Red Rossa Pizza

Last dined: 5/25/08

Red Rossa Napoli Pizza (located at 12695 University Ave in Clive, IA, behind ZMarik’s) is in a three way tie for my favorite Pizza in Des Moines (along with Frank’s & Pagliai’s). Red Rossa is the kind of pizza I grew to love when studying in Europe. The crust is thin & blistered by a wood oven and topped with things like fresh mozzarella, artichoke hearts & Kalamata olives (don’t worry, they have pepperoni). I have eaten at Red Rossa more times than I can count and this definitely falls into the “go-to” category of restaurants.

The interior of Red Rossa is un-intimidating. It is like an upscale fast food joint. Tile floors with red booths & chairs. You walk up to the counter to order & are given a number. You fetch your own drinks. There is gelato that is made by the staff with free tastes, so do save room for dessert. The prices aren’t intimidating either. A whole individual pizza (you’ll probably have 2 pieces left for lunch the next day) is under $10. They have wines by the glass & beers by the bottle, including Peroni, an Italian beer.

I have tried about every pizza on the menu & the only ones that I am not a fan of are the ones without sauce, but that is a matter of taste. They are all delicious. My most frequently ordered is the Capricciosa (Capree-cee-osa), topped with artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, mushrooms & Prosciutto. The Italian is also a favorite. But seriously you cannot go wrong here. You watch them create your pizza before your eyes & then pop it into a wood burning (800 degree) oven. It’s a thin but not really crispy crust with a light thin sauce. And to me, fresh mozzarella is far superior to the grated variety you find on most pizzas. I also hear raves about the salads, but let’s be honest, when faced with the delicious pizza and asked if I want to have a salad instead… A good compromise is their salad served like a sandwich inside a pizza crust. Mmmm.

One caveat. They do cater, and I used them to cater a dinner for about 30 people, a very important event. I didn’t think of the fact that they only have ONE wood oven. Which is fine for cooking 5 pizzas at a time, but for cooking quantities like that, the pizzas were room temperature by the time they got to us & we started eating. They still tasted good, but just weren’t hot.


Visit their website: http://www.redrossa.com/