Mid-Week Treat: Pizza in Ft. Myers

When I was a teenager, our mall had a restaurant called Lisa Pizza.  Since teenagers in the 80’s spent a lot of time in malls, being able to get a slice of pizza for a couple of bucks was very important. I was a regular at Lisa Pizza and my friends were too. 

While there are pizzerias today where you can buy a slice rather than a whole pizza, many establishments charge $5.00 or more for one slice.  This just doesn’t seem reasonable to me.  Maybe that’s my nostalgia getting in the way or my frugality coming into play.  All I know is that I was able to grab a quick slice in downtown Ft. Myers recently and it was a trip down memory lane for my taste buds AND my wallet.

Downtown House of Pizza on Hendry Street had a case full of pies ready to go.  When I ordered my slice of cheese pizza, they deftly slid that baby into the hot pizza oven and in 5 minutes I was crunching into melty goodness.  For this yummy experience I was charged an appropriately modest $3.50.  My husband was charged $4.00 for his slice of pepperoni.  No, these aren’t exactly the $2.00 or $3.00 prices we were charged as teenagers. But. . . Hello, 1985, your 21^st Century cousin is on the line, and he says you should pull up a stool.

The award for best pizza experience on my travels still goes to Dolce Salato in Ft. Lauderdale (you can read about them here), but DHOP serves a very respectable product.  It’s hot, crispy, thin-crusted, with the appropriate amount of toppings.  The place has stools on the edges and a separate dining room with tables if you are bringing the whole family. 

There are pasta salads and desserts galore in the case too.  We just stopped in for a light lunch this time, so we didn’t try those, but I have confidence that they would be delicious.  Sometimes no frills means a restaurant can focus on what’s important. . . food.

There is a lot of on-street parking in the area.  Apparently, Ft. Myers is known as “The City of Palms.”  After you grab a slice, stroll around their pretty little downtown and check out the rows of palm trees everywhere, the awesome architecture and the funky street art.  For me, street art sells me on a downtown anyway, so Downtown House of Pizza’s delicious and inexpensive food was a wonderful bonus.

I hope you enjoyed this mid-week treat.  Have you ever been taken down memory lane by a restaurant?  Tell us about it in the comments!