Anthony's Pizza And Pasta - Arvada

In the interest of fairness and balance, it is important for the Denver Dining Examiner to explore a wide variety of dining experiences. Now, you know I do not eat meat, and there are very few fast food places that I approve of, but, when I find a new, interesting restaurant that seems to have potential, I have to run the gauntlet for my readers. Sometimes, it works out, that’s how I found Chipotle), sometimes it does not, and sometimes it is pretty much as expected. You just don’t know until you walk inside. When I first saw Anthony’s Pizza and Pasta, they did nothing for me. Yet, I kept seeing them all around town, and, finally, they just happened to be there, be convenient, and turned out to be the choice of the day. What the heck? Visually, the shop I visited looked nice, and trendy enough from the outside, and how can anyone go wrong with something as ubiquitous and simple as Italian? Once inside, I discovered that this is a “counter serve” restaurant. You order at the counter, pay, and wait for the order number on your receipt to be called. They do bring your food to you if you grab a table or a booth, but you can also wait and take your order with you. Anthony’s offers all three, sit-down, take-out and delivery. As for the product, it was not bad, but not particularly impressive either. The prices were nothing special, the food was pretty ordinary, and the preparation would not qualify as “fast”. To sample a variety of menu items, we ordered a Farmer salad for $6.45, a small, 12” Neapolitan pizza with mushrooms and black olives for $13.40, basic cheese, $11.50, plus .95 for each additional ingredient), and one order of the Eggplant Parmesan Pasta for $6.75. They give a small discount for people choosing to eat at the restaurant. The salad was pretty good and comes with your choice of an assortment of dressings. It was big, fresh, and probably intended for two people, or a young family of four. The Neapolitan is their version of the “thin crust”, that is not too thin, has a crust with good flavor and is sprinkled with canned ingredients. Again, it was good, but not great and really nothing special. As for the pasta, it is just that, pasta. Do not expect to get anything that resembles Eggplant Parmesan at other restaurants. This is a plate of pasta covered with marinara and topped with bits and pieces of chopped up Eggplant Parmesan. It is more pasta than anything else. I did not like the way they used paper cups, paper plates and plastic utensils in the dining room. It was ironic that they used recycled napkins printed with, “Saving the world one napkin at a time”. People will have to use a lot of napkins to make up for the waste they make with the cups, plates and forks. On a scale of 1 to 10, this restaurant ranks around 6 or 6.5, and reminds one a lot of Fazolli’s. It is decent, but just not great, and the prices seem just a bit high for what you get. I would certainly go back, but there is nothing special about the place that would make it difficult to stay away.