A Slice is Nice: Late Night Trip to Roots Cafe

A late night craving for pizza hit me hard last night, so I ventured over to the Roots Cafe, located in the brand new Commonwealth Honors College dorms. Roots is a 24/7 facility that serves pizza, subs, and sandwiches, along with an organic drink selection and salad bar. It also has a nice study space and events hall attached to it, making it a great place to stop in for a late night snack.

Crust: 8

I would advise readers to take caution as the crust can often be hit or miss at Roots. This is because they precook the crust in order to make these personal pizzas quicker. If you stop in for a bite when the crust is fresh, it's great. Otherwise, it can be a little bit stale. However, this time it was pretty good, so I'll give Roots the benefit of the doubt here. The thin crust was soft and enjoyable, with a great level of density to it. It was pretty plain and lacked the buttery flavor that Franklin's crust provided, but it certainly didn't take away from the pizza as a whole.

Sauce: 9

This slice of pizza was smothered in a thick organic sauce. Its beautiful red color was really flavorful and slightly sweet, combined with the perfect touch of basil and garlic. The sauce really stood out as the best of the big three (cheese, sauce, and crust). I appreciated that the chef at Roots put the perfect quantity of sauce on this pizza.

Cheese: 6

The cheese was slightly disappointing. While organic, it was just your simple mozzarella that was not all that different from that used at Franklin. I did enjoy the fact that it was nicely melted, and not overcooked, but it was still somewhat bland and lacking flavor. Seeing as Roots allows students to personalize pizzas by selecting toppings, I would hope that they give customers the ability to select from an array of cheeses in the future.

The Golden Ratio: 10

Roots absolutely hit this one on the head. A perfect 1:1:1 ratio of crust, sauce, and cheese. The crust was thin, but not too thin, and even bulged out a little bit around the edges for a nice finish to the slice. The sauce, which, in my experience, is usually the one lacking, was plentiful. It even overlapped with the edge of the crust to provide a little extra flavor.

Texture/Consistency: 9

This slice offered a great contrast between the grainy corn meal bits beneath the crust, to the soft crust and cheese at the top. It had a chewy consistency that was satisfying to eat normally or by folding in half. Altogether, it was not overly flimsy or firm, but instead a perfect middle ground between the two.

Overall: 8.4

Ultimately, I thought this was a very good slice of pizza. When considering the price for a personal cheese pizza (just $4.25), I thought the value was great and the service was solid. The sauce really stood out and the crust held its own. While the cheese wasn't quite up to par, the perfectly executed golden ratio and great texture and consistency made up for it. I would definitely recommend the Roots Cafe pizza to any student on campus, or anyone looking for the perfect place to eat and study!