Save on delicious Columbus pizza with these 5 deals
There’s nothing better than a good pizza sometimes — except for getting a good deal on a good pizza. Can you see where this is heading?
Right, as an unstoppable pizza enthusiast and shameless bargain seeker with time to scour websites and menus, I’ve uncovered upper-echelon pizzerias that offer weekly pizza discounts. Many of the deals from the restaurants mentioned below are for early-in-the-week pies, but in my tomato sauce-stained book, anytime is a good time to eat a good pizza and save money.
More: 15 'Columbus-style' pizzerias to check out
Villa Nova Ristorante
5545 N. High St., 614-846-5777, villanovacolumbus.com
Perpetually packed Villa Nova Ristorante is an Italian-American stronghold, where red sauce runs rampant in a big, high-energy dining room, and happy hours around a large, rectangular bar can spontaneously combust into singalongs (verified with my own eyes and wonky tonsils). Perhaps less well-known about this old-schooler on the southern border of Worthington: Villa Nova makes some of the best Columbus-style pizzas you can crunch into. In fact, with audibly snappy, thin yet puffy crusts boasting cornmeal-yellowed undercarriages and semi-sweet sauce, they approach the Platonic ideal of Columbus-style pizza. Some preferred toppings include house-made “sliced spicy sausage” discs (a black peppery must); house meatballs; zesty pepperoni; spinach; artichoke hearts; and fennel-seeded sausage crumbles.
Here’s The Deal:
After 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, these specials kick in on 15-inch pizzas: Tuesdays — one-topping pies are just $12 (that’s a $4.75 savings; as with other deals on this list, you can add extra toppings for extra money); Thursdays — all 15-inchers are $1 off.
Fibonacci's Pizzeria
Multiple locations, studio35.com, grandviewtheater.com
Fibonacci’s Pizzeria is a hip, wonderfully quirky and impressive two-shop operation stationed inside two hip, wonderfully quirky and impressively renovated old movie theaters: Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse in Clintonville and its Grandview sibling, Grandview Cinema and Drafthouse.
The pizzerias do their high-falutin name proud — “Fibonacci” alludes to a mathematical sequence relating to spirals and ideal proportions — by producing aesthetically pleasing and delicious Neapolitan-style pizzas with thin, puffy-edged, toasty crusts. Trendy toppings like goat cheese, organic figs, pesto, house-made hot honey plus traditional toppings like house red sauce, Grande mozzarella and provolone as well as sausage and pepperoni from Ezzo Sausage Co. hold up their end of the bargain, too. Ditto for Fibonacci’s many specialty pies like the killer Hot Swarm! (pepperoni, ricotta, mozzarella, provolone, hot honey) and the boldly flavored Abe Froman (sausage, onions, spicy giardiniera).
Here’s The Deal:
On Mondays, specialty pizzas are significantly reduced to $12 (about $5 off), as are self-designed, three-topping “You-Do-You” pies, which will be $10 (also about $5 off).
Paulie Gee's Short North
1195 N. High St., 614-808-0112, pauliegee.com/short-north
Paulie Gee’s Short North is the only Ohio branch of an esteemed eight-link chain of cool and sophisticated pizzerias whose roots reach back to the trendsetting hepcat capital of Brooklyn, New York. This local branch of the upscale pizzeria lives up to the East Coast-made reputation of Paulie Gee’s, the eatery that launched the nationwide craze of garnishing pizzas with chile-spiked honey.
Expect beautiful, thin-crusted Neapolitan-style pizzas with puffy, toasty, leopard-spotted rims, as well as outstanding Detroit-style pizzas, aka “squares,” whose thick and indulgent crusts have “frico”-like accents (crispy fried cheese). Also expect every pizza here to be a grand slam, including the hot-honey prototype called Hellboy, the “pep and sausage” square, and a gorgonzola-prosciutto-cherries extravaganza called Cherry Jones.
Here’s The Deal:
Three great dine-in-only specials are offered: Wednesdays — any three “non-square” pizzas go for $39 (that’s about $12 to $20 off); Thursdays — squares are $20 (save $4 to $8); Sundays — any two non-square pizzas plus a salad are $40 (save up to about $15).
Vick's Gourmet Pizzeria
7345 E. Main St., Reynoldsburg, 614-866-7392, vicksgourmetpizza.com
Vick’s Gourmet Pizzeria — which has been in business for over 60 years — will qualify as a hidden gem of a lively, fun and scratch-cooking restaurant unless you’re from Reynoldsburg, in which case Vick’s qualifies as a hometown institution. In any case, Vick’s offers terrific Columbus-style pizzas with thin and crisp crusts, oregano-kissed house sauce and oven-browned mozzarella and provolone cheeses. Quality toppings like crispy-zippy pepperoni and garlicky house-made sausage are generously applied, and duly popular specialty pies are well-designed (like a loaded taco pizza, a very spicy Buffalo chicken pizza and multiple “the works”-type combos).
Here’s The Deal:
Different days bring different specials such as: Tuesdays — $2 off any large pie; Wednesdays — $2 off any large specialty pizza; Fridays and Saturdays — $2 off a mammoth 21-inch pizza (aka the “Raider”) when partnered with cheesy garlic bread.
Adriatico's New York Style Pizza
1618 Neil Ave., 614-421-2300, adriaticososu.com
During my college years, I pretty much ate my ever-increasing weight in Adriatico’s pizzas topped with lusty sausage clumps (garlicky, fennel-seeded), banana peppers and oversized pepperoni. And yet I’m still not tired of the thin-crusted, wedge-sliced, sturdy New York-style pies with sweet-zesty sauce (offering oregano and chile notes) baked inside this longtime South Campus favorite. In fact, this nearly four-decades-old pizzeria has only gotten better since moving into far nicer and roomier digs about four years ago. Note: In addition to New York-style pies, Adriatico’s offers rectangular and thick, focaccia-esque, party-appropriate Sicilian-style pizzas.
Here’s The Deal:
On Mondays and Tuesdays after 5 p.m., cheese pizzas have these reduced prices: a 12-incher goes for $11 (about $1.50 off); hefty 16-inchers are $16.50 (save $2.29); gonzo-sized “Buckeye” large Sicilian pizzas, which feed about 10, are $31 ($7 off).
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Save money on slices with deals from Paulie Gee's, Adriatico's
