pasta and burgers
- Where: Patrick Henry Shopping Center,1407 N. Main St., Blacksburg
- Phone: 552-3800
- Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Monday through Saturday; noon to 3 a.m. Sunday
- Prices: Small cheese pizzas start at $5.99. Specialty pizzas start at $6.99.
I was going to call Roma Pizza a nondescript pizza joint with great pizza.
Then I realized: It's pretty descript after all.
It's got purple walls, for goodness' sake. There are mafia-movie-themed posters in the dining area, but wraparound beach murals in the men's room. And a small wolf statue next to the door. And two or three neon lightning bolts.
Don't get me wrong, this place isn't overstuffed with kitsch like, say, Macado's. It's still your basic pizza joint -- a rectangle with booths on each side and a counter at one end, with a kitchen in the back and a nice dude in a tie-dyed shirt to take your order.
But the pizza is not basic. The pizza is fantastic.
It doesn't look like much. In fact, it arrived looking quite greasy and a little on the small side. We had ordered a medium, but should have gone for a large or extra large. Goodness knows the prices are low enough, with an extra-large cheese going for just $9.25.
From the first bite, I knew this was an exceptional pizza. Great cheese, great sauce, great flavors. But there was an extra surprise when I got to the end of that first piece. The crust was amazing.
Sometimes, even with good pizza, you lose interest in eating the plain crust and leave it on your plate while you reach for another slice. That won't happen at Roma Pizza. That crust is delicious -- light, buttery, a little sweet.
We ate every bit of that pizza and would have gladly eaten more. We also polished off a Philly cheese steak and most of a Greek salad. The cheese steak was mighty good, but my wife thought the Greek salad was a little lackluster.
Roma Pizza has most of the other things you'd expect at a pizza place: calzones, stromboli and subs. Pasta dishes include lasagna, manicotti, lobster ravioli and shrimp scampi.
The restaurant also has gyros, hot wings and burgers, including a Louisiana burger, which is topped with grilled onions and mushrooms, provolone cheese and blue cheese dressing.
Bottom line: If Roma Pizza's purple walls could talk, they'd tell you to order an extra large.
