From the outside and in the front, Roman Pizza & Restaurant looks like a regular takeout pizzeria joint located in a strip mall. In the back, however, there is a dining room with lots of seating and waiter service. While the dining room itself isn’t really much to look at, the restaurant serves up tasty, classic Italian food in a casual setting.
We went for a Sunday night dinner with the family and our meal started off with a basket of light wheat bread. The loaves were soft and spongy without the crispy crust that I like, but they were good to nibble on while we waited for our food.
Soft loaves of wheat bread
Since there were eight of us altogether, we decided to share a large cheese pizza (so everyone got a slice) and a few salads as our appetizer. The advantage of eating at a pizzeria instead of getting delivery or taking out is that the pizza is served piping hot right out of the oven.
Large cheese pizza fresh from the oven
The pizza had a good sauce to cheese ratio, though it was a bit oily on top. Flavor-wise, the sauce was pretty tasty, a little tangy and not too sweet.
Good cheese and sauce, slightly oily
The crust was very nicely browned on the bottom and had good flavor but it was a bit soggy. Even though it was on the thinner side, it didn’t have any crispiness to it.
Underside shot
For the salads, we decided to share two large house salads, which the kitchen very nicely split into eight generous individual portions for us. The salad was a nice mix of iceberg lettuce, slices of tomato and cucumber, red onion, spicy pepperoncini, and olives. The house dressing was a light red wine vinaigrette. It wasn’t a fancy salad but hearty and refreshing.
House salad with a red wine vinaigrette
For his entree, Josh got the chicken parmesan. It was a huge portion, covering a large dinner plate, and covered in lots of sauce and cheese. The chicken was pounded thin but was cooked perfectly so that it was tender and the breading was still a little bit crispy. It’s one of the better versions of chicken parm that I’ve had in recent memory.
Chicken parmesan topped with lots of sauce and cheese
The chicken parm came with a side of pasta (Josh opted for spaghetti with marinara sauce) that was also an enormous portion, enough for a separate meal altogether.
Spaghetti with marinara sauce
Josh’s pasta side was as big as my pasta entree, which was also spaghetti and marinara sauce. The pasta was nicely al dente but could have been drained a bit more carefully, as there was a lot of liquid on the plate. I added a side of meatballs, which came two to the order. The meatballs were tender but had a strange, dense texture, similar to Chinese fish balls (if you’ve ever had those before). It was basically like the meat was ground finely into almost a puree and then formed into balls, so that it had no real discerning texture in the grind. Flavor-wise it was pretty standard, not very meaty but had a good amount of seasoning. While the marinara sauce wasn’t as garlicky as I would have liked, it was also well seasoned, not too sweet, with a nice tanginess.
Spaghetti with meatballs and marinara sauce
Overall I think the food at Roman Pizza & Restaurant is actually really good and far surpasses expectations. The fare is simple and straightforward red sauce Italian food. Portions are huge and prices are very reasonable. To top it off, the service is attentive and very thoughtful; not only did they split our salads very generously, they also comped all of the sodas that we had during our meal. It was really nice of them, and not something that we were expecting. Even though it’s not fancy restaurant and the décor is modest, it’s a great place for families or large groups. The food is tasty, well prepared, and very homey and comforting. It’s also a BYO, which makes it an even better bargain. You’ll definitely walk out happy and full, and with lots of doggy bags.
Roman Pizza & Restaurant
858 River Rd.
New Milford, NJ