Zpizza was born in 1986 in Laguna Beach Florida; the child of Sid Fanarof’s dream for pizza that is lighter, healthier, delicious, and creative. Boy has it ever lived up to what he wanted it to be! I love the story of how Zpizza was named… Per their website,
“Sid and his partner, Susie, were getting ready to open their first restaurant together and kept calling it “the pizza place” when they talked about it. Susie was French and pronounced it “zee pizza place”. As they were getting closer to opening, they still hadn’t decided on a name and decided to use the name they’d always used “zpizza”! Over the years, the space has been dropped and it is just "zpizza", or as we like to call it, just "z".”What a great story!
Zpizza has since expanded and we are lucky to have 2 in our area (one in Cary and the other off Falls of the Neuse in Raleigh), along with plans to open a 3rd store this June in downtown Raleigh. I was fortunate to meet the manager of the Falls of the Neuse location, Jolene. She immediately caught my attention at the Southern Ideal Home Show. She was serving pizza samples with this infectious energy, telling everyone proudly about their food and what Zpizza is all about. We got to talking and ended up getting teary-eyed together, realizing that we both are very passionate about our work and helping others. It was friendship at first site. Jolene very kindly invited us to come to her location to try a variety of their products and see what they are all about. ThriftyGuy and I thought, “Why not?”
Zpizza is welcoming from the moment you hit the door. From the contrasting burnt orange and bright yellow walls to the off-white linen curtains, it feels laid back and comfortable (like going to hang out at a good friend’s house). The restaurant was impeccably clean and the staff was nothing but smiles and pleasant attitudes. The atmosphere is laid back as California-esque music wafts through the restaurant, mixing with the delicious aroma of the food that the staff makes (fresh) right in front of you.
As we sat down to eat, we couldn’t help but notice how much it appeared that the staff members loved their jobs. In fact, it wasn’t a job; it was their passion. And you could tell they were having a good time. I was impressed as we glanced through the menu. Zpizza has 100% certified organic tomato sauce as well as 100% certified organic wheat. They also have plenty of vegan and gluten-free options, which is great for those with dietary restrictions! I admire the fact that there is a nutrition fact book that is easily accessible to patrons, near the front door in a 3-ring binder. Want to know how many calories are in your salad? If you can eat that sub with your particular food allergy? Doctor got you on a dietary restriction? No problem – just check the book prior to ordering!
This sounds horrible to say, but I will openly admit that I was nervous to try the food at Zpizza. Don’t get me wrong – I had tried Jolene’s samples at the Southern Ideal Home Show and they were absolutely delicious, but I was nervous that I wouldn’t like something (and didn’t want to hurt any feelings). Here comes my big, crazy confession: I do not like pizza. Nope, I really don’t. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the grease, the heaviness of the food, or the fact that I don’t care for acidic tomato sauces. I know I will hear about this later – the only kind of pizza I ever really like (and it’s only once in a blue moon) is the cheap, generic kind out of the freezer at the grocery store. Yep. I really don’t like pizza. My college roommate’s dad used to call me a communist, crying out, “How can you not like pizza and be American?!” Yeah, I have no idea either. So anyway, now you have an inside peek of how I was feeling about my upcoming pizza trial; nervous!
ThriftyGuy went with me and we decided on the following food (with Jolene’s help and recommendations!)
- Arugula Salad
- ½ Tuscan ½ Mexican Pizza
- Supersub
- And per Jolene’s recommendation, we each tried a slice of the Greek Pizza.
The Arugula Salad was everything a salad could be, with baby arugula, roasted candied walnuts, shaved parmesan, caramelized onions, and cucumbers with balsamic vinaigrette. It was fresh, crunchy, and the mix of sweet (candied walnuts) with the balsamic vinaigrette was a knockout combination! The parmesan and caramelized onions perfected it! As they began serving more food, I kept eating the salad because it was so delicious!
The next course was our ½ Tuscan ½ Mexican Pizza. The Tuscan pizza consisted of roasted garlic sauce, mozzarella, caramelized onions, truffle oil, feta, fresh thyme, and cremini, shiitake, and button mushrooms. To say the least, it was divine; almost rich in flavor. (I think feta is good with anything, but this combination is something to write home about!) The Mexican pizza was a colorful combination of homemade salsa, fresh avocado, mozzarella, spicy lime chicken, green onions, red onions, cilantro, and sour cream. Not only was it hands-down the best Mexican pizza I have ever eaten (true story!), but I was incredibly impressed by the ingredients. Everything was so fresh! We also couldn’t believe how perfect the pizza was; it was exactly ½ Tuscan, ½ Mexican; no ingredients of one pizza touched the other. Each slice had an equal number of ingredients (as opposed to some places where they just slop it all over and it can be very uneven from slice to slice). I was truly impressed!
