Shae and I got incredibly lucky during our nine nights in Tulsa while on our 50 state road trip. We ate out several times and had great meals on each occasion.
I shared yesterday how amazing Hurts Donut Tulsa was, but they’re not the only place in Tulsa with carby deliciousness. Just across the road from Hurts is Andolini’s Pizzeria which serves both pizza and house made gelato.
We’d seen a sign for their lunch special when walking by and so decided to head there for lunch to try and stay in budget.
It was moving day for us that day, although we weren’t going far. We’d just left the Hyatt Regency Tulsa and were moving on to the Aloft Tulsa Downtown which was less than half a mile away.
That meant we had our dog Truffles with us; one of the reasons we chose to eat at Andolini’s Pizzeria that day is because they have outdoor seating.
It was a beautiful day to sit outside, but sitting inside would be great too thanks to their fun wall art.
Our server Hailey brought out their menus and took our drink orders. I ordered a water, while Shae ordered a limoncello martini. She ordered it more out of curiosity than anything else, but it turned out to be very good.
They also have a good selection of beers on draught and in cans and bottles.
They had some appetizers and salads, but we wanted to save room for pizza.
Our original plan had been to get their lunch special. For $9.99, you can get any two pizza slices listed on the menu below, along with a soft drink. It looks like the options change every day seeing as the menu had that day’s date on it.
In addition to the pizza slices, you can order whole pizzas. They make several different styles and our server explained the differences between them.
For starters, most of their pizzas are 20″, so they’re massive. Shae prefers cheese and tomato pizzas while I like mine with meat on them so we always order our own pizzas. Knowing that we’d likely have limited room in our next hotel’s mini-fridge for leftovers, that wasn’t a great option for us.
A lunch special of the spicy pepperoni and SPQR slices therefore seemed like a good option, but then Hailey shared something that changed my mind.
The STG (Specialty & Tradition, Guaranteed) pizzas are made in their own oven that was built in Naples, Italy specifically for Andolini’s and shipped over to Tulsa. The oven cooks at 900°F, so the pizzas only need to cook for 90 seconds.
I don’t think even dodgy microwave pizzas can be cooked in 90 seconds, so this intrigued both of us. I couldn’t choose between the Diavolo and the Chicken Bruschetta, so asked Hailey for her recommendation. She suggested the Diavolo, so that’s what I went for.
In case you can’t make out the description on the menu earlier, it has house made calabrian sausage, chili flakes, pistachios, house made fresh mozzarella, flake salt and extra virgin olive oil.
The pizza was soooooo good. Pistachios on pizza sounded a little weird initially, but they were good and added some crunchy texture. The house made sausage was excellent and the pizza base was amazing. It was pretty spicy thanks to the spicy sausage and chili flakes, but not so much that it detracted from the overall flavor.
The pizza was bigger than the photo looks and so I’d originally planned to take a couple of slices to go. However, it was so delicious that I couldn’t stop eating and so ate it all in one sitting.
Like I mentioned earlier, Shae prefers cheese and tomato pizzas, so she ordered the Margherita which comes with san marzano tomatoes, house made fresh mozzarella, rock salt, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil. She’s also liked the sound of the Marinara pizza and so asked if she could add fresh garlic and calabrian oregano to her Margherita pizza which they offered to do for no additional charge.
When bringing out Shae’s pizza, Hailey apologized profusely due to the shape of the pizza. Apparently it had slid into the oven in a slightly weird way, so it came out shaped more like naan bread than a round pizza base.
Shae wasn’t at all worried – after all, it tastes the same either way – but apparently they’d already made a replacement pizza. They therefore gave her the second – correctly shaped – pizza for free. We told them that was unnecessary but they’d already put it in the oven; they also said they have such high standards, they only want to serve pizzas as they should be.
They therefore offered to cut up the second pizza and served it in a box so we could take it to go which was a lovely gesture.
Shae loved her Margherita pizza, so it ended up being a good thing that she got a second one for free!
Seeing as we both ate an entire pizza (albeit not one of their 20″ ones), we were both pretty full. However, Andolini’s also sells their own house made gelato and sorbetto and there was no way we were going to pass up that opportunity.
They had 24 different flavors that day and they offer tasting spoons so you can see if you like a flavor before ordering them.
When it comes to desserts, it’s chocolate all the way for Shae. She therefore ordered a small serving of Torta Sachere (chocolate cake).
Hailey had recommended the Panna Cotta (creme brulee with salted caramel), so I tried that and it was indeed delicious. I also tried the same gelato that Shae ordered and that was delicious too.
Thankfully I didn’t have to pick one or the other. That’s because you can order a medium size with up to two flavors, so I did.
Both flavors were phenomenal, so be sure to leave space for dessert when visiting Andolini’s. Or do what I did and don’t leave space but eat it anyway – you won’t regret it.
Final Thoughts
If you live in Tulsa or are visiting there, Andolini’s Pizzeria should be high on (if not top of) your places to eat. Their pizza ranks in my personal top three pizzas that I’ve ever eaten. Shae is more of a pizza connoisseur than I am and she loved their pizza too.
I also want to give a special shout out to our server Hailey. She was fantastic and provided some of the best service we’ve ever had. She was attentive without hovering around, friendly and chatty without being at all annoying and had an excellent knowledge of their pizzas, flavor profiles, etc.
Our Rating
Food = 4.8 / 5
Price = 4.6 / 5
Atmosphere = 4.5 / 5
Decor = 4.6 / 5
Service = 4.9 / 5
Total = 4.68 / 5
Address
Andolini’s Pizzeria, 114 S Detroit Ave, Tulsa, OK 74120
Leave a Reply