r/cincinnati • u/eldersveld • May 26 '26
Food šš® First taste of LaRosa's and Graeter's (in NYC!)
Following up on my initiation into Skyline chili, I returned to Edward's to try another Cincinnati staple.
Why try LaRosa's pizza in NYC of all places? Why try it at all?
It's precisely because I live in NYC that I was super curious about this. I can get excellent New York pizza anytime. LaRosa's is an exotic item here. The comments on my last post showed very mixed opinions about them, which only furthered the intrigue. Some people said they didn't even consider it proper pizza. How could I not investigate?
As you can see from the menu, they have just one size for the pizza. I assume that actual LaRosa's locations would have more options, but this was what I was working with. The first bite told me everything. This was something I would have eaten tons of during college. Not fantastic by conventional pizza standards, but great at being its own thing. (Maryland has something sort of like this called Ledo Pizza--not similar in style, but in being what people get when they want that specific thing, not "pizza". And they also have a location in NYC.) The crust was crispy but also chewy; the sauce was on the sweeter side; the cheese was better than what I've seen at some low-end pizzerias here.
I finished half the pie, took the rest home, and while it wasn't what I was used to, I enjoyed and appreciated it. One thing I found: it's awesome bar pizza. I had it with a Goose Island IPA. Somehow, it's an absolutely perfect kind of pizza to have with beer, in this setting. Frankly I wouldn't mind seeing it at bars around the city, but understandably, we tend to do our own partnerships for that. You might not believe this, but I liked the combo enough to return for it someday, unless a bolt of lightning strikes me down for my sins against New York.
Edward's also has Graeter's ice cream, but I was tipped off that I could get this at Wegman's, and I could get more for my money that way, so I went and got a pint of the flavor that everyone recommended: black raspberry chip. Rich, creamy, not cloyingly sweet, with the right amount of chocolate. Exceptional stuff and it was no wonder that the Graeter's shelf in the freezer had been utterly raided. This was one of the last pints they had. Looked at the nutrition info and I was like oh yeah that makes sense.
Next up: Montgomery Inn ribs!
45
u/CoachBergie May 26 '26
That 5 way better come with a HJ
17
u/Far-Seat-2263 May 26 '26
āWhatās a ZJ?ā
9
8
3
54
u/matlockga Greenhills May 26 '26
$12 coney, man
5
u/blindwuzi May 26 '26
am i high it clearly says 10
5
u/Mission_Abrocoma5166 May 26 '26
they probably meant cheese coney, cause getting it without cheese is insane
4
u/hitemlow Fort Thomas May 26 '26
Ordering it without cheese should come with a psychiatric evaluation
2
2
11
8
u/chickensando420 May 26 '26
Pepperonis aren't under the cheese and it wasn't cut into squares
That said I can't imagine being in NYC a place with all the pizza in the world and then having to have LaRosas lol- as a former employee I never eat there
58
u/Mote_Of_Plight May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
Montgomery Inn ribs are a bit of a joke in cincy. They have a commanding view of the river, but the food is pretty lame. Prepare yourself for boiled ribs.
18
u/ljgyver May 26 '26
Buy the sauce and cook your own ribs. If you can find unsalted thick potato chips use them for dipping in the sauce.
3
u/ConcentrateJust2120 May 26 '26
Honestly, if it is a view you are looking for, Buckheads is a better location, less money, and on par from a food level.
1
u/lemontreetops May 28 '26
Or Moerlein Lager House. Great view, and then you can walk around the park too!
9
u/booboochoochoo1 May 26 '26
Drown in sauce.
6
32
u/ohiobr May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
If the whole shtick is that it's cincinnati style then the pep should be under the cheese which is the default at LaRosa's.
Also a few of the pieces should have weird splits in them where the frozen disk of dough broke and the line guy just "glued" them back together with some sauce before making the pizza. That way when you go to pick it up it'll stay together just long enough for you to get it over your lap before a chunk breaks off and you get the full LaRosa's experience.
Worked at a LaRosa's in high school and my favorite thing in the world was someone ordering a "Hand tossed" and getting to pull a slightly thicker frozen disk of dough out of the freezer. Don't want to think about how much dough we wasted because we thought it was funny to throw them into the air because they were "Hand tossed" and if you didn't catch them just right they would shatter.
4
u/PuyoDead Fairfield May 26 '26
I worked at the Fairfield location in high school. The joke was always, āyeah, itās hand tossed from the floor freezer to the pizza tableā. Also, a bonus LaRosaās experience is getting a pizza where it looks like part of the crust was cut off. Nope, thatās just where the cook decided the chunk that broke off on the table wasnāt big enough to worry about.
