Is there
really a Buddy LaRosa?
You bet! Buddy LaRosa came
from a working-class neighborhood on Cincinnati’s West
Side. After a hitch in the Navy, he worked a couple of different
jobs. But he knew his real passion was to build his own business.
Growing up, Buddy always loved the pizza that his Aunt Dena
made. He thought other people might love her pizza, too. So,
he made a couple dozen for his church’s summer festival
– San Antonio Roman Catholic Church in Cincinnati’s
Little Italy. As it turned out, Buddy was right. Lots of people
loved Aunt Dena’s pizza. So in 1954, with $400 and a
couple of partners, Buddy opened a small pizzeria to serve
his neighborhood. And did people eat it up. Now, over 50
years later, LaRosa’s serves hundreds of neighborhoods
throughout Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, the Miami
Valley, and Southeast Indiana. And Buddy’s still around
and involved in the business. Although, now he’s able
to spend more time with family and his other life-long interest
– amateur and professional boxing.
Our traditional crust is thin, our crispy pan is thick and our hand tossed crust is in between – not too thick, not too thin.
It was Buddy’s Aunt Dena’s
recipe that first specified that the ingredients go under
the cheese, and it’s become a LaRosa’s tradition.
Some toppings, like spinach or tomato, need to go on top because
they have a lot of water in them, and it needs to bake out.
Other meat items, like bacon, taste better when they bake
on top and get nice and crispy.
Yes. We can make a pizza for
you that has not been fully baked in our ovens. This is perfect
for you if you’re not going to eat the pizza right away.
You can refrigerate it at home, then take it out when you're
ready to bake it. You can also freeze the pizza, just allow
about a half hour thawing time before you bake it.
Just preheat your oven to
350 degrees. Place the pizza on a cookie sheet or baking pan.
(allow about a half hour to thaw if frozen) Bake until the
cheese and edge of the crust are golden brown. Usually about
5 to 10 minutes. Note: only our traditional or super crust
can be prebaked, not our pan or focaccia crust. Pan and focaccia-style
crust pizzas are too soft when pre-baked to be taken out of
our pans.
We can put no more than 6
different toppings on a pizza, because a pizza with more than
6 different toppings simply wouldn’t bake well in our
ovens.
We can put no more than 6
different toppings on any one half of a pizza. There can also
be no more than a difference of 4 toppings per half (For example:
a large pizza with 1/2 plain, 1/2 pepperoni, sausage, mushroom
and onion). Anything more and the pizza simply wouldn’t
bake well in our ovens.
provolone, cheddar & ricotta.
The ranch dressing for our Chicken Bacon Ranch Specialty Pizza is the same great ranch dressing that is served with our great tasting salads. It is a bold flavored, creamy white sauce and goes well with most pizza toppings. The garlic-pesto sauce for our Chicken Garlic-Pesto Specialty Pizza is the same great garlic-pesto sauce that is served with our Cheesy Flat Bread. Its recipe appeals to our Guests who like a white sauce with a combination of many unique flavors, and goes well with all of our pizza toppings.
Provolone along with a blend of Asiago, Romano, and Parmesan.
You can hold the provolone, hold the cheese blend, or hold both. But, because it’s pre-mixed, you can’t make any changes to the Asiago-Romano-Parmesan cheese blend.
Sorry, no, we can’t pre-bake
a calzone. Since the crust is folded over, it would not rise
enough as we pre-baked it to be the delicious product you’d
expect to come out of your oven at home.
You bet. Our chicken breast
strips are now a regular menu topping and you can order it
like any other topping for the same price.
The maximum number of toppings
we can put in a calzone is 3. Any more toppings and the calzone
simply wouldn't bake well in our ovens.
Mono Sodium Glutamate (MSG) is a high-sodium preservative that is mostly used in pre-packaged and frozen products. MSG is used in the ranch and creamy garlic dressings that we serve.
None of our recipes have peanuts in them. However, some of our recipes contain other tree nuts...we use pine nuts in our garlic-pesto sauce, which is in our Cheesy Flat Bread. Also, our Italian Cream Cake contains chopped walnuts and chopped coconut. For those with severe nut allergies: we can't guarantee that all of the ingredients that we use to prepare our menu items have been handled in nut-free manufacturing environments.
Some of our gluten intolerant Guests can get very sick with even a little gluten exposure. So, it’s important that we follow strict preparation and cleaning procedures. That’s why we’ve focused on eight conveniently located pizzerias that we could “certify” in preparing and serving gluten free pizza. We hope that our Guests who choose gluten free won’t mind a little drive in the name of keeping people safe.
We've gotten many requests for all kinds of gluten free products: pizza, hoagies, pasta, etc. But, we wanted to focus on one thing with which we could do the best job. Since pizza represents over 60% of what sells on our menu, we decided that we could make more of our gluten intolerant Guests happy by adding gluten free pizza to the menu.
There are, actually, other gluten free selections currently on our menu. However, just as we follow strict preparation and cleaning procedures for our gluten free pizza to keep our Guests safe, we’d do the same with any other selections, too. We currently don’t have those procedures in place. After we learn more from our gluten free pizza launch, we’ll consider adding procedures for other gluten free selections already on our menu. Then we’ll let our Guests know all the selections that are gluten free.
