You may have noticed that I’ve been tardy in my pizza posting. That is due in part to a planned family vacation to the North Shore of Lake Superior (a little slice of heaven on earth) and more largely due to a severe case of writer’s block combined with what I like to call the lazies. Week 7, therefore, was an “unofficial” pizza week. The hubby and I did make our weekly pilgrimage to a pizzeria, but I made an executive decision that because I was on vacation and because I was outside of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, our trip to Sven & Ole's didn’t require a blog entry. It was, however, delicious and if you visit Grand Marais, you are hereby ordered to stop by this North Shore institution for some pizza.
After a rejuvenating trip to God’s country, we returned home, reunited with our four-legged family member, and re-entered our regular lives. To say that re-entry was bumpy is putting it mildly. Upon our return to civilization, we got a cold, hard slap in the face from that party-pooper, Reality, and we had to dig deep and call on our long-lost pal, Resilience for wisdom and strength. And of course, we then had to go buy a thank-you card for Gratitude and Blessings, so needless to say, our official week 7 pizza date night was far from the norm.
Our “official” week 7 destination was Roseville, MN – to a place recommended by a friend with an interesting caveat. She recommended the pizza but warned me that although it was high in tastiness, her pizza place of choice was low in ambiance. We took it in stride and headed out to what might be the weirdest strip mall I’ve ever visited in Roseville to visit Aurelio's Pizza.
Pre-Pizza Moods:
Princess D: 6
Hubby: 5
Parking Situation: This was perhaps the finest, best maintained parking lot I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. It boasted new, smooth asphalt; bright white lines of demarcation to indicate where one should park; and nice, wide parking spaces to boot. Best part about it? There were only three other cars visiting the entire weird strip mall when we arrived for dinner, so we had our choice of smooth, wide places to park. This parking lot was so fine, I am confident that even a parking challenged idiot like me could handle it. I give it my highest accolades.
Exterior Appearance:
This is a little tricky to describe. Since my friend used the phrase, “hole in the wall” to describe Aurelio’s, I set my expectations accordingly. What I wasn’t prepared for was this unusual strip mall. Unlike your typical downtrodden, suburban strip mall (there’s an entire website devoted to dumpy strip malls, by the way. Enjoy!) this particular suburban strip mall has enjoyed a recent facelift and revitalization. In fact, it looks beautiful. Problem is, it is a strip mall with exactly zero interesting retail tenants. If you want to get a perm; buy a Bible; trade sports cards; or purchase a vacuum cleaner, by all means – swing on by Hamline Center and go wild. After all that shopping, you’ll certainly have worked up an appetite but be not afraid! This mall boasts both a chiropractor’s office and Aurelio’s Pizza!
Overall – this looks like an upscale, well-maintained strip mall. Don’t make me go on and on about the parking lot. And yet . . . I’m not sure that I would ever intentionally visit it. You be the judge.
Entrance/Welcome: Walking into Aurelio’s is like getting into Marty McFly's DeLorean time machine and going back to 1979. Upon entry, we were greeted by an elderly woman who seated us in a booth and promptly shuffled off, never to be seen again. She was a dead-ringer for my departed Grandma Mary – except a little shorter and without the walker and bingo addiction.
Also - it's important to note that Aurelio's is a franchise with locations in Illinois; Indiana; Georgia, and Florida. The only Aurelio's franchise in MN is in Roseville.
Interior Appearance: Long, narrow, and the restaurant that time forgot is the only way to describe this place. I did, however, enjoy both the tall booths and the selection of table-side Trivial Pursuit cards available for my dining room entertainment. We took photos. See for yourself:
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| Borrowed this photo from HeavyTable.com because it captures the booths nicely. This is not my pizza. Again, I ordered poorly. |
Clientele and Overall Vibe: Did I mention that there were only three cars in the parking lot? We were about the only patrons inside Aurelio’s on this fine, Saturday evening, so there wasn’t really so much a vibe as there was . . . air flow circulating. I was relieved, however, at the absence of hipster doofuses, and given that we were competing with the neighboring "great Minnesota get-together" for attendance, I can’t hold this against Aurelio’s. Clearly, no one was purchasing sports memorabilia or getting their hair done, either.
Wait Staff: Our server was upbeat but as nervous as a Chihuahua with unlimited access to an espresso machine. She was afraid of her own shadow and when asked challenging questions such as, “Is your iced tea sweetened or unsweetened?” she responded with “yes” or “no” answers which was confusing for all of us. She was very sweet, though, and told us that she has been patronizing Aurelio’s for years. She also helped us navigate the menu and made some suggestions for our meal.
Menu Selection: I forgot to ask my friend, the pizza recommender, what I should order when at Aurelio’s and after further research, I’m a little worried that I ordered the wrong thing. Aurelio’s has a diverse pizza menu with think and thick crust pizzas as well as a selection of gluten-free choices. While I feel for those of you who suffer from celiac disease or who have beaten the addiction to gluten, I have an iron stomach and I’m a self-proclaimed carb addict, so I’m a glutton for gluten in my pizza. But it’s good to know that there are gluten free options for those of you who need or want it.
Although our server was extremely nervous and every time we asked her a question, I think she wet her pants a little, we did ask for a pizza recommendation. She told us that her personal favorite and their most popular pizza was a thin crust “super six”, featuring sausage, cheese, green pepper, mushroom, and ham. And although this princess does not particularly enjoy ham, we went for it.
Food Wait Time: We got so engrossed in playing with the Trivial Pursuit cards (I pretty much rock at trivia, by the way) that we forgot to time the pizza. It seemed to arrive relatively quickly, but time flies when you are kicking butt at 1980’s Trivial Pursuit.
Drumroll, Please . . . The Pizza Itself: I later learned that Aurelio’s allegedly makes a mean stuffed crust pizza. Since I didn’t order it, I can only review the pizza I ate, and sadly, like the surrounding strip mall, there really wasn’t much about this pizza to make it newsworthy. It was hot; it had fresh ingredients and the correct amount of cheese. It was lighter than I like on sauce (the hubby wanted more cheese), and although it filled us up, it was just another pizza. Better than Papa John’s, not as good as Latuff’s, Red Savoy, or Italian Pie Shoppe. It wasn’t the kind of pizza of future pig-out fantasies.
Price & Value: A trip to Aurelio’s won’t break the bank – a pleasant surprise after the pig ate my wallet. Total bill – including tip – for a large specialty pizza was just under $35. (We also ordered an appetizer which is why the old-school bill pictured here looks higher. I did leave 20%. I'm not a horrible person.)
Waiting for the Check: Nope. It was fast and efficient. Our server didn’t have much else to do.
Post-Pizza Mood: Maybe it was a side effect from traveling in the time machine; maybe it was our lousy moods from recent life events; or maybe it was simply a lackluster experience in a lackluster suburban strip mall, but we felt pretty ambivalent when we left. Each of us listed our post-pizza moods at about a 5.5.
Bottom Line: High marks for the parking situation and the Trivial Pursuit. I’m willing to admit that I may have been steered wrong on the menu, but based on what I ate, I can’t in good conscience encourage anyone to make a special trip to Roseville for this pizza. Of course, if you’re getting a perm, buying a vacuum, or getting a chiropractic adjustment and find yourself hankering for a snack – Aurelio’s will fill you up at a decent price. Just don’t expect to have your socks knocked off.
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