REVIEW: “Hot Italian” has not-so-hot prices but tasty pizza

By Irem Sogutlugil,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

With numerous pizzerias around Davis, I was not expecting anything different from the new joint Hot Italian Pizza Bar, located in the Davis Commons.

An employee was quick to greet me when I first walked into the black-and-white themed restaurant. The music was perfect in creating a young, lively atmosphere.

The black tables placed inside and outside gave a sleek, modern look to the restaurant. I was happy that the restaurant was not very noisy, which seems to be a problem at other Davis locations.

I was expecting to see a variety of Italian food while looking at the menu. However, I was surprised to see that they only served pizzas and a couple appetizers.

I ended up ordering two pizzas, the Cannavaro and Jovanotti. The Cannavaro is a classic take on a pizza with mozzarella, tomato sauce and fresh basil, while the Jovanotti is more unique, consisting of pepperoni, prosciutto, mushrooms, mozzarella, robiola cheese and tomato sauce. Two pizzas and a soda came to around $35, which is pricey for some students.

The Cannavaro pizza was very light and I enjoyed the cheese-to-sauce ratio. There was no “wow” factor, but it was very tasty.

However, the Jovanotti pizza was unique. The prosciutto gave the perfect amount of saltiness to the pizza and the robiola cheese was a perfect match for the other toppings. I had never eaten a combination of all those flavors on a pizza, and Hot Italian did a good job with it.

Everyone working at the restaurant was very helpful and polite. For a place that was more casual than formal, employees were friendly and would come around to make sure everything was going well. I appreciated the friendly service and atmosphere of the restaurant, and the delicious variety of pizzas.

Because it was a bit pricey, the restaurant seemed more like a place to go for dinner rather than for lunch during the school day.