Now I will say that I love a good Italian sub. I usually make changes to my sub when placing my order; most times omitting any sort of peppers that may come on it. It’s not that I don’t like heat, it’s just that I don’t like the flavor that peppers have to offer (or so I thought). Then I met the Supersub at Zpizza. It comes with smoked ham, salami, provolone, tomatoes, lettuce, pepperocini, mayo, and Italian dressing. I do like to try new things and (attempt to) be adventurous, so I ate the sandwich, pepperocini included. And I loved it. In fact, I had a hard time sharing it with ThriftyGuy, it was so good!
As we were munching away on all of the great food on our table, Jolene brought us each a piece of Greek Pizza. I love, love, love Greek Salad, so I knew I should like this… Then I saw the greek olives imbedded in the cheese. I didn’t want to pluck them out and be rude, but I don’t like greek olives (or so I thought). The pizza also had feta cheese, mozzarella, red onions, tomatoes, and oregano. As I tried it, I was completely shocked that I found it to be wonderful – olives and all!
Jolene laughed as I couldn’t get over my shock of how fresh (and delicious) all of the food at Zpizza is. I am a former extremely picky eater (who is working to be not so picky). For me to love every single thing I tried was shocking and exciting all at the same time! It definitely speaks to the quality of food at Zpizza! If you are worried about how the leftovers turned out, I can tell you that we boxed up A LOT of food and ate it the next day; it was still as delicious as the day before!
I know I listed a lot of food, but you should check out Zpizza’s menu for yourself; aside from the dishes listed above and those we tried, there is so much more that they have to offer on their diverse menu, including wine, cookies, and apple pie!
Some other things that we love about Zpizza… We noticed that they had a bunch of cute colorful pails full of toys, coloring pages, and crayons for children. We also noticed that they really seemed to know their regular customers and be genuinely interested in each and every person who walked through the door. It felt as if you were coming home to visit family (who were then going to feed you really, really good food!)
I was impressed by the number of specials that they offer; each day there is something new!
- Lunch Special:
- Monday – Wednesday (10:30am – 3pm): Buy any 2 salads or sandwiches for $10
- Monday Madness:
- Buy any pizza at regular price, get the 2nd and/or 3rd for half off
- Two for 2zday:
- Buy any large pizza, get the 2nd for $5
- Buy any small pizza, get the 2nd for $3
- Wednesday is z-kids night:
- Kids meals $1 (children 10 and under) with each paying adult ($5 or more)
- *Cary location: Amazing Miss Laura (balloon artist)
- Thursday is z-date night:
- ½ off all bottles of wine with $15 purchase (dine-in or carry out)
- Friday:
- $1 off all beers
- Saturday is z-tailgating:
- 3 Large (14”) cheese pizzas for $30 (additional toppings extra)
- 3 Large (14”) specialty pizzas for $39
- Sunday = More z-tailgating!
- $10 off $50 orders or more
The best news of all is that Zpizza has amazing prices to begin with. You would think that having such delicious, healthy, organic food, they would charge a fortune. Not really. Salads start at $6.50, pizza can be purchased by the slice or whole (with specialty pizzas starting at less than 10 bucks!), subs go for less than $9, and sandwiches start at less than $6! And not only are their prices great, but they are always running some sort of special, offering up a deal, or handing out coupons! I also like the fact that they are always doing something for the greater good and to help out the community! For instance, starting May 15 - end of June, 30% of each gluten free crust sold will go to Autism Speaks! And that's just one example of how they give back!
Honestly, I can’t express enough how truly happy I am to have met Jolene. She is so kind, courteous, and full of vibrant energy! It is apparent from the moment you meet her how passionate she is about Zpizza. It is refreshing to see employees who not only enjoy their jobs, but also believe in their product! Jolene was so very kind and courteous to us, but we also noticed that she extended this treatment to each and every one of her staff and customers! If you get the chance to stop by the Falls of the Neuse store, be sure to tell her you are a ThriftyGrl reader!
If you are not near that store, but are near another Zpizza location and find yourself wondering what to put on the table for dinner, you should give them a try! It is delicious, healthy food at an affordable price! Tell them ThriftyGrl sent you!
To find out more about Zpizza, click here to visit their website!
You can visit their Facebook page here and follow them on Twitter here!
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