Sunday, September 9, 2012

The Intangible, Elusive Pizza at Campanello’s


Twenty-second stop:  Campanello’s Italian Cuisine
Date: July 25, 2012
Location: 414 Central Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45202
Ranking:  38


Unfortunately, we don’t have much to say about the pizza at Campenello’s Italian Cuisine.  The main reason for this being-we didn’t have any! We had purchased a JB Dollar Savers deal online, which entitled us to $20 worth of food for $10.  Split between the two of us, $5 for pretty much anything isn’t a bad deal. 

Situated downtown on Central Avenue, Campanello’s is a family-run establishment that dishes up some basic, traditional Italian foods.  It is casual and tiny inside the dim dining room, with a few tables lining one side of the room, and a bar on the other side.  Luckily, one of those tables was open for us when we arrived.  If you are one of those “glass half full” type people, you might say that the seating arrangements are “cozy.”  If you are more of a “glass half empty” type, you’d say it was “cramped” or “suffocating.”  This is worth noting if you’re looking for someplace to have a private conversation, but not such a big deal if you’re just grabbing lunch with some old friends.

We browsed the menu, and noticed that there was no mention of pizza anywhere.  After sharing a suspicious look and double-checking our reading comprehension skills, we asked the server if they served pizza.  She said that they did have pizza, but they only made 6 doughs at a time, so they went pretty fast.  She didn’t really elaborate, and we didn’t really interrogate her any more either, but we were still a little confused.  From our basic understanding, you either have to be a regular who is in the know about when pizza is served, or be super lucky to get there in a time when one of those 6 pies is available.  We were obviously a little disappointed about not getting to try the pizza, but still in front of us was a menu full of homemade Italian fare, so we figured we’d just go with the flow and order something else that sounded good. 

We had some of the standard bread and butter in a basket before the meal, which was good, but nothing extremely memorable.  Robyn got ordered a lasagna and manicotti combo for her entrĂ©e.  Courtney had a “special” of some sort.  Again, it was decent, but nothing out of the ordinary.

We’d like to have tried the pizza at Campanello’s, but with its rarity and mysterious availability, we’re not sure that will ever happen.  Maybe if you’ve had the opportunity to have the pizza, you can leave us a comment-let us know how it was, and how you managed to snag one!  

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