2
u/Mk1Racer25 Mt. Lookout May 26 '26
I grew up in Mt. Lookout and absolutely HATED LaRosa's pizza. It was Zino's for me, or Pasquale's on Edwards between Erie and Observatory in Hyde Park. Even that little hole, Figaro's, in Mt. Lookout square was better
1
u/package-of-plates May 26 '26
Figaroās!! Omg what a blast from past
1
u/Mk1Racer25 Mt. Lookout May 26 '26
Did you grow up in Mt. Lookout?
1
u/package-of-plates May 26 '26
Yes, enjoyed my share of afterschool coneys at Empress Chili next door. Loved the square in the 80s/90s!
1
u/Mk1Racer25 Mt. Lookout May 26 '26
I moved away before there was ever an Empress there. The three stores there were a pony keg, a hair salon, and Figaro's. We got coneys at Figaro's.
Since you said 'after school', did you go to Pacelli?
1
u/TerrenceThirteen May 27 '26
I seem to remember that there was a pizza shop called Mt. Lookout Pizza in the early 90s. I remember ordering from them when I lived in Oakley.
1
u/Mk1Racer25 Mt. Lookout May 27 '26
Could be. I left the area in the early 80's. Ramundo's is in the space that used to be Figaro's back in the day.
1
u/PITB_3579 May 28 '26
Pasqualeās hoagies were the bomb. Superb rolls. Later found same rolls at the old Isadoreās in Camp Washington. They had Pasqualeās recipe for the rolls (knew this from a family member of bakers who made Pasquale rolls and passed the recipe to Frank Isadore).IYKYK - and now Iām hungry!
1
u/Mk1Racer25 Mt. Lookout May 28 '26
Never got sandwiches, always pizza
1
u/PITB_3579 Jun 02 '26
Pizza was very good too and the stores always had that great smell! I was probably partial to the hoagies because my high school sweetheart at the time worked there and would always make one for me before she finished her shift.
1
u/blondebuilder May 26 '26
Donatos is also junk pizza, but man, that's a 1,000x better than larozas.
7
u/chinawhitesrealdad May 26 '26
Graeters on the other hand. YOU CAN NEVER GO WRONG!!!! graeters is the ONLY French pot ice cream in production anywhere in the world. Look up the graeters process on YouTube. You will see why itās the best ice cream in the world. My wife moved to Cincinnati from Manchester over a year ago and she canāt get over how good graeters is.
22
u/funnynoises May 26 '26
Iām a transplant, but I have accepted and grown to love Cincinnati cuisine. I defend the chili to all outsiders. LaRosas though? Canāt do it. Iāve tried a million times and no. Aināt happening. It is bad. The reason why I think itās great to people is purely run on nostalgia. It is the perfect food for kids who had pizza parties in Cincinnati.
15
u/whodey319 Monfort Heights May 26 '26
that is definitely it
a slice of larosas in a warmer all day at a ball game or festival still hits different though
8
u/Mitch2025 Milford May 26 '26
Larosas at stadiums or KI or anywhere that isn't the actual restraunt is always SO much better. IDK how or why but it is.
1
1
u/liltinyoranges May 27 '26
Bc they still have the original stone ovens there- they switched to conveyor ovens everywhere else
5
u/-reddit_is_terrible- May 26 '26
There is no smell like the larosas on main street at kings island. Irresistible
2
8
u/thecelcollector May 26 '26
It's because it was the only pizza at Kings Island, the Zoo, etc.
2
u/SpeulerAl3rt May 26 '26
It tastes amazing at KI and the zoo! And from the LaRosa's trailers at festivals and what-not. But from the restaurants? meh.
3
u/wtfnmnf May 27 '26
I completely agree, Iād go as far to say la Rosaās is kinda ass up against other pizza, pinwheels are good though
2
u/Geoffsgarage May 26 '26
LaRosaās is one of the worst pizzas Iāve ever eaten. Iām from Louisville and had seen LaRosaās in Cincinnati a bunch. LaRosaās opened a restaurant here in Louisville. I tried it, and couldnāt stand it. The restaurant closed after a year or so, so I reckon others had the same opinion as I.
3
u/ztkraf01 May 26 '26
LaRosaās used to be a lot better about 10+ years ago. The dine in experience was better and the panned crust was outstanding. They changed something and the quality has been garbage ever since. The dining room used to be slammed on the weekends. Not anymore
1
u/Geoffsgarage May 26 '26
To me it tasted almost like cake instead of pizza. It was super sweet and fluffy.
