Dining critic candidate No. 35

Best Pizza in Town?

Rotelli’s strives to prove it

I am originally from Baltimore my husband from New York. We know good pizza; we’ve had it in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Richmond, Virginia. Richmond, Virginia? Well yes, actually we lived there before moving here and wherever we live, we always seek out the best pizza in town. In Richmond, it happened to be a little place called “Anna’s” that was owned and run by a sweet Italian family from Brooklyn!

When we arrived in Colorado Springs a year and ½ ago, we began asking the locals, “Where is the best pizza in town?” Rotelli’s has been the answer of late, but we were hesitant…Rotelli’s is a chain restaurant, and we have continually found that the best pizza is always at the locally own places.

But, one cold Thursday night I headed out to Rotelli’s at 3250 Centennial Blvd., with my husband, one of my 3 daughters and my parents who were visiting from Baltimore. We were greeted immediately at the door by a friendly hostess who seated us in a roomy booth. (Booths always go well in a pizza joint!) As we were studying the menus, our vivacious waitress, Janelle asked us for our drink order. My husband and dad wanted a beer and she suggested an Italian beer, which turned out to be the perfect choice. My daughter was thrilled with the choice of Pepsi products and mom and I stuck with water, although Janelle gave us a hard time for not having one of their lovely wines, but hey, I was driving.

We were really craving pizza, but, wow, the classic Italian entrée’s and huge salad selections were quite appealing. We decided though on a Calamari appetizer to share, which came out hot, with delicious red sauce. The calamari was too heavily breaded for my taste, but it was tender and enough to share. Next we ordered pizza, and what a decision that was. The gourmet pizza selections were all enticing, but we finally ordered a pizza with pepperoni, sausage, onions, mushrooms and green peppers in a 22” size as suggested by Janele. With the other pizza, we stuck with ½ cheese and ½ pepperoni in the 16” size so that we could really taste the pizza without all the fanfare.

The wait for our dinner was a little long, and Janele did her best to entertain us while we waited adding lots of laughs to the night. But, the delay was worth it! The finished products were fabulous. The 22” pizza (which is hard to find anywhere) really was much bigger than the 16”. My parents, who travel extensively, said it was one of the freshest pizzas they have ever eaten. The cheese was wonderful, definitely top quality. The vegetables were fresh, not canned, and the sauce was sweet and wonderful, the same as the sauce with the calamari.

We had no room for dessert even though, Rotelli’s had a scrumptious selection and we took home ¾ of the pizza which we ate cold for breakfast…yummy.

Our check was $76.00 which included a generous tip. A little high, but the beer added to the cost. If you really want to go cheap though, head out on a Tuesday night and get a Large Rotelli Cheese Pizza for only $6.54, no limit! Was it the “Best Pizza in Town”? I’ll let you decide.

Bon Appetit!