Rotolo's Pizza — Restaurant in Columbus

Rotolo's Pizza serves some of the most delicious Italian food in central Ohio.

Many years ago, an old friend had told me that Rotolo's Pizza serves the best pizza in Columbus. I had never eaten there until yesterday because I do not drive and because I had been told by several people that they do not have a dining room [which I now know is true].

Yesterday [10-10-2019], on my way [via COTA, walking, and Uber] to an event on the west side of Columbus, I decided to eat at Rotolo's Pizza. My plan had been to order my food and then to walk to a nearby COTA bus shelter and then to sit down at that bus shelter and eat my food. The nearby bus COTA shelter [that is clearly visible on Google Maps "Street View"] had not actually been there but I entered Rotolo's Pizza for my first time and ordered my food anyway.

I had previously studied the Rotolo's Pizza menu on-line and had previously decided to order "The Original Calzone" [Cheese and Pepperoni]. A calzone [according to Wikipedia, is "an Italian oven-baked folded pizza that originated in Naples in the 18th century." It had taken about fifteen minutes for Rotolo's Pizza to prepare my calzone but my absolutely delicious food had definitely been worth the wait.

I sat on a chair in the ordering area [they have five chairs near the front window], placed my calzone [that had been served to me in a small pizza box] on a neighboring chair, and started to eat. My calzone had been so "filling" that I decided, halfway through eating my calzone, to take the remaining half of my calzone home and eat it there later.

I very clearly remember, during my childhood, during the late 1950s and the early 1960s, a former Italian restaurant, Cenci's, that had been located at 1773 W. Fifth Ave. [1/2 block to the west of where Rotolo's Pizza is now located]. Cenci's went out of business during the middle 1960s, Geem Loong Restaurant had been in that space for a while, and then Peking Dynasty Restaurant had been in that space for many years. At the present moment, that building is unoccupied as far as I can tell.

The owner of Rotolo's Pizza, with whom I had spoken for several minutes during my visit there yesterday, remembers washing dishes in the basement of Cenci's, during the 1960s, several years before Rotolo's Pizza had...

OK food bad customer management, I have ordered from this place quite frequently over the past 5 years. Last time we ordered a large everything pizza. Everyone who ate it got sick that same night --everyone. The next morning i took the leftover pizza and stopped at the store right after church. They don't open till 1:00 but at 12:15 there was a guy in the store. He proceeded to poke and prod the pizza and the sausage and then basically took the pizza made a few phone calls and said he would put something in the system that I was owed a credit for a large pizza but he couldn't refund anything and that someone would call me. I walked away thinking this was done. I never received a call. A few weeks later when I go to order a pizza, the "system" has nothing in it. The manager on duty basically tells me there is nothing I can do. I ask can't you ask the guy that opens the store on the weekends or check--I'm not lying or making this up for a pizza. Their response is basically no, that would be too much trouble for me to text the guy or call him or talk with other managers, I'm basically going to tell you that there is nothing I can do and that you are out of luck. He tells me that it might take him 15 minutes and he can't spare 15 minutes for one customer (this is almost verbatim). The pizza in general has been ok to good but there are several places in Upper Arlington (Panzera's, Bono etc) that are much better on customer service and have the same or better food. Panzera's in UA will go out of their way to make sure you get the pizza done right and I have never had any trouble with their food. Rotolo's is now on my "avoid" list since my last two experiences with them have been less than...

Rotolo's is an old fashioned pizza place off of 5th Ave. in Grandview that also serves up other Italian fare.

Stopped in and ordered a large Pepperoni and Onion and an order of Palloncinis, price came out to be $23 which is a good price for the area/taste.

Pizza style is Ohio/Midwest (square cut, thin) has a flavorful sauce, ample cheese and crispy toppings. An overall good rendition of Ohio style pizza.

Palloncinis are cheesy bread bites, basically like stuffed italian seasoned dinner rolls. I must say they're probably the best pizza place appetizer I've had in all the pizza places I've been to. I know you're thinking it's just cheese and bread, but they're delightful.

I rate the pizza a 4.6 and the Palloncinis a 5. Since google doesn't allow decimal reviews and because of how good the price and Palloncinis are I...