Pizza! Pizza! At Geraldi's

Pizza! Pizza! At Geraldi's

Staff Photo: Richard Davis The sausage and mushroom pizza at Geraldi's in Fayetteville.

By Rachel Birdsell
TFW Contributing Writer

Preamble Ramble

A very loyal and absolutely brilliant reader recommended I try Geraldi’s, which is diagonal from Wes’ BBQ on University. I had been to the Geraldi’s in Berryville but hadn’t tried the one in Fayetteville. So I took Stephanie the Magnificent’s recommendation to heart and hied myself to Geraldi’s. Just so you know, “Stephanie the Magnificent” is her actual, official title.

Food for Thought

I’m not much of a pizza eater, meaning that I crave it about once every couple of months. When I went to Geraldi’s the other day, it was time for a pizza craving. I decided the Mama Mia — topped with pepperoni, sausage, meatballs, black olives, mushrooms and onions — would suit my fancy. And do you know what all of that is sitting on? A hand-tossed crust. But not just any crust. This crust was warm and a little chewy, and you could smell the yeast in it, which to me reminds me a lot of homemade crust. Of course, if I tried to hand-toss pizza crust at home it would only result in misery, failure and possibly something being fractured.
The sauce on the pizza is very light, which to me is perfect. I don’t like so much sauce on my pizza that I can’t taste the rest of the toppings. Speaking of toppings, the ones on my pizza were excellent. Another great thing about the pizza was that it wasn’t greasy. I really did enjoy it, and the leftovers even made for good, cold breakfast pizza the next morning.
The tiramisu almost made me cry tiny little tears laden with espresso. It was divine. It is thick with mascarpone, and the strength of the espresso slaps you like you needed it. I seriously heard Italian angels singing when I took my first bite. I thought it was odd that they were singing “Rock Me, Amadeus,” though. Maybe the espresso made me and my angels a little giddy.

The Sporkcast
(1-5 sporks)

Atmosphere: 3.3 unabashedly naked sporks. The decor is almost nonexistent at Geraldi’s. There were some potted poinsettias perched on the wall between the booths, but the walls had nothing on them except for white paint.
Food: 4.8 spicy meatball-scented scratch and sniff sporks. The pizza was awesome, and the tiramisu knocked me off my feet.
Staff: 4.9 smiling sporks. The staff was super nice and I was very well taken care of. And the owner? The owner was singing along to the music, which was most awesomely not country. It was standards which meant a lot of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. I also noticed that the owner treated his employees very well, which is probably the reason the customer gets treated very well.
Dollars spent: My tab was $23 for a medium pizza and the tiramisu. The specialty pizzas range from $11 to $17. You can pick up a sandwich for $5 to $7 bucks and a salad or pasta plate for around $7.
Chance of returning: Geraldi’s has a prime rib special on Friday nights, and I really think I need to try it. When I do get a pizza craving, this will be my pick.
Thank you, Stephanie the Magnificent for such a wonderful suggestion.  And to the rest of you, I sincerely apologize if you now have a Falco song stuck in your head. Oh, oh, oh, Amadeus.
If you know of a great eating place, drop me a line at rabirdsell@gmail.com. I’ll check it out and let you know what I think.

Categories: Food
Tags: featured