Ava Rose
Google
I rate Joe Bologna’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria a 3/5. This place is located in a repurposed church building that is tucked away, so, at first glance, you would never know that within the church is a cozy pizza joint. Not only does the physical structure add to the character of this place, but so do its customers and staff. When I first entered this restaurant, I noticed that a large majority of the customers were mainly older couples and families with kids. An interaction I had with a woman there made my experience especially memorable. When she first came up to my friends and I, she first started complementing our appearance, telling us how pretty we were. Then she went on to ask if we were in college, and when we responded yes, she gave us a spiel about living in the moment. She told us to enjoy the next 4 years because they fly by. She also put an emphasis on being selfish now and trying new things while at college because after that, we’ll have many more responsibilities and a lot less “me time”. She told us that Jesus loved us and wished us a good night before she left. Given that the interaction happened inside an old church, I felt that this was a very fitting and wholesome way to end the conversation. Aside from this social interaction was the food itself. My friends and I ended up playing it safe and getting their Sicilian Pan Cheese Pizza, which is essentially just a thick crust cheese pizza. This pizza was the perfect size, but I didn’t necessarily love it because the sauce was a bit on the sweeter side, which I don’t typically prefer. We also ordered the “cheese sticks,” which we thought were going to be some sort of cheesy bread, but instead they just turned out to be regular mozzarella sticks, which were pretty disappointing. Also, there were only four of us who went out to eat, and the table we were seated at was very crammed with very little leg room. I’m not sure if we were just seated at a bad table, but this took away from our enjoyment of the experience. The dinner menu was also very dirty, which I thought was kind of gross. Overall, I loved the ambiance of this place, but I’m not sure if I will be returning due to the food quality and discomfort of the seating arrangements.