Adventure #64: Roppolo's

It's not as good as it looks, folks.

And yet, it's not as bad as it sounds. At least, that's what I found myself thinking as I dove headfirst into these pies. You see, Karin had been dreading this visit for ages. Back in the salad days of 2010, I was new to the Austin pizza scene, but Karin had been around. She was aware of the wares of Roppolo's and had warned me to beware.

So here's some backstory. When we started this blog, we made the rule that we would review pie purveyors based on their whole pizzas, not slices. Now, for those of you not in Austin, Roppolo's is most known for slinging slices around downtown in the evening out of their 6th Street storefront and various carts. Ubiquity and availability are their strong suits. Quality? Not so much. And so we put this visit off for three years.

Here's what we got. Disclosure: I was running late and had Karin order the pizza. I arrived after she had eaten a slice or two. 

Pepperoni: pepperoni, sauce, cheese

The Rosalie: (white pie): ricotta cheese, tomato slices, sautéed spinach, chopped onions, sliced mushrooms and minced garlic

I don't mean to be rude, but this is just shoddy pizza. Example:

That's right, the top of the pizza slides right off of the base! Like the cafeteria pizzas you've known and loathed, these pizzas have no topping integrity and 'pour-out-of-the-box-and-add-tapwater' quality crust.

Sauce? Overly sweet. Cheese? Thick and cloying. Pepperoni? B-grade. To sum this up, when I went in for a third slice, Karin looked at me, aghast, and said 'WHY?'. 

Why, dear readers? Because I wanted to be sure before I took a dump all over this venerable establishment.  A Yahoo! survey rated them #16 in the nation, best in Austin, best in Texas.

I can name you sixteen better places in Austin off the top of my head. In fact, I can pull them out of my . . . .

- Ian

P.S: if you have to eat here, the Rosalie had some good flavors going on. I recommend it as much as one can recommend subpar pizza.