Nice To See You: Familiar Faces And Dishes At Angelo's

Angelo's Pizza & Spaghetti House is the type of place where the lone server (co-owner Lisa) knows almost everyone by name, but forgets your silverware and remarkably no one seems to mind because they're right at home.

Owner Tom Pallis worked for years in the kitchen and eventually bought the business from Angelo Sarris when he decided to retire.

There is definitely Greek inheritance on the menu and an autographed/framed black and white photo of Telly Savalas watching over your table. You can order Spaghetti Mizithra, pasta tossed with olive oil, garlic and the namesake Greek cheese or Eleni's Pizza with sauce, feta and mozzarella, fresh spinach, onion, black olives, ground beef and tomatoes.

Despite their large section of touted Alfredo options, I only spied one pasta dish coming out of the kitchen sans red sauce. My neighbor was served a blond plate of pasta and gave it a shower of black pepper from the table's shaker. I nosily inquired about her entree on the way out... "It's the Oglio!" Spaghetti 'pan-fried' with garlic and topped with Parmesan. "It's so delicious," she openly gushed. When I told her I thought it might have been the Alfredo, she quickly offered, "That's delicious too!"

I apologized for interrupting their dinner and admitted it was my first time to Angelo's.

"No problem. It won't be your last," volunteered a happy husband above his plate of Mostaccioli and Meatballs. Eating at Angelo's is like being invited into a small, checkered tablecloth family in the heart of the Highlands.

I've seen enough episodes of Kitchen Nightmares to know that Gordon Ramsay would be squirming at the number of take-away containers Angelo's goes through due to their gratuitous portion sizes. If you order a pasta dish, it comes with a garden salad and plate of garlic bread which fills diners up even before their sizable entrees. But Ramsay would be proud of how quickly dishes come out of the kitchen and the owners' connection to the community.

While I didn't care for the bread much, my husband found nostalgia from his Phoenix youth in Angelo's garlic bread. Toasty slices with margarine-flavor and a dusting of garlic salt plus granulated Parmesan hit a home run with him.

Pizza dough is visibly hand-stretched and tossed in the kitchen that greets diners upon entering Angelo's. Many herald this as the best pizza in Renton, and honestly it reminds me of pies I grew up with in New York — upstate that is — 30 years ago before the craze of Verace Pizza Napoletana certification. A thick rim of crust encircles sliced pepperoni, mozzarella, canned mushrooms, sausage, and black olives on the Angelo ($10.95 for an 11" pie). This is hearty pizza, not for thin crust-seeking gourmands who crave proscuitto di parma, smoked provola, or anchovies.

Baked pasta is another major player on the menu, and I've read that their Lasagna ($10.99 with a sizable garden salad and garlic bread) is known to run out due to its popularity. Their meat sauce genuinely seems homemade: thick, rich, and Greek-tasting, like a slow-cooked Saltsa Kima. This Greek 'Bolognese' has flavors of bay leaves and cinnamon infused with ground meat, and deep tomato flavor. True to the menu description, there is a bubbly ocean of "lots of cheese's" melted on top of your gratin boat.

This may not be an Italian grandmother's recipe, but it's not Sysco or Olive Garden either.

Call me a gourmet hater, but I found the noodles themselves to be gummy, and I missed slicing into layers of different flavors. Ricotta and all seemed to be blended into the sauce, tossed with the lasagna ribbons, and then baked off with a generous portion of cheese.

If you're not ordering a dish with meatballs, you should add on a side order of two for $3.75. Finely ground and flavorful, these polpette softened a critic's heart, like bread crumbs soaked in milk.

Angelo's Pizza and Pasta House
3809 NE 4th Street
425-228-7415
Monday—closed
Tuesday—Saturday 4 to 10 p.m.
Sunday—4 to 9 p.m.