Spatola's Pizza

20 West Lancaster Avenue
Paoli, PA 19301
(610) 644-1544
Website

Pizza in the burbs is typically better than pizza in the city. Before you raise the pitchforks, hear me out. The average pizza place in the city (not high end), has some medium thickness crust that tastes like cardboard, and bland rubbery cheese that tastes like nothing. Often called "Greek style" it's garbage. The average suburban pizza place at LEAST makes a thin slice and uses real cheese. Now obviously there are exceptions, but this is often the case. You hit about any spot in South Jersey and the pizza is at least decent. I have ordered and not eaten pizza a number of times in Philly because I would rather go somewhere and eat something better. Spatola's is one of the suburban places that is hard to top.

They offer a larger number of slice pies, strombolis, and breadsticks.

Oh, and these insane little mushroom rolls.

Did I mention the pepperoni sticks? Holy hell. Look at that delightful little cheese topper, complete with parsley sprinkle.

Obviously those two items had to be mine. The pepperoni sticks were amazing. They were also something like $2 so they made for a hell of a cheap snack. The bread was nicely browned, the cheese made for a nice stringy pull-apart, and the pepperoni left just enough grease to keep it salty and tasty. These are like an adult version of a hot pocket. I am in love.

The mushroom roll was a bit more refined. Sauteed funghi with carmelized onions, and mozzarella. Another great little snack. I was carbo-loading before my pizza course was ready.

One of my favorite parts about the whole place is that they offer Trenton-style slices as well as the regs. Simple sauce of crushed tomatoes, a bit of salt and herbs. The thin, square crust was perfectly cooked, and had an addictive crunch.

Not to be outdone, I threw a slice of sausage on the order as well. Thinly sliced meatcurls adorned the top of this one, and it was cheap pizza perfection once again. A slightly sweet sauce, quality cheese, and thin crunchy crust were augmented by the meaty, fennel laced ribbons on top. Once again, they hit this one out of the park.

This is not something you should run out of your house to seek, because it's a just a local pizza place. But it is the type of place that you should hope your neighborhood has, a perfect by-the-slice pie place where you don't have to eat shitty pizza from a greasy cook that doesn't care, nor dress like an idiot and choose from the latest fad toppings while waiting in line with a bunch of hipsters. It's a perfect pizza joint.