I dared to go off the beaten paths in search of an Italian family-owned restaurant where they made…read moreNew York style pizzas; and literally across the street from the well known and famous Montano's International Gourmet Restaurant, I discovered this small, nothing fancy, Italian Eatery owned and run by an older couple husband and wife Italian immigrants. After being awarded the Triad Yelper of the Year 2024 Award at the Yelpies Award Ceremony last year, an event that honored the highest-performing Yelp Elites, I decided that this year, as an All-Star Yelp Elite, I not only wanted to be the first to discover new restaurants and bring them to the attention of the public, but also to uncover those found in hidden paths that for one reason or another have not reached the public in its totality. And Tony Avellino's Italian Eatery is the perfect example. Located in an old but clean, small restaurant space off Franklin Road, in Roanoke, Virginia, with an ample parking lot, Tony Avellino's stands alone there, that for unknown passers-byers could seem not to be open if it were not be for its well lit red "OPEN" sign behind one of its windows. As I arrived and walked in, the place looked empty, so I walked around and looked into a what seemed to be like a storage room that doubled as the dishwashing room and office. I heard some voices and said: "Is anybody home?" Suddenly, this delightful older couple who were Italian immigrants, and the owners of the restaurant came out to warmly greet me, and as they did, the place suddenly acquired another dimension. It reminded me of the trip to Italy that I took with my family when I was a boy, and the beauty of that country, and its people, who made you feel at home in their home. I enjoyed talking with both the husband and wife, and seeing them work together running their family-owned business. They had a colorful menu published but the wife ask me what I felt like eating today: a pizza, their Special Cheese Steak Sub, Pasta, or one of their Half-Pound Burgers. I definitely wanted to try their New York style pizza so I ordered their 12" size Pepperoni and Mushroom Pizza with a Root Beer. The husband quickly started making my pizza and allowed me to record the process with photos and videos that I could include in my review. The Pizza tasted amazing. There are times that in simple, quality ingredients, one can uncover an extraordinary flavor. While I was eating, other customers started arriving. Some to eat in, some to take out. What a beautiful site of a couple earning a living through the labor of something they enjoy doing and are good at, and their customers enjoying the fruit of their labor. I highly recommend this restaurant. Go there, support this delightful couple, and enjoy their warmth and wonderful food.

3.5 Stars Great…read morepizza for a local spot. Beware - a little pricy but the pizza had better flavor than a National chain. $31 for a 12" stuffed pizza & order of cheesy bread. WOW! The stuffed pizza w/ pepperoni & sausage had fresh mozzarella which was tasty and the crust was cooked well. Cheesy bread seemed like a hoagie roll sliced up w/ melted cheese - not sure it was worth $8. Store itself looked run down and in need of some renovations. Maybe that's the ambiance they are looking for - the vintage or "we been here forever" look. The staff was friendly, smiling & looked to like their job! I would probably give them another try but would definitely look for specials or coupons to make it all worth while.

if you want pizza and a cheese stick ( that's a special recipe, that is good) then try it! I wish…read morethe quality of the salad was better. They make everything by hand and by pizza oven. But, fun decor gets a 5 star. Loud music gets negative 10 stars.

Loved the food,service,atmosphere, and prices.will definitely be back again with my family and…read morefriends

I was in town for an appointment with the VA and decided to look for a pizza place close by…read more According to Yelpers, Papa's is some of the best pizza around. And once again the crowd didn't let me down. I swung in, ordered a meat lovers medium (leftover pizza is fantastic) and it was sooooo good when they brought it out. The toppings and cheese were the perfect combination. The crust was crisp without being burnt and very tasty. Overall, one of the best pizzas I have had in a long time.

