Latest visit: Mar 2023 (Colorado Springs)
First visit: Mar 1995 (Denver - downtown)
I said that I would return to Anthony's if they were still open, and indeed they are. The RJG's Official Mom made sure that her son knew she was being neglected, so it was time to spend some quality time with her. She loves pizza, and the original plan was to order from Marco's. But they apparently don't feel it necessary to take calls anymore (online perhaps? - why would I do that - maybe no one is there?). But Anthony's did take my call, and earned the business (almost one year later to the day). I ordered a large 18" meatball pizza. At $31 including tax, no wonder they're still around! In any case, we picked it up and drove north to Mom's apartment near Monument. From there, we enjoyed a homemade salad that Mrs. RJG brought along and we began to devour the pizza. Much better than the recent visits noted below. The sauce in particular contained much more flavor. And, of course, we had a stove in the apartment so Mrs. RJG got out the frying pan to crisp hers up (and my later slices). We ate the whole thing between us. 4 for me and 2 each for them and a large salad each. We were all hungry that's for sure. First with Leon Gessi's, and now Anthony's, I'm beginning to think that neither are excellent at reheating the slice, but rather do a better job with a full pizza. Joey's and Slice 420, on the other hand, do not suffer from this problem. Will keep that in mind for next year's visit. Presuming Anthony's is still around ;-)
As of this writing, Anthony's has 18 locations (same as last year), 16 in the Denver metro area including our old homestead in Parker (no Anthony's there back then!). The store in Windsor doesn't appear to have made it. Not sure what replaced it. Maybe Castle Rock? I usually don't consider that Denver metro. Only this one locale in the Springs, which represents their southern border.
---3/26/22 update
Time for our annual review, and I fear to say we had a -1 experience despite what appears to be more attentive management. One complaint lodged on Google is that their drink machine was almost out of everything. And that remained true for our visit (only sugar Coke and Sprite were available) even though that comment was 5 months ago. They're not serious. For the positives my pizza slices came out very hot, with good cheese, the right amount of sauce and pliable crust. The meatballs (on one slice) were crumbled and somewhat needless. Trouble is there's very little flavor for the crust or sauce. I'm more than ever certain that either this location is not following the proper recipe or that the chain themselves cut back on the ingredients. We'll come back next year, but something tells me this location will be gone. No one is ever in there, and it doesn't seem that they're working too hard to alleviate that situation. This area is loaded with popular chains, so why bother to go to Anthony's?
---original 6/11/21 review
Anthony's Pizza & Pasta is another Denver institution that was a regular part of my diet when living and working in the city during the mid 90s. On many occasion, me and my working / friend set (which included Rude Dante, fact fans) would go over to the DU location for 2 slices, a soda, and then play a few rounds of pool. And then back to work. Seemed like a good Friday thing to do. Ah, simpler times. Years later, the Anthony's fix would come via their Tech Center location off of Clinton - and that was still my go-to when having the summer townhome a decade ago. When we first moved back to the Springs in 2018, Anthony's was like Good Times - had to travel to Denver to indulge. But shortly thereafter, they opened this new location. The best of times. This location of Anthony's decided to shut down during the pandemic, and have only recently returned to business.
Which kind of makes sense in that it's a very small space. You walk in, and go straight to the counter. And yes, 2 cheese slices and a drink are still special #1. It's just not $5 anymore. But what is? I ordered one with plain cheese and the other with sausage. Grabbed my cup and headed to the "drink machine", you know the kind where can mix and match hundreds of soda combinations. And took a seat at one of the booths. Across from these booths is a bar area with a TV screen. Since I've only ever been there for lunch, they don't man the bar (pardon the gender). Guessing they open it up for the happy hour / dinner crowd.
Very shortly after ordering, two very large and healthy slices of pizza are delivered - piping hot (yes!). You definitely get your money's worth here. It had the proper crispness and grease. Maybe too much of the latter, but since grease is one of the 5 key food groups, I got my daily intake. The one thing I've noticed on all the visits to this location: It doesn't have the taste I remember. It seems a little blander. My reticence in bringing this up is I'm not sure if they changed recipes, if it's only this local branch, or that my palette has changed over the years. All are possible. I'll need to revisit one in Denver to compare - a little troubleshooting here from the ex-techie.
Anthony's remains a good NY pizza slice option, and glad we have one very close to the RJG homestead.
3/6/95; 1//96; 1//97; 8/6/01; 7/13/04; 6/9/10; 7/8/11; 12/28/19; 6/11/21 (new entry); 3/26/22; 3/25/23
Denver; Greenwood Village; Colorado Springs
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