Where: Roma’s Pizza, 223 Main St.  Houston, TX 77002
When: February 1, 2013

Where the old El Rey stood in downtown has been resurrected as a new NYC style pizza joint competing for the late night crowd.

Being pizza fans, Nicole and I decided to give it a shot. We went to Roma’s Pizza on a Friday night around ten o’clock. While I realize that the place is new, it was completely dead. There were a few pies out where you could grab a slice, however they looked like that they had  been sitting there since the dawn of time.  While discussing what to order with Nicole the fellow working the front counter engaged us in conversation, and that is when it started to get weird. I am not sure if he was trying too hard to be friendly or it is always this strange, but it quickly became very clear that this place is still trying to work outs some serious bugs in it’s day to day operations. This is be expected, but considering that were the only people there, things should have gone a bit smoother.  $20 and an awkward conversation later our order was in. I had a hard time taking Roma seriously as a NYC pizza place; it came across to me as a NYC pizza place for those who do not know better.  My tip off was the oven, a conveyor convection style  found in most chain delivery places, opposed to a flat slab pizza oven.

After a good 15 minute wait, while enjoying Sunny 99.1’s ultra lame evening programming  (remember it is Friday night) we were presented with what seemed to be a tasty margherita pizza.  Looks however can be deceiving… While everything looked OK, it started off bland quickly morphed into just plain terrible. Needless to say that neither Nicole nor myself were able to finish what we started.  We did however leave our leftovers for any lucky homeless dweller who happened to find it. Lucky meaning that he or she would not be eating as much bad pizza as we did. Now I realize that Roma’s Pizza is new and they might still be working out the bugs. However they need to get their act fast or they will be exiled off Main Street as quickly as they appeared.

Nicole’s Notes: When we started this project, we realized that events in our life would occur and it could come across in our dates. On the morning of this date, I got a phone call from my cousin while I was at work. She told me that her father, my Uncle Kenny, unexpectedly passed away in his sleep. It was devastating. When I got home from work, I discussed the details with Brenden. He asked if I felt like eating and I said, “yes, I want pizza.” My best pizza memory was with my Uncle Kenny. I was young, probably thirteen or so, and was visiting him on Long Island. We had spent all day at the beach and we were salty, sun soaked and starving. We were ordering “NY pizza,” a luxury for me since moving to Texas 2 years prior. He asked what I wanted on my special pizza and I looked at him in the eyes and said “extra, extra, EXTRA cheese.” He nodded and repeated it, exactly how I said it, into the phone. I had my doubts that the pizzeria would comply, but that was the cheesiest pizza I’ve ever seen. My family was choking on the strands of mozzarella. It was the best pizza I’ve ever had. I figured a slice of authentic NY pizza would be a great way to honor my uncle. When figuring out where to go, I reminded Brenden that Roma’s Pizza had recently opened and their pizza specials looked great on Facebook. Brenden thought it was a perfect choice.

We arrived to a spookily empty restaurant. First tip-off. Brenden when out to his car to retrieve his camera and I ordered. The guy behind the counter said, “we don’t have spinach, is it ok if we just use basil?” Spinach? On a Margherita? I looked up at the board and saw that the Marg came with both spinach and feta. Another clue. I shrugged and said, “That would be fine. Actually preferable.” We proceeded to have a strange conversation about a woman who accidentally left 500 dollars at the restaurant. It wasn’t clear that she got it back. He offered to add a slice of cake to my order. I told him that the pizza should be filling enough, but if he had cannoli on the dessert menu, it might change my mind. The man did not know what a cannoli was. Strike three. I tried to explain that it was an Italian dessert – a ricotta filled pastry, kinda. When he looked at me blankly, I struggled with a cream-filled churro analogy. I also ordered two Dr. Peppers. Roma’s Pizza didn’t have their beer license yet, but I was discouraged to see that they didn’t have root beer. I find root beer and pizza a classic pairing. Even beyond that, it was a very disappointing experience. It definitely didn’t do my food memorial justice. But I suppose misses is all part of the 52 Houston Dates adventure. Brenden and I made the best of it and made it fun all the same.