Pizza Roma

Name: Pizza Roma
Location: 4715 SE Woodstock Boulevard
Portland, OR
Contact information: 503.774.5667
Web address: www.pizzaromanw.com
Hours: Open everyday 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Cost: Most pies around $19 for medium (there are no smalls), $21 for large and $26 for extra large
Reservation recommended: Not taken
Good for: Grand, gourmet pizza
Insider tip: Warning – this is not a place to grab a pie in a hurry. Expect to wait 45 minutes, even on a slow night

Review: It’s never a good sign when you walk into a pizza place and see signs that clearly lay out how long ‘pizza perfection’ takes – it’s like hearing the receptionist tell you that it’s only a 15 minute wait when there are 10 other people in the waiting room…you just know it ain’t happening. Especially when you’re offered free breadsticks while you kill time (assuming, of course, that they have any).

In case you’re curious, pizza perfection took one hour. Yes, an hour. For two pizzas. On a Sunday night. When there were only 4 other tables in the restaurant.

Except for this one nagging issue (which can be slightly rectified by ordering ahead), dinner was exactly what I expected from a gourmet pizza and pasta establishment.

I ordered The Shroom – garlic sauce, button, crimini and portabello mushrooms. My companions munched on the Mad Greek – garlic sauce, marinated chicken, red onions, feta cheese, black olives, spinach, roasted garlic and diced tomatoes. There is also a select listing of salads and pastas, but we didn’t try any of these. Our complimentary breadsticks lacked flavor and the marinara sauce was nothing to speak of.

Without heavy sauce, my pizza was exceedingly light. The oft-spoken of crust was excellent…which was a good thing, because there seemed to be a lot of it showing on my pie. The Mad Greek received solid reviews from my friends.

Although it’s a little out of the way and the wait can be long, Pizza Roma is a trusty addition to Portland’s boutique pizza stable.