Gabatoni's

There are several restaurants around town that you always hear about but never really go to or even know where they are. Especially if you live outside of the city like I do. Gabatoni's is one of those spots. I've been looking forward to having some pizza all week and I intended on eating at another local pizza place for the Project but my wife vetoed that selection so I came back with Gabatoni's and she agreed.

Where they're located:
300 East Laurel St.
Springfield, Il 62703

Call Em: 217-522-0371

The Pizza:
1/2 Bacon and Tomato and 1/2 Ham and Mushroom

Crust: Thin

The Dish: Gabatoni's has been around for a long time and by the looks of the exterior and interior of the restaurant, that much is obvious. Restaurants stay in business for long time because they are doing something right, and Gabatoni's is no different. They do pizza extremely well. The atmosphere is friendly, even if it is old school...what with the wood paneled walls and cramped dining area.
Marcie was our server and she provided excellent service throughout the evening.
We started with salads and had the house Italian dressing which was really good. The salad itself wasn't great. It was just some sloppily chopped iceberg lettuce and piece of tomato and some shredded cheese. Would have liked some other greens and maybe some croutons or olives in it.
We ordered the 16" pie and split it in half as far as toppings go. I enjoyed a cold beer while waited for the pizza to arrive.

How'd it eat: Frankly this was an interesting pizza. First of all the crust was unusually thin. (see the photo section). I've never had pizza crust this thin before. The thing about it was that it wasn't too crispy. I'm not sure how they make crust that thin and it doesn't get hard as a rock in the baking process. I really enjoyed the crust. My side of the pizza had bacon and fresh tomato and those toppings where tasty. The bacon was crumbled and was crispy but was not spread around well enough. There were some pieces that had too much bacon and some that didn't have enough. There was just enough sauce to make the pizza and it had a nice flavor. The lack of a good amount of sauce was enough to turn my wife off to Gabatoni's pie but I really enjoyed it.
The 16" pie was cut into squares and cooked to perfection with nice brown edges and everything evenly melted on top. I really think they should put a little more cheese on these pies but that is my only real knock on this za.
I plan to eat here again or at the very least get it as carry ot on my way home from work.

SPP Ranking 7.5