I decided to order a pie the night before Thanksgiving so I called in my order and pulled up and it was dumb packed had to wait 1 hour for my food which sucked but understandable since everyone and their mother was ordering Larosa's that night. Â The cheese pie turned out ok it's not New York style pizza which I'm used to but a decent pie for Cincinnati... <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.djskillz.com&s=48b023f058c46f78f83e2f9f748ddeea963658da08af25e091524726a4a36c3e" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.djskillz.com</a>
Review Source:The gluten free pizza is the best I have ever had from London to California.
Obviously, Larosa's isn't a 5-star restaurant to the average customer, but it truly has superior gluten free options and is making a real effort to make those options affordable. They currently have an option to get 3 medium gluten free pizzas for $21, which is unheard of. I will usually eat one, get two to go, and eat them for lunch throughout the week. I also appreciate that the gluten free pizza comes on its own aluminum pan and it is clearly marked to avoid confusion.
Overall
+Very affordable
+Good atmosphere
+Excellent gluten-free pizza
+Local restaurant/ ownership
It should be noted that the Gluten free pizza is only at this and a few other locations... so call ahead.
New GLUTEN-FREE pizza!!
I have to say this is one of the better gluten-free pizza's I've had. Â The crust didn't have a funky taste or texture. Â There are a few things I would recommend however. Â I would ask for light sauce and well-done on the bake. Â Because it's baked in its own foil pan (to avoid cross-contamination, thank you!) it doesn't get direct heat and therefore doesn't crisp up as well. Â To reheat the pizza the next day, heating it up in a fry pan works well. Â As far as the sauce goes, there was way too much sauce on mine. Â It made the toppings slide off and the crust weak in the heaviest sauce areas. Â
With those recommendations aside, it's nice to be able to pick up a pre-made/pre-cooked pizza for dinner and not have to worry that the dough was plopped down in a pile of flour. Â To top it off, it tasted like real pizza!
Way to go LaRosa's!
**Disclaimer: the GF crust is only offered at select locations**
Oh LaRosa's, yet another Cincinnati institution that I 'get', but frequently question.
When I was growing up and would come to Cincinnati to visit family (my parents grew up here) this was always on my mom's list of places to go. It's pizza, calzone, hoagy's, and more. She used to be so homesick for the sauce that when this Boudinot location had a general store in the back still, we'd buy a huge container, ship it back, and freeze it.
Given my history, I'd think I might have a little more fondness for the sauce, the place, the history. Somehow between these ritual visits and moving here (oh yeah...the SO works here on a severly part time basis) the magic has worn off. I still like LaRosa's and their steak hoagy with provalone, pizza sauce, tomato, and jalapeno was something I discovered and DO crave, but there is just enough mediocrity in the place that I'm not overly impressed with my experience very often. Service is spotty and though I've had some great experiences, I've also had some disastrous ones (forgotten orders, cold food, no apologies, etc.).
To be fair, I think having someone 'on the inside' of this business has partially tainted my view of this as a dining establishment. The corporate structure, management, and staffing seems at times a bit challenged; they employ a lot of teens (and I hardly feel that makes them qualified to manage, though maybe that's the industry?). I think more than anything, there is a bit of a chain feel to LaRosa's that I only expect from national, impersonal Applebees, TGIF, etc that somehow has infiltrated what I recall of a LaRosa's experience growing up.
The business is third generation now (I believe) and the food is decent (most of the time) but in an atmosphere of truly local places to eat, fresh options, healthy venues, I have a hard time choosing LaRosa's more than 'once in a while'.
The Boudinot location, as the flagship location, is a tad more special (and larger) than some of the other stores, but it has come to have a homogenous, generic feel to it as well.
Maybe someday I'll move away (and by that I mean WHEN I move away) and a visit to LaRosa's will again become special. In the meantime, I'm a bit disillusioned by what they have to offer even though that steak hoagy really hits the spot sometimes.
Keep on keeping on Cincinnati institutions...I wish you the best.
I'm trying to figure it out. For me, the most hit-and-miss place I visit. And it is only pizza. How tough is that? No matter what their formula for sauce is, or their bake time in the oven, or their pour time for a beverage, why o why can't this place be far more consistent?
Sometimes this place is decent - good enough for beer and pizza. Like some others have written, the taste is modest and the prices are in the middle of the ballpark. Not good enough to get an extra star.
Sometimes, including the last time, this place has terrible service. In the huge gap in time from seating to drink ordering I could have died of dehydration. When my drink arrived it was bone dry by the time a chance to order a refill was given. Then I'm guessing it took 40 minutes for the pizza to show up, at least. I was starving and, unfortunately, this pizza isn't top shelf pizza for my taste buds. It wasn't worth the wait, but it was all I had.
Wait wait wait. Finally my check came and it was time to go. I'm not too sure why, but I paid in cash. I guess I'm glad I did. This was one of those, "Bring me my change and then I'll figure out the tip situations." She didn't bring back the little black thingy that the check usually comes in.
So you may ask, "How much was the change I was supposed to get back?"
Answer, "Thirty cents." Yup, she claimed her own tip.
I'm a fan of LaRosa's in any location, but this one will always be my favorite. Â This was the first LaRosa's, and although it's been remodeled, it still has a charm that the others are missing.
Maybe it's because I have so many fond memories of this location. Â Back when I was a kid, LaRosa's was a "fancy" restaurant, unlike the chain it is now. Â It was white tablecloths, candles, wine bottles on the wall. Â I remember this one used to have a mural of Italy painted in the waiting area. Â It also used to have a full bakery. Â I miss all those things about it, but LaRosa's has just morphed into something different now.
The food here is the same food you will get at any LaRosa's location, and there isn't really anything stand out about it now that all the fancy is gone, but I'd still recommend going if you're in the area and care about LaRosa's history at all.
I'm really not sure why Cincinnati likes this stuff. Â I'm sure it's 5 parts sentiment, 4 parts habit and 1 part laziness.
It's just not that good. Â It tastes cheap. Â Cheap tomatoes, cheap cheese, cheap crust. Â The combined effect is a gummy, acidic, flavorless mess. Â I'd rather eat Totino's pizza bagels since they're cheaper.
As for price, I think pizza is something that gets away with huge margins normally, but his place show's it's rediculous.
My guess is that they're making pizzas the way they always have. Â But the world has moved on from the 1950s when pizza was considered "ethnic" food.
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