LaRosa’s Family Pizzeria near Cincinnati, OH

Basic Information:

Pizza: LaRosa’s Family Pizzeria

Number of Locations: about 50, mostly near Cincinnati, OH

Location Reviewed: 5130 Camelot Drive in Fairfield, OH

Website: https://www.larosas.com/

Date of Review Visit: October 2022

What I Ordered: Large pan pizza (14”) with extra sausage and extra cheese, cherry Coke to drink

Price: $23.32 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

Disclaimer:

LaRosa’s Pizza is my first love among pizzas.  It is the pizza that got my entire pizza passion started.  Having grown up in Cincinnati, I still remember the special occasions that always involved my family getting a LaRosa’s Pizza.  I tried to be objective with this pizza review, but you can imagine how that went.

Summary Review: 5 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: LaRosa’s offers three choices for crust: thin, super crust, and pan.  On this visit, I chose the pan crust, the thickest of the three options.  The pan crust was perfect thickness; it has the crunchy outside but chewy inside texture that makes for a good thick crust.  The pizza was well-baked, and the bottom of crust had that special LaRosa’s taste that I still have not quite figured out.  Score: 10/10.

Sauce: LaRosa’s sells its pizza sauce separately, and for good reason: it is a fantastic sauce.  The sauce uses high quality ingredients and has just the right amount of seasoning with spices.  I really like it.  Score: 10/10.

Cheese: The pizza is well-cheesed, and LaRosa’s uses only high quality provolone cheese, the perfect pizza cheese.  Hence, there is a very small amount of grease.  Perfecto!  Score: 10/10.

Toppings: The sausage is high quality, but unfortunately the pizza lacks somewhat in quantity unless you order the double sausage as I did.  This potential for skimping leads to a deduction here.  Score: 8/10.

Overall Taste: As you might expect given the above, the taste is fantastic.  I almost never give perfect scores in taste (just what does a perfect tasting pizza taste like anyhow?), but for my first love in pizzas....  Score: 10/10.

Pizza Appearance: The appearance is quite pleasing save for the low amount of sausage.  

Dining Atmosphere: LaRosa’s has a casual dining atmosphere, but some of their newer locations are carry out only.

Customer Service: I have always enjoyed the service at LaRosa's.

Monetary Value: The price is somewhat low given the quality of pizza and dining experience you get. LaRosa’s stacks up far better than its casual dining competitors in this category.

The Final Judgment:

LaRosa’s is a Cincinnati favorite, and it remains my favorite pizza even though I have not lived in Ohio since 2005.  If you find yourself in Cincinnati, stop by LaRosa’s so that it can become your favorite too.  Score: 94/100.