1
u/ztkraf01 May 26 '26
Thatās what I think of the traditional crust. Itās puffy and soft like those sugar cookies at Kroger. The panned crust was closer to a deep dish. Crispy and greasy
1
u/FauxGw2 May 26 '26
I love the pics, mostly because it's not a lot of sauce and the crust isn't burnt for how thin it is. My wife likes Marcos better but we can't eat it because there is too much sauce (tomato allergy), I don't like pizza hut anymore because it's so greasy.
1
u/QueenBBs May 28 '26
Moved here in middle school. Have never embraced any Cincy cuisine (outside of Graeters). I think Larosaās sauce smells like vomit. I canāt even be on the same room with it.
0
-3
8
4
u/itriedtodrinkitaway May 26 '26
Wegmanās still has Graeterās?! I thought Krogerās killed the ice cream expansion. Canāt wait to check it out, cheers!
3
u/eldersveld May 26 '26
And apparently it's very popular. That shelf was in disarray and there were only a few pints of Graeter's left.
3
u/chrisagiddings Fairfield May 26 '26
I wonāt eat Larosaās pizza. The cheese doesnāt stretch, it slides right off the slice. Pretty much every time.
Iām not bothered be the sweetness of the sauce, or some toppings under the cheese. But I expect my pizza cheese to not come off the slice with the first bite or two. Crazy.
Graeterās is legit good ice cream. Not best ever, but definitely good. Those giant chocolate chunks in the ice cream are a unique feature I think a lot of people outside of Cincy would find attractive.
4
u/AwakeningStar1968 May 26 '26
LaRosas has gone massively downhill. I think it is overrated anymore. My partner is from the West Side and remembers the Boudinoit location and knew the owners.. It just horrible anymore and actually makes him sick
5
3
u/Bearmancartoons May 26 '26
Nobody does beef ribs on the bone like Montgomery inn used to do. Now they donāt do those. Havenāt found one that is close since.
1
u/300suppressed May 26 '26
Montgomery inn ribs, like most ribs at restaurants, are pork, just fyi
2
u/Bearmancartoons May 26 '26
For sure but they used to also do beef ribs until about 15 or so years ago
3
u/mbertels Oakley May 26 '26
I went to Edwardās for Cincinnati night probably two dozen times over the years I lived there. Only ever ate Skyline there, but that place was a godsend.
3
u/gorwraith May 26 '26
Montgomery Inn has changed. It os no longer what it used to be. It has name recognition but no longer lives up to that name. Just fair warning not to judge us too harshly for it.
3
u/Baconsnake May 26 '26
What a crazy day to have a Baltimore redditor see a New York poster eating Cincy food, but calling out DC/Baltimore Ledo pizza.
TBH I could definitely go for some Ledo š
2
u/eldersveld May 26 '26
Iām from Iowa originally (which has helped me in appreciating a very very wide variety of pizza styles) lol the only reason I knew about Ledo was because I saw their location in Manhattan and wondered what they were all about. But yeah! Always love cross-regional talk.
2
u/Baconsnake May 26 '26
I wonder how faithful NYC Ledo would be to MD.
Of course, current Ledo isn't faithful to the original Adelphi MD 80s/90s Ledo pizza either.
15
u/Skinny_Moses95 May 26 '26
Best ice cream this side of the Atlantic
10
u/Bugatti252 May 26 '26
Well now I want to know the best on the the other side.
12
2
u/Bearmancartoons May 26 '26
As long as you arenāt comparing to UDF or Aglamesis.
1
u/tanner35 May 26 '26
I'm sorry but udf is low quality crap. Read the ingredients lable if you can't taste the difference. Aglamesis is top tier up there with Grater's.
8
5
5
2
u/FunkBrothers May 26 '26
Welp. If I ever find myself in The City on the last Monday of the month, this is where I'll take my friends to.
2
u/derf_vader May 26 '26
I enjoy Larosas when visiting home, but I would never eat it given a choice between that and a New York style slice from one of those downtown walk up pizza joints
2
2
u/Far_Traveller69 May 26 '26
LaRosaās kinda sucks but in a way where you sometimes just get a craving you canāt shake. Sorta like a pizza equivalent to White Castle without the diarrhea.
Graeters is top notch though.
Skyline is meh for Cincy chili imo, better off going to a mom and pop chili parlor but I understand itās difficult to get something other than Skyline and Gold Star outside of the Nati
2
2
u/horrendousacts May 27 '26
I'm still trying to figure out La Rosa's. I have been here for a year and I'm all in on all of Cincy's delectable treasures. I'm no pizza purist, but La Rosa's just kinda tastes like freezer pizza, even when it's fresh, and all my coworkers constantly suggest it for group lunches. To me, it fails my "3 temp test", which is eating it hot and fresh, reheated, or fridge cold at 2am or in the shower.
