Roma's Pizzeria - Big Taste, Short on Service

Pizza is probably the number one choice for students on a strict budget. Close to the CSUS campus, on Folsom Blvd., Roma's Pizzeria gives your money's worth of food. Upon entering the facility, a diner can be a little lost, the open-view kitchen is directly to the left. Waitresses are hanging about, making it unclear on who exactly is the host. I soon discover my co-diners waiting for me at a table and I head over there to meet them. Roma's is a seat-yourself type of a restaurant. Great for students who want to get in and get out quickly. The layout of the medium-sized restaurant seems to be designed for large parties, with large tables everywhere, although some booths line the far windows. Menus arrive promptly and water is dispersed to the diners, with the invitation to order any other drinks on the menu. The menu is a traditional five-page laminated booklet that is common in pizza restaurants. The choices include various pasta dishes, sandwiches, salads and the brick-oven cooked pizza. Our waitress was a Mexican-American woman who was difficult to understand sometimes. Our order had to be repeated a couple times before it was received properly. All of us decided to get a large pizza which was split - half being the pesto and cheese, and the other half being pepperoni and black olives. We all ordered side salads as well. The salad was delightfully fresh, the tomatoes sweet and ripe as if just picked from a hidden garden in the backyard. They were too mushy for my liking but my co-diners enjoyed them. The ranch dressing was thick, but not too thick and quite flavorful. Being a vegetarian, I did not have the four, half-salami pieces on my salad that others had on theirs. However, I did ask for them to be put on the side so one of my co-diners can have them - a request that was forgotten once the salads were brought out. While we chatted about our lives and shared our personal experiences, the pizza was cooking up in the brick ovens they had in the back. When our pizza arrived, the waitress set it down with a bang - the pizza almost sliding off the tray it was held in. This has happened before at other restaurants and is extremely unnerving. You would think that practice makes perfect in the food-service business. She stammered out an apology and disappeared after asking us if we needed anything else. One look at the pizza saw that some of the pepperoni from the meat side of the pizza had made it over to the vegetarian side of the pizza. My co-diners were nice enough to take those slices off the tray before I can protest, not that I would say anything publicly anyways. A bite of the pesto and cheese pizza sent my senses spinning. The pesto was fresh and delicious, the cheese was just right - stringy yet good. Little puddles of oils from the cheese were floating on the slices making it look more appetizing. The crust was perfect, not undercooked so it's soggy, nor overcooked so it's too crunchy. As the check arrived - we noticed that we had a good meal for the price. Averaging out to a little more than $10 per person. It was time to get our remaining pizza packed up and ready to go. The waitress made us all nervous by taking the pizza tray and holding the box in the other hand - standing and maneuvering the pizza slices into the box without touching the slices. I was sure they would end up on the floor. If the little things about food-service do not bother you, Roma's Pizzeria is a wonderful place to hang out with your friends and have a bite to eat. It's reasonable in it's prices and fun for those who like a loud atmosphere.