Angelo's Pizza in Kingsland, GA: Delicious Italian Food at a Low Price

Angelo's Restaurant in Kingsland, GA is so successful that they aren't even open on weekends anymore. A small family owned business, Angelo's has been in one location or another, and sometimes in multiple locations, in Kingsland and the surrounding area for more than 25 years. They have always been successful; sometimes the owners close the place and go on vacation to Europe for a month in the summer. Why is Angelo's so successful? The food is, in a word, incredible.

The current location of Angelo's is in the Green Cedar convenience store mini-mall off of exit 3 on interstate 95, which is the second exit in Georgia after you come across the Georgia/Florida border. The restaurant is unassuming, with plain green bench seats at the booths and a couple of tables with chairs. Two benches inside for those waiting for a table are always full. In fact, the dining area, which seats maybe 50 people, is always full as well. And although the atmosphere is pleasant, with Italian music playing and some art on the walls, it is not outstanding. The food is.

On a recent trip I was accompanied by my boyfriend, my parents, my brother and his wife. We had to sit at a table because the booths only hold four people. However, we did not have to wait but about five minutes long to seat ourselves and immediately one of the many friendly but professional servers was there with menus to take our drink order. She even seemed familiar with us from many former visits, but was not chatty, which is what I prefer. Everyone ordered sweet iced tea in "to go" cups, and these cups are probably 40 ounces with all the refills you can drink. The tea was fresh brewed, cold and delicious with just the right amount of sugar and not too much ice.

After we ordered we had our food in about 20 minutes. My mother got the Wednesday special which was roast beef, mashed potatoes and green beans with bread. She ordered her bread without garlic and the kitchen was happy to oblige. She asked them not to put the gravy that usually comes with the dish on her food and that came out right as well. This is not your traditional Southern meat and vegetable fare; the meat, potatoes and beans are all seasoned with garlic. Although she thought it was a bit much garlic for her taste, she orders the same thing most Wednesdays and has for years.

My father got the personal pita pizza with mushrooms and onions and a side salad with Angelo's homemade ranch dressing. Like me, he pretty much likes all food and was very happy with his order. The pita pizza is, like is sounds, a piece of pita bread with sauce, cheese and toppings baked in a traditional, not a conveyor convection, oven. This is no fast food pizza. The side salad consists of iceberg lettuce, onions, tomatoes and cucumbers and looked crisp and fresh.

My sister-in-law ordered the tuna salad salad. There was enough creamy tuna salad on it that more dressing would have been overkill. This was a deluxe salad, with iceberg lettuce, green olives, onions, cucumbers, mushrooms, tomatoes and several huge scoops of tuna salad. It would have been enough for three people and she absolutely could not finish it. The waitress promptly brought a box for the rest of the salad when asked.

My brother, my boyfriend and I got a sixteen inch pepperoni and mushroom pizza. My brother and I loved it; it has sauce that is spicy and sweet and plenty of it and even the cheese is seasoned with sprinkled on herbs. Of course, since we have been eating at Angelo's since early childhood their pizza is the gold standard for us. The crust is perfect, neither too soft nor too hard and lends itself to being dipped in ranch. The waitress brought us two huge containers of the homemade ranch for our decadent dipping. My boyfriend was not as happy with the pizza, but he is a very picky eater and thought there was too much sauce.

The entire family ate for under 40 dollars and we were out of there in about an hour. In addition to what we ordered the menu includes eight inch hot sub sandwiches and various pasta dishes. The prices are extremely reasonable and I will definitely go there again. In fact, now that I have written this article and thought about the food, I'll probably go back tomorrow.