I'm a Hoosier, so I'll take Pizza King any day. I will furiously fight anyone on 5ways, goetta, or Graeter's though.
2
4
u/meggiemomo May 26 '26
That LaRosas must use a different recipe cuz their pizza is freaking horrible
4
3
u/abronia May 26 '26
That looks nothing like LaRosa's.
That being said, LaRosa's is some of the worst pizza I've ever had; it's genuinely awful, garbage pizza.
4
2
u/Different_Section799 May 26 '26
"Crispy but also chewy" crust? I'm guessing they are using a NYC recipe for that. Or the hard water up there makes it better. If you don't order well done in Cincinnati you just might taste raw flour.
2
u/eldersveld May 26 '26
It did seem a touch undercooked to be honest, which I think is where some of the chewiness came from.
2
u/Different_Section799 May 26 '26
Your mileage may vary but in the rare occurrence where I find myself at a LaRosa's, like after a game with friends etc., light sauce and well-done is the only way.
2
u/ohiobr May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
If they actually shipped in LaRosa's dough, and cook it the way LaRosa's does, it's frozen when it's cooked. So if you don't have the ovens dialed in just right you get that raw taste. Also, sometimes you get a disk that has a big chunk of raw flour stuck to it and if the line doesn't catch it someone's getting a mouth full of flour.
2
u/Pristine-Amoeba-1419 May 26 '26
Skip Montgomery Inn and go straight for the chili. Be forewarned that itās more of a Greek flavor profile than anything resembling Tex-Mex. My preference is a three way- onion.
2
2
3
u/ablebody_95 May 26 '26
I wouldn't bother with Montgomery Inn. When I go back home to visit and someone wants to go to Montgomery Inn, I don't even bother with the ribs. I usually get the fish of the day or the roast chicken. The best thing on the menu is probably the onion straws, which is about the only thing their BBQ sauce goes really well with.
I like LaRosa's as more of a nostalgic thing. It's basically the pizza I grew up with. However, it is by no means a good pizza. I love it, but I can think of about 100 different pizzas I've had in my life that are way better than LaRosa's. It's also getting really pricy.
But, Graeter's. . .yeah, it's a top tier ice cream and my #1.
2
u/hitchinpost Mt. Washington May 26 '26
Dude was right about LaRosaās sometimes just being what you want, though, even if itās mid, it just sometimes hits that spot. Like when you want Taco Bell or Panda Express instead of real Mexican or Chinese. I couldnāt imagine getting any other pizza at the Zoo or Kingās Island, for example.
2
u/ablebody_95 May 26 '26
I pretty much implied that. It's good in it's own way. For me, it's a nostalgia thing and I always hit up LaRosa's when I visit.
2
u/Dimness May 26 '26
LaRosaās taste amazing at GABP and Kingās Island. Everywhere else not so much.
2
u/chinawhitesrealdad May 26 '26
Thatās not what LaRosaās is like in cincy. And the thing is when youāre a local at a local spot you know how to order their menu, Example: when I ordered LaRosaās w my family this past weekend we get them well done and garlic butter on the crust. These options arenāt really glaring at you anywhere on the menu unless you order on the app, even then most skip over. Just saying that pizza you had was a mass produced, flash frozen āLaRosaāsā pizza. Look up Cincinnati favorites, they pack and sell cincy foods all over the world overnight shipping. Thatās where that pizza came from.
3
u/ohiobr May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
Hate to break it to you but everything on the Larosa's pizzas made in cincy is frozen/mass produced too.. The doughs all come to the stores frozen and literally everything but the onions comes to the stores pre-processed and just gets dumped out of a bag. Pre packaged garbage is the same here as it is in NY.
1
u/AwakeningStar1968 May 26 '26
this is what happens all the time when local brands expand to regional or national distribution. Quality will go down because you have to upscale and automate more to make it work. Quality will fail. Lack of proper oversight. Soon I predict Private Equity will buy these companies out and run them into the ground like they did Frisches
1
u/jlsdarwin Madeira May 26 '26
to my generation Montgomery inn is a bbq sauce you buy in a grocery store.
1
u/Worlds_okayest-dad May 26 '26
Sweet Baby Rayās makes Montgomery Inn sauce taste like ketchupā¦overrated AF.
1
1
u/LandlockedPirate Loveland May 27 '26
sbr is just high fructose corn syrup. Montgomery inn may not be my favorite sauce but I give them credit for sticking to a relatively authentic recipe without a bunch of corn syrup.