We follow very strict cleaning and preparation procedures to keep our gluten intolerant Guests safe. For every gluten free pizza we prepare, we change gloves, use a separate clean set of utensils, clean the pizza making surface, and use sauce, cheese and toppings from supplies that have not been used on other pizzas. The crust comes on its own separate disk, so that it doesn't touch surfaces other pizzas touch. While we take every precaution, it’s still possible flour transfer could pose a problem for Guests with severe gluten intolerance. So, we let our guests know that so they can make an informed decision about eating with us.
Try our double hoagys. A
double hoagy has an extra steak patty, and on Royals and
Baked Buddies, there is double meat and double cheese. You can order Double
hoagys for a small additional charge.
These hoagys are very similar,
but the Baked Buddy includes pepperoni as an extra meat ingredient.
Yes, if that meat already
comes on the hoagy. So, you might consider substituting more
salami instead of the capocolla on your Royal. You can add
meat to a hoagy that doesn’t already come on it at
an extra charge.
No. Our chicken hoagys come
with all white meat unbreaded chicken breast strips. However,
they are heavily seasoned, so it may appear that they have
a thin coating.
Absolutely. You can pick any
sauce or dressing we offer and put it on any hoagy you order,
free.
You can put lettuce, onion,
tomato, pickle, banana peppers, jalapeño peppers, green peppers
or black and green olives on your hoagy, free. You can even
add pepperoni, bacon or any other meat, for a small extra
charge.
Cheese, bacon, even mushroom
sauce. Just let us know, and we can do it for a small extra
charge.
Yes. You can substitute
any of our sauces or dressings at no extra charge.
Sure, for a small extra charge.
Yes, you may. Additional items or any additional salad dressings can be ordered for a small additional fee.
Yes, the dressings for all of our salads come on the side for pickup and delivery orders. We only pre-mix the dressing into JoJo’s BLT salad when you dine-in.
Sorry, no. We had a veggie
lasagna, but not many guests ordered it, so we took it off
our menu.
Our lasagna is prepared and
baked with the beef already inside, so we can’t remove
it. We can put our family recipe spaghetti sauce without meat
on top of the lasagna on request.
The two cheeses inside our
lasagna are provolone and ricotta.
We can put extra spaghetti sauce on your spaghetti. But, if you order meat sauce, Alfredo sauce or order the sauce on the side, there’s a small additional charge.
Our meat ravioli is prepared
with just a hint of spinach mixed in with the beef for flavor.
So, we can’t “hold the spinach”. Likewise,
when our cheese ravioli is prepared, the provolone and ricotta
are mixed together, so we can’t hold one or the other.
No problem. We can put either of those or mushrooms in your sauce for a small additional charge per serving.
Yes, just call us at 513-347-1111 (or 1-877-347-1111 toll free outside Greater Cincinnati) to place a catering order.
Pizza, of course. But we also offer trays of hoagys, ravioli, spaghetti, lasagna, salads, appetizers, desserts, bread…everything you’d want for a hearty Italian meal. Check the front counter for our Special Delivery Menu the next time you join us in one of our dining rooms, or you pick up an order.
Each tray serves 10 people and includes 10 sets of napkins, utensils, and plates. A tray of lasagna is already prepared sliced for 10 people. Trays of salad and garlic bread can also be ordered to accompany your pasta.
Yes. All our pizzerias accept
Visa and MasterCard, and some pizzerias accept other cards
as well. Call us at 513-347-1111 (or 1-877-347-1111 toll
free outside of Greater Cincinnati) and we can confirm for
you which cards your favorite pizzeria accepts.
Many of our pizzerias no
longer accept checks (because of returned check charges),
but some still do. Call us at 513-347-1111 (or 1-877-347-1111
toll free outside of Greater Cincinnati) and we can confirm
for you if your favorite pizzeria accepts checks.
Sure, we can handle your
order that way at most pizzerias. Please check when placing
your order. Be ready to give us the credit card number and
the amount you want charged to the card.
It’s important that we
have the phone number of the location to which you want your
order delivered because all the address information we have
is tied to that number. So, if we don’t have the right
number, we can’t find you to deliver to you. Also, we
make call backs from time to time to ensure that we serve
you the best we can. If we don’t have the right number,
we can’t call you.
At many businesses, there
is a front desk with a welcome person, or key-in access only
to the building. When we arrive with your order, and the front
desk person doesn’t know who ordered, or if we can’t
even enter the building, your delivery will be late. You won’t
be happy, and we won’t be happy. That’s why we need
a name and a phone number to which we can get through at any
time.
Safety is our #1 core value
at LaRosa’s. It’s important that our drivers carry
as little money as possible when they’re delivering.
Please pay in the smallest bills possible. It’s the safest
way to go for everybody.
You bet. It’s called
a “timed order”. Just call us at 513-347-1111(or
1-877-347-1111 toll free outside of Greater Cincinnati) and
ask the Customer Service Representative that answers about
it. He or she will set it up for you.
No. Our special lunch menu is for the Guests who visit us in our dining rooms only. We don't extend the lunch discount to carry out or delivery. However, if you're looking for smaller portions, check out our Just Right Combos which are available to-go for carry out or delivery. These can be found on our
Delivery & Carry Out Menu.
Yes. Our kids’ meals
are available for delivery, pick-up or dine-in.