Another great post from IZ at Portland Pizza. First off, I’m starving. Famished. In need of a slice. J and E agreed that pizza was a good idea and I saddled up to my first review. As I waited around for them to return from Hawthorne, I thought of Rovente’s Pizza with anticipation. Would it be overly buttery like Rudy’s? Soggy like Hammy’s delivery? A slice of that Ninja Turtles pie I’ve been waiting 17 years to taste? Truly though, these questions don’t really matter when an extra-large cheese costs 7.99 for pickup. It’s a deal. It’s a steal. Sale of the freaking century.

To be completely honest, I desperately wanted to maintain my skepticism of Rovente’s Pizza. All the hype, the arguments, and, most importantly, the low low price made me think that I’d get some cardboard dough, cheap and overly salted sauce, and a thin, insubstantial layer of a plastic-like cheese. I’ll be the first to admit, I was wrong. This SE pizzeria actually brought forth a tasty pie. The crust was pleasantly doughy, a bit par-baked, but not offensive; cheese was generous and added more than just texture; and the sauce was surprising, tasting like tomatoes, not paste, though canned it must be. Hot out of the box, I couldn’t get enough (again, four slices in approximately three minutes) – the bottom of the crust crisp, the cheese ever so slightly browned. I was hungry and now I am not, which is, in the most essential of views, an important quality for pizza.

However, I must now give my 20-minutes later check-in. Gurgling in my stomach, probably more to do with my rapid eating than the quality of the slice, I’m not sure I’m such a glowing fan of this pizza as I was before. It seems secretly greasy. Indeed(!), what seemed a dry, reasonably oiled pie at first has now left only its trace – residue on my fingers and lips, plus a bit of indigestion. Very similar to what I’ve always thought of as “salt-butter” around my mouth when dealing with Rudy’s, Rovente’s leaves me in much the same discomfort, but to an admittedly lesser degree. I guess the thing you have to watch out for when dealing with both of these pizzas is the high salt content. I’m no kid with an iron stomach anymore and sodium really gets me. But that hasn’t stopped me from continuing to visit Milwaukee Teriyaki and it won’t make me pass up Rovente’s again.  I will give Rovente’s Pizza 5 out of 8 slices.

I’m satisfied; the lesson learned being more about my eating habits in general than of this pizza. It was good and enough is enough.