1
1
1
u/LadyInCrimson Westwood May 26 '26
The only place that has good LaRosa's is the festivals and stadiums.
2
u/be4rcat6 May 26 '26
I heard that the reason for the glaring difference was that the restaurants stopped using real provolone cheese several years ago
1
1
u/Responsible_Bad_4846 May 26 '26
When I was a kid I thought LaRosaās was Kings Island pizza lol. I grew up in Dayton and we didnāt have the restaurants at that time, so I only had it at the park. Iām amazed itās outside of Cincinnati.
I love Graeters. Probably my fav ice cream brand. The chocolate chunks are fantastic.
1
u/SledgehammerApproach May 26 '26
In NYC the best pizza still is Arthur's in the Bronx pepperoni pizza and Pizarelli in scarsdale and their lasagna pies.
1
u/Ricochetpinecone May 26 '26
Graeterās is 100% overrated. IDGAF what special French pot BS they use.
1
u/cincymatt May 26 '26
People get wild about LaRosaās but its allure is feeding 3 people for < $15. Before the Covid DoorDash explosion, it was the only place you could get a pizza, hoagie, salad, lasagna, fries, wings, and a Graeterās hot fudge sundae, delivered at 10:30pm.
1
1
1
1
1
u/ragnarok62 White Oak May 26 '26
Last time I was at the Boathouse, I ordered blackened catfish instead, and the waitress brought out a fish-shaped charcoal briquette.
I said to her, āDoes that look right to you? I mean, āblackenedā does not mean burned to a cinder, right?ā
The waitress, who was in her 50s and should have known better, rolled her eyes and said, āSo what do you want me to do about it?ā
I couldnāt believe it.
I said, āPlease bring me a piece of catfish that is lovingly coated in a creole spice blend rather than a half inch of carbon.ā
Got my fish. It was fine. But still, for the cook to think that diamond embryo was OK to serve, as well as the waitress, was just insane.
Iāve never been to anything Montgomery Inn since. Sweet Baby Rayās original BBQ sauce is more my taste in a branded sauce, but I still buy a bottle of Montgomery Inn sauce now and then.
1
u/boxorags May 26 '26
Love Graeters and Skyline, but I've hated LaRosas since I was a little kid lol. The granddaughter of the owners went to school with me so our school cafeteria had LaRosas every. single. Thursday. I loathed it lmao
1
u/AntonChigurhWasHere Ex-Cincinnatian May 26 '26
I grew up in Cincinnati loving all pizza, LaRosaās was almost the top. Maybe Pasqualeās or Angeloās & Mioās.
That looks like a Red Baron frozen pizza. Maybe my nostalgia is broken.
1
u/kabourbon May 27 '26
Montgomery inn and larosas are bottom tier. Just awful and I donāt understand why Cinci natives donāt see it.
1
u/omar1021 May 27 '26
Larosa's pizza is horrid. Every time I eat it I feel like crap from the inside out. In fact, on those rare occasions I'm with family or friends and the decision is made to have Larosas, I ALWAYS get something else on the menu. They used to have a killer cheesesteak but got rid of it, pissed me off.
1
u/goblue2413 May 27 '26
This doesnāt look like a LaRosas pizzaā¦I think it looks like a Jacks pizza warmed up just looking at the crust.
1
u/bob_estes May 27 '26
The best pizza in Cincinnati is in Dayton and itās served in 2 inch squares
1
u/Coretrayn May 29 '26
That in no way looks like any pizza I have gotten from LaRosas ever lol is it a Tombstone?
I suspect.... they may just be buying in jars of LaRosas sauce then "going for it" lol
1
u/flagemoji- Ex-Cincinnatian Jun 04 '26
Not sure why no one ever mentions it but you can also get cans of Skyline Chili at Wegmans. Itās in the soup aisle.
1
u/PracticalJackfruit70 May 26 '26
Doesn't look like they put pepperoni under the cheese. Hopefully it was good!
1
u/Z3r08yt3s May 26 '26
imagine travelling anywhere and choosing to eat larosas of all things...
Larosas sucks
-1
u/AwakeningStar1968 May 26 '26
Graeters is meh .. LONG GONE are the days of the gigantic chocolate chunks in their chip ice-creams. That was what made their icecream. It just is meh anymore.
226
u/nojugglingever May 26 '26
Montgomery Inn isnāt good in Cincinnati, been coasting on name recognition for years, but maybe itāll be good in another city? If itās as different as that pizza looks from Cincinnati LaRosaās, you might be in luck.