The shop, located on the corner of 10th and Neil avenues, is the gold standard according to many members of the Ohio State community, with pies inevitably making appearances at student organization meetings across campus and die-hard Adriatico’s fans raving about it on Twitter.
I had just finished my weekly filming of Ohio State football’s Wednesday media availability and was walking by Thompson Library when I ordered my pie.
When asked what crust I wanted, I accidentally said hand-tossed. Needless to say, that was a rookie mistake.
Upon review in a group chat made up of some friends and I, they let me have it about my error. As I walked inside the establishment, which houses the company that has served pizza for 38 years, according to its website, I asked that my order be switched to the deep-dish, Sicilian-style crust.
I will say, deep-dish is not my pizza style of choice — sorry, Chicagoans.
However, I thought it was important to give proper attention to the signature style of Adriatico’s, and it was the right move.
My first bite into the square-shaped pepperoni pizza slice was a warm one, having just come out of the oven. Through the steamy heat, I was hit with a cheesy, saucy blend.
The sauce was the first thing I tasted, and I quickly evaluated the tomato-flavored sweetness gracing my tastebuds. It was on the thicker side of things, but had a fairly good consistency to complement its flavor — in my book, more sauce is better than not enough.
The cheese was the best part about the pizza, boasting outstanding flavor and extensive depth. As I tore through the slice and pulled away, the cheese began to string out, creating a tightrope between my mouth and the pizza.
Having to collect fallen cheese and eat it separately is always unfortunate, but that Adriatico’s cheese was well worth the clump.
The dough was airy and fluffy — a little too much for my liking — and the underside of the crust seemed as though it was slightly undercooked.
There wasn’t as much of a crunch on the follow-through bite; instead, it was as though I had bitten through a piece of bread with sauce and cheese. The only bit of crunch in the crust was found in each of the four corner slices of the rectangular pizza.
Another point docked based on personal preference, but I am not a fan of large pepperoni on pizza, which is exactly what you get on a Sicilian-style slice from Adriatico’s. They have a tendency to fall off too easily, leaving a slice of cheese instead of a slice of pepperoni.
Those slight knocks were only minor setbacks in the umbrella experience of Adriatico’s, which produced a solid — if somewhat bready — pizza with good sauce and cheese that stole the show.
Rating: 7.2/10
