Italia Express -- 122nd and MacArthur

[Joe Kimball]

The latest entry in Oklahoma City's series of Italian restaurants has been established for a couple of months, and I hope they stay around for a while.

I was in the area around lunchtime today and decided to check out the former void Little Caesar's left when they moved one mile west. The painted window advertising a one topping pizza for $4.99 piqued my curiosity, as I was regrettably headed to LC for a quick deal.

It's a very clean place. Spacious booths line the walls, and a steam table with the requisite giant NY-style pizza was present, ready for slicing, along with calzones and so on. The special of the day (Italian sausage, peppers and tomatoes over penne) was enticing enough, but I stuck to my guns and asked for a sausage pie.

The pizza is about the size of Little Caesar's popular offering (a "small" in this case), and that's where the similarity ends. It's a hand-tossed-in-front-of-you crust, with fresh tasting sauce, a good load of sausage---and the crust is amazing. I humbly offer a photo from a few minutes ago, when I was more than halfway through the pie:



Note the airy crust. I found the texture to be perfect, with a slight bit of crispness.

I'm amazed with the place already, based on the fact that good pizza is hard to come by in this area of town. I can't speak yet as to the other offerings available, but the steady flow of customers at lunchtime (mostly takeout orders)---as well as an affirmation (from the gentleman who took my order) of their constant regulars once the place opened---might be testament to their quality.

This place needs to be known!

[ultimatesooner]

at there for the 1st time on Friday

I got a calazone minus the ricotta

and gf got spaghetti

I liked the calazone, she wasn't too crazy about the spaghetti

[Joe Kimball]

...she wasn't too crazy about the spaghetti

Ah, what was happening with it?

[traemac]

is it the same as the one in penn square mall?

[Joe Kimball]

That I don't know.

[jbrown84]

I was wondering the same. The one in Penn Square has pretty good pizza. The put the slices back in the oven for a couple minutes to get them nice and hot before they give them to you.

[ISayGoPokes]

It is same that's in Penn Square Mall. The Penn Square location has a stack of menus for the 122nd store sitting out a few weeks ago. Good stuff.

[lasomeday]

The owners are actually from Italy. They used to work at the Penn Square location and I talked to them about how great the food was. I don't remember where in Italy. It has been a few years, but I think it was a guy and his brother that own them.

[S00NERB0RN73]

I can comment on this Pizza! Top Notch!
Love it! Love NY Style, and they do it well.

I fully reccomend this pizza...yummy.

[ramart103]

Great looking pie! Going on my gotta try soon list! BTY do you know if they use San Marzano tomatoes?

[dahbb1]

This restaurant offers good thin crust pizza, calzone's, stromboli, and a nice medley of Italian pasta dishes. My favorite is the Linguini with white clam sauce.....and the red clam sauce is excellent too. All menu items are wallet-friendly and the service is fast. I would characterize it as "Great Italian Food - Fast".... just as the name suggests. Eat in or take out. The owner, Ron, is very friendly and offers great food for a very affordable price. A family can eat well here without busting the budget. I love this place. -Happy Customer

[jc9inch]

good food - not great, but good. really disorganized though. maybe cause it was really busy. owner needs to train his workers. not good at taking orders. if you get take-out....check everything before u leave.

[Joe Kimball]

They do have some new staff there who were fine enough in my experience---never had an order wrong in my case.

It indeed has gotten VERY busy lately as well, especially at peak times.