Vitale’s Pizza & Subs

• 320 Western Avenue #A
• Allegan, MI 49010
• (269) 673-2121
• No Known Website
• Menu

Some days are crazy at work.  I started out in Kalamazoo.  Made my way to Centreville.  Started towards Bronson, then got called back to Allegan and finished up the night in Grand Rapids.  I didn’t think I was going to get a dinner break, but I decided to force one.  There’s a pizza place in Allegan that I’ve wanted to stop at for as long as I can remember and since I had a little bit of time.  It was time to make that happen.

Those of you that live in Grand Rapids are very familiar with the Vitale’s name.  There’s a number of them in the area.  Those in Kalamazoo are not quite as familiar with it….and that’s unfortunate.  Vitale’s always delivers with great pizza.

Vitale’s is another one of those places where I don’t quite understand how they’re all connected.  The Allegan store goes by “Vitale’s III,” but appears to have no connection to the Kent/Ottawa County stores..at least by the Vitale’s of Comstock Park website.

Vitale’s Pizza & Subs is a pretty small shop right on the corner of Western Avenue (which is M-40) and Grant Street on the west side of the City of Allegan.  It a small corner building with very little parking.  There’s a gravel area right next to the building and another gravel area right across Grant Street near the Autozone.  For some reason, this was a really busy Thursday night and there were a lot of cars parked in the area, so I had to park across the street.

I had called in my order at about 6:40 PM hoping it would be done by 7:00.  It wasn’t.  They were super busy.  It actually took about 40 minutes, so I headed down to the Speedway to get gas and something to drink then sat in the parking area and played Candy Crush for a while.

I headed into the shop about 35 minutes after I called.  I stood there for quite a while with only a guy tossing pizza dough acknowledging that I was even there.  The man working the counter just ignored me until the pizza maker asked my name.  Then he went to look for my ticket and noticed there was about five minutes left on it.

The inside of the shop is pretty small.  There are three booths that are mostly used for people waiting for their pizza, but there is room if you wanted to sit down and eat.  The big focus of the space is the chest high counter that separates the dining room from the kitchen.  There were more than a few people standing here waiting for pizzas as the kitchen worked as fast as they could to get pizzas in and out of the oven.

Exactly 40 minutes after I placed the call, my name was called and I was handed a box with my pizza.  I had ordered a 16″ pizza with pepperoni and ground beef.  The total came out to just under $16 before tip.

At this point, I was way behind at work, so I needed to get back to Grand Rapids.  I like my pizzas a little on the cold side anyway, so it wasn’t an issue for me to make the 40 minute drive back to Grand Rapids to eat.  The worst part was just having to smell it the whole time without being able to dig in.

I have always loved Vitale’s pizza.  I’ve eaten at three different ones (Comstock, Leonard, and Burton) and never been disappointed.  Again, don’t know the connection between all of these restaurants, but I’ve never had a bad pizza from any of them.

The pizza from Vitale’s in Allegan is a hand tossed thin crust pizza.  I was watching one of the employees toss large rounds of dough into the air, so I know this is the case.

The dough is topped with a generous portion of a sweet red sauce and cheese that is cooked to a slightly golden brown color.  The pepperoni and ground beef are both put under the cheese, so they don’t get super crispy and it’s hard to see just how much is there, but I can say for sure that I got both meats in every bite.

The thing that really stands out on this pizza to me is that crust.  It’s not a cracker thin crust, but it’s still pretty thin and it remains pretty chewy.  You can see some of the flour from the stretching process remains on it.  Some people are ok with that…some people hate.  I’m on the OK side because that means this dough is made fresh, stretched fresh, and topped with all of the delicious ingredients not long after it’s made.

Vitale’s Pizza & Subs did not disappoint…but then again, I knew it wouldn’t.  I actually snapped at a co-worker who tried to take a piece because I wanted leftovers and I hid it in the fridge so my wife couldn’t find it.  I’m kind of awful when it comes to cold pizza.