This week I really couldn’t decide what I wanted to order out. I was kind of not really in the mood for anything.
Then it hit me — stromboli! I hadn’t had a good stromboli in a while.
So, I took to campusfood.com to decide where I wanted to order from. I had gotten some other stuff from Valentino’s before with good results, so I figured I would give them a try.
I ordered a stromboli, but I was also starving from barely having eaten all day, so I wanted to get something else. I was going to get the usual mozzarella sticks or something, but that seemed so blah. Then, I saw it — the garlic knot baked mess. Sounded to me like a specialty item worth reviewing.
So I ordered the baked mess and my stromboli. The baked mess was $5, and the stromboli worked out to $8.25 after I added my desired toppings (I got sausage, pepperoni and meatball at 75 cents apiece, so it’s not always quite that expensive). The only thing that disappointed me was that I couldn’t get the baked mess special and the stromboli special, which would have saved me a few bucks. Then again, I suppose they can’t really just give away food.
I placed my order at 6:45 p.m., and my food was to my door by about 7:10 p.m.. Not quite the fastest I’ve ever gotten food, but it’s certainly one of the faster places around here.
When I opened the pizza box that my food came in, I was instantly salivating. As if I wasn’t hungry enough, this food looked very picturesque.
I decided to dig into the baked mess first. Basically, a garlic knot baked mess is five garlic knots doused in sauce with cheese melted on top. Not only that, but you get to pick your favorite pizza topping to put on top. Since I had already covered the pepperoni, sausage and meatball bases, I decided on bacon.
The baked mess ended up stealing the show. It was so damn good, especially because Valentino’s pizza sauce was so good. Not too sweet and not too garlicky. Overall, the baked mess tasted just as delicious as the description made it sound.
Next I dug into the stromboli. It too was delicious, and also gigantic. I cut it into thirds and had some left over for the next day. Again, the pizza sauce really made the stromboli for me too. I’m not normally much of a dipper, but that sauce was too good not to dip into.
When I made my leftover third, I threw it in the oven, since I’m not a big fan of warming up pizza (or anything like it) in the microwave. It came out delicious reheated, and I can say it probably would’ve tasted just fine in the microwave too, mostly because they didn’t have the usual two inches of bread with no cheese on either end that I’m accustomed to usually getting in a stromboli.
Come back next week for another enlightening food review from Alex Wolfe.
Valentino’s Pizza & Subs
Where:
1429 Parkside Ave.
Hours:
Everyday: 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Number:
(609) 882-2880
Web orders:
Find them on campusfood.com
Ratings (out of 5):
Specialties: *****
Entrée: *****
Speed: ****
Cost: ****
Reheatability: *****
Overall: 23/25