Tucked away in an unassuming strip mall on Electric Road in Salem, Virginia, Papa's Pizza is truly…read morea diamond of an Italian restaurant and one of the best kept secrets of the City of Salem. After having been selected as number 4 of the Top 50 most prolific Elites of 2025, a year when I also was awarded the Yelp Triad Squad Photographer of the Year Award at the Yelpies 2025 Award Ceremony, an event that honored the highest-performing Yelp Elites, and where last year I was awarded the Yelp Triad Squad Yelper of the Year Award, I decided that this year, as an All-Star Yelp Elite, I not only wanted to be the first to discover new restaurants and bring them to the attention of the public, but also to uncover those found in hidden paths that for one reason or another have not reached the public in its totality. And Papa's Pizza in Salem, Virginia is the perfect example. This family-owned and operated Italian Restaurant, located in Ridgewood Farms Shopping Center is one of those rare gems of the City of Salem, Virginia. For some time now, on my way from Roanoke to Salem, Virginia on Electric Road, I would ride by this "Pizzeria Italiana" in my Lexus wondering how its cuisine would be. Then today, while I was driving, took the turn that lead me to the Pizza shop. As I arrived, a beautiful blue sky with white clouds framed the building where the restaurant was located, almost like warning me that I was up to something good. Inside, the place was clean in a relaxed environment, with the dining room in the shape of Virginia and containing both tables and booths, behind a low was that led you through the ordering line. They had a couple of tvs with videos showing some of the items on the menu. And the main decoration items were framed American and Italian flags next to two pizza paddles with Best of Virginia Winner and Readers Choice Award. Behind the ordering counter, a friendly young gentleman greeted and welcomed me and provided me with a menu. I ordered a House Salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing and a 10" Personal Supreme Pizza. And l had a softdrink to drink. I went and sat at a table and the order taker / server first brought me the salad and then the pizza to my table. The salad was so fresh and delicious. You have to see it to believe it. I invite you to view my photographs accompanying this review to get a better sense of the place and the quality of their food. And the pizza, the pizza was amazing! From the perfect crust cooked to perfection, to the fresh ingredients placed in generous amounts, to the splendid tasting pizza sauce and cheese. I then went to their dessert refrigerated display case and ordered a slice of their Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake. The perfect dessert for the Grand Finale of an extraordinary dining experience.

This place was good. I am visiting for the Mtn Bike National Championships and it was hard to find…read morean Italian place. This place came up and the food was super fresh and was good quality. The server was extremely nice and friendly.

This used to be my go to pizza place but the last pizza I ordered will probably be the last pizza I…read moreorder. The man on the phone sounds like an authentic New York accent which added to the charm of placing a to go order. But the recipes have changed and the quality of the ingredients is sub par at best now. It was a simple cheese pizza (I had to order a large because I was told I couldn't order a medium on this particular day, strange). The crust was like cardboard, the sauce tasted like a can of tomato paste with no seasoning whatsoever. The cheese was not real cheese because despite being cooked it still was in its shredded form and not even melted, just sitting on top of the sauce in an oily sheet. I hardly see anyone eating inside this place, the roanoke location seems to be busier but the ingredient quality must be improved.

A good friend of mine invited me to dinner for pizza at Highlander Pizza. Located in a strip mall…read morein Cave Spring, Roanoke, Virginia, the restaurant is small and cozy, very clean, with hardwood floors and wth very cute artworks of animals decorating it's wall. The menu is a colorful one sheet of laminated paper They specialize in Halal specialty pizzas, salads, subs, strombols, and calzones. When we arrived the owner greeted us with a warm welcome, took us to our table, and handed us the menu. We ordered a 14 in Steak BBQ pizza to eat and Iced water to drink. When the pizza arrived the pie was fresh and soft, the cheese very cheesy, the BBQ sause just right, and the steak cut in little pieces. After we finished eating it we felt full but not too stuffy. We then each ordered a slice of Strawberry Cheesecake. It was soft and creamy and the strategy sauce on top was very sweet and tasty. The owner was very friendly and came by to check on us at the right times and to fill our glasses with water. This is a wonderful place for when you want to have a very special, one of a kind pizza, or other items, in a relaxed environment, with excellent customer service.

In an attempt to "support local" I settled on Highlander Pizza for the evening. Immediately upon…read moreentering, I realized I should have left as there was no air conditioning and the heat was unbearable given the 90 degree day outside. Strike one, but again, local, so I decided to overlook the extreme heat and hope for the best with the food and service. The server/counter person was not very personable, but not outright rude...indifferent might be a good term...but I contributed it to the heat. Strike two, because a welcoming environment is important. Upon ordering, the server brought out plates, utensils and drinks. Two of the three plates were dirty and there was something floating in my drink. Strike three without question, but the final never again came when there was no care or concern from the staff at all that their dishes were not clean and there were foreign objects in the drinks. Lastly, after a very long wait, the food arrived. It was just ok, not worth the heat, the filthy environment, the dirty dishes, the excessive wait, or the foreign objects floating in the drinks. I generally love to shop and eat local, but it will not here.

Always order my pizza " to go" with an extra splash of sauce. Best Pizza around. I've never been…read moredisappointed.

