Nizza Pizza, It’s-a Nice-a (on the Wallet) July 26, 2007

I had an all day Friday class at UTA earlier this summer and took the lunch break opportunity to explore some restaurants around campus.  The most exciting find was Billadelphia’s for a greasy authentic Philly cheesesteak.  Another standout I tried was Nizza Pizza, at the northwest corner of Cooper and Park Row, unaffiliated with the two other Nizza Pizzas in the area.  Opened by two New York transplants in 1999, Nizza Pizza has been a campus staple ever since, repeatedly winning The Shorthorn’s “Best Pizza” award.

The affordable lunch specials drew me to Nizza Pizza.  With advertised options like two slices of single topping pizza with a drink for $3.95 and pasta with salad and bread for $6.95, it’s a budget-friendly restaurant that is hard to resist.

In addition to a variety of pizzas and 22 different homemade pastas, Nizza Pizza also serves up sub sandwiches, strombolis, and calzones.  For my brief lunch, I decided to try a slice of the chicken parmesan stuffed pizza ($3.45).  The pasta with salad and bread option was the popular lunch special of choice for all the diners around me, and understandably so with its small price tag.  The crowd is primarily university students and staff, with a few other local workers thrown in the mix, including a large table of nurses.

Order at the counter, sit down, and wait for your lunch to arrive.  Five minutes later I was presented with a piping hot slice of stuffed pizza with marinara dipping sauce.

Slices of chicken parmesan lightly coated with marinara sauce stuffed between two golden, baked to perfection crusts.  My only complaint is that the stuffing could’ve used a tad more marinara sauce, I thought it was a bit dry.  The marinara dipping sauce helped the situation, though.  It’s a substantial, fairly tasty lunch for under $4, including tax.  You certainly can’t argue with that.

For budget-conscious college students, Nizza Pizza is just the right fix with its low priced lunch specials.  It’s not gourmet Italian, but it is above average diner style Italian food.  I can definitely see the appeal.

Rating: 3 / 5

Nizza Pizza
1430 S. Cooper St.
Arlington, TX 76013