Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

The Jimmy Sardine pizza includes Italian sausage, spinach, onions and ricotta cheese.

There is a lot to like about Jimmy Sardines Italian Pizza Shop. Although it has a fishy name, it is not a fish joint. Instead, it serves more than a dozen varieties of pizza in addition to salads, subs, pasta dishes and many other tasty items.

The restaurant, which is owned by Jimmy Muscaro, is a narrow place that seats about 45 and is located in a space formerly occupied by a beauty parlor on Memorial Avenue in Roanoke. Charming, original fish folk art crafted by Courtney Cronin of Black Dog Salvage decorates the walls. The staff is competent, the ambiance is neighborly and the food is uncomplicated and reasonably priced.

The menu and food

Neatly divided into categories, the menu lists starters, submarines, salads, entrees, pizzas and beverages. It is appealing on many levels, bringing together Americanized preparations of ethnic and Italian favorites.

Among the four starters is a quesadilla that incorporates Italian influences with chicken, bacon, tomatoes, provolone and mozzarella. Foot-long subs highlight popular classics such as baked meatballs with provolone and Parmesan cheeses.

I enjoyed two outstanding salads. The first was a delicious, appetizingly arranged pan-seared chicken breast atop fresh greens. The other, a Capri, was made like a sandwich (called a Napoleon in some restaurants) and presented with layers of sliced tomatoes filled with slices of mozzarella, sprinkled with olive oil and dotted with balsamic glaze.

Pasta dishes are prepared with fresh Alfredo or red sauces, which are all made from scratch every day on the premises. A casserole of bow tie pasta, generously layered lasagna-style with red sauce-braised meatballs and melted cheese, was the evening's pasta special. It was excellent, and I would order it again. The Mediterranean pasta dish of fresh tomatoes seasoned with feta and Parmesan cheeses, garlic and herbs held great flavor despite waterlogged pasta.

The pizza

A dozen different pizzas come in a variety of sizes, and an unexpectedly wide assortment of toppings make it possible to enjoy a different pizza fling on each visit. They mingle a sophisticated assortment of delectable topping ingredients with Muscaro's rustic, homemade crusts. Three of the most popular specialties are the Bering Sea, which comes with lump crabmeat and caramelized onions; the namesake Jimmy Sardine, composed of Italian sausage, spinach, ricotta and onions; and the Antigua with sea salt, roasted garlic, balsamic vinegar and white truffle oil.

The pizzas deserve praise because of decorously crimped crusts and nicely distributed toppings, but they are the most inconsistent preparations of the menu. Heat is key to a delicious pizza with a crisp bottom crust. These crusts are often soft and limp, which Muscaro attributes to using a convection oven, not a pizza oven, making results unpredictable.

The 16-inch classic Margherita had large slices of yellow tomatoes (instead of the Roma tomatoes described on the menu), basil leaves and abundant melted mozzarella. While the pizza crust was appropriately golden brown and tasty around the top edges, the watery tomatoes exuded plenty of liquid that pooled unattractively on the surface. The bottom crust was soft and lifeless.

One evening, the pizza purist at my table made a special request and insisted on a "flat" crust pizza instead of the crimped style the pizza master creates. A flat-crust 8-inch pizza loaded with melted cheese arrived with a nearly crisp bottom crust and a burnished top crust. During the same visit, I enjoyed a 6-inch pizza topped with pan-seared chicken, artichoke hearts, spinach and tomatoes. This attractive pie cut neatly and had an almost firm bottom crust except for softness at the center.

These near successes led me to formulate a rule of thumb for ordering pizza at Jimmy Sardines: Go with 8-and 6-inch sizes and request longer baking times. Muscaro says they will recook a pizza to your satisfaction if necessary.

The bottom line

A pizza shop should focus on pizza perfection. I appreciate the good concept, sophisticated toppings and creative pizza crusts at Jimmy Sardines, but more attention should be given to baking a crisp bottom crust.