We had a very disappointing experience. We ordered two pizzas, one pasta, and an appetizer and…read morewaited 45 minutes with absolutely no communication from the staff. During that entire time, no one checked on us or provided an update on our order. After 45 minutes, I went to ask for an ETA and was told by the hostess, Anita, that she had "no idea." Ten minutes later, I asked again, and she checked with the pizza makers, who said everything would be ready in five minutes. We explained that the only reason we ordered the appetizer was because we were hungry and expected it to come out before the main meal. Since it clearly wasn't coming first, we let her know we no longer wanted the appetizer. Ten minutes after the promised "five minutes," I went back to ask for another update. At that point, the hostess stated that our entire order had been cancelled and no food would be coming out. I explained there had been a misunderstanding...we only wanted to cancel the appetizer, not the entire order. We had been sitting there for over an hour waiting, so obviously we had not intended to cancel everything. The hostess repeatedly cut me off, insisted we had cancelled the whole order, and was extremely rude throughout the interaction. She then told us our food was sitting behind the counter if we wanted it. When she rang us up, she initially charged only for the appetizer part of the order. After I clarified again that we still wanted the pizzas and pasta, she re-rang the order for over $50. To make matters worse, the restaurant was uncomfortably hot (over 80 degrees inside.) My toddler was so hungry from the long wait that my sister had to walk down the street to Food Lion to buy her something to eat while we waited. The most frustrating part was that no one ever apologized, acknowledged the excessive wait, or seemed concerned about what had happened. After all of that, we finally got the food home only to discover that it was both cold and burnt. Delays happen, and we would have understood if the restaurant had simply communicated with us. Instead, we experienced poor service, rude interactions, no accountability, and disappointing food!

We ordered a large team order to be delivered to the field after our soccer game. They accidentally…read morerang it up for the wrong date so we had to go to the store to pick it up and they were very apologetic. They gave us a case of waters and threw in an extra pizza. So many places nowadays won't make it right when they mess up, but this group was kind, flexible and apologetic. Humans make mistakes, but they were able to bounce back :)

Friday night = pizza for us and we love trying different Mellow Mushroom locations…read more Around 530, it was beginning to get full but we secured a table near the kitchen. Having been to a few... and memorizing our previous pizza orders, we only needed to glance at the apps to try something different. I opted for the meatballs and was not impressed. They were warm, at best, and dry. The wing sauce was good but they also were barely warm when they got to the table. The salad is always better with the Esperanza dressing; it's good. Our pizzas were good and hot when they arrived to the table! I'd order the pizzas again and skip the appetizers. Service was standard.

Tucked inside the first business space of a small strip mall on E Washington Ave in Vinton,…read moreVirginia is this very popular spot known for its New York-style pizzas, calzones, subs, and pasta dishes, all made from scratch. As soon as I heard about it, I drove in my Lexus to go try it out.Their parking lot is in a narrow but long space on the right of the restaurant. At first I missed it and had to make a U turn and come back. But once I knew where it was I parked in the second parking space next to the restaurant. Their restaurant sign with their name and logo is painted on one of their large front windows in red and white colors. Inside, I found a clean, modern, space, with a casual decor and very welcoming atmosphere. A wall size, colorful painting made by one of their customers depicting life in a mountainous area contributes to the relaxed and friendly ambiance. A friendly and hospitable young lady, greeted me and had me take a seat at the table of my choice. She quickly took my drink order and since they had Pepsi products, I ordered a Pepsi. Their menu was very well designed and easy to read, with even a Lunch Specials section. Since I had come to try out their pizza, I ordered a House Salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing and a 12" Special Pizza. With pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, ground beef, onions and extra cheese. This pizza was sure to please. As I ate my salad, I admired the huge painting on the wall. I invite you to view my photographs accompanying this review to get a better sense of the place and the quality of their food. The salad had fresh ingredients and lots of graded cheese on top, and with the dressing tasted amazing. There is nothing like a good salad to complement a good pizza. When the pizza arrived, my friendly server place it on a pizza stand, which brought it at a distance where I could observe the freshness of both the baked pizza dough and its ingredients. The pizza was both made and cooked well. I placed the first slice on my plate and took my first bite.The dough tasted like a fresh baguette right out of the oven. And all the fresh ingredients with the extra cheese tasted amazingly delicious. The only thing it could have benefited from was a little more of the sauce. I started eating it with a fork and knife but then, since it was real New York-style pizza, I grabbed the slices and ate them with my hands, the way New York-style pizzas should be eaten to appreciate them better. For dessert I had a slice of their Limoncello Cake. It is said great things come in small sizes, and this was a perfect example. Simply delicious. I definitely recommend this place for its relaxing, casual, ambiance, amazing food, and a friendly customer service, that make you feel at home, very typical of the Italian culture.

We'd planned on New York Pizza but my aunt & uncle recommended Frank's Pizza and was a great…read moreexperience! It could not have been better - pizza and salads were all top shelf but it was the best service in my recent memory! Our waitress was EXCELLENT! and I eat out five to seven a week! Plus we were a group of nine and everyone raved about the food and service.