The last time I had dinner at Rizzi’s Italian Restaurant was on Saturday, February 24, 2020. Nobody was talking about Covid 19 that night but in about three weeks after that, that’s all everybody was talking about.
Rizzi’s is one of my favorite restaurants, so I’m looking forward to making a return visit now that I’m thoroughly vaccinated.
And we have two special guests tonight, Mae and Jon Wright are going join me and help me rate Rizzi’s homemade New York Style pizza!
Let’s go and start another cheesy evening here at MBIP!
Here we are at Rizzi’s Italian Restaurant off of Sheridan Road in Peoria.
The place was pretty crowded when we got here, so we jumped into the first booth available and settled in.
There’s our special guest stars for the evening, Jon and Mae!
Great to see them and have them aboard for this week’s sampling of Peoria pizza pie!
Misty was our friendly and pretty waitress and here she is delivering our drinks for the evening.
And yes, she’s heard plenty of “Play Misty For Me” jokes through the years, so don’t even try it with her!
There’s a neighboring booth to our left and a shot of the dining room which was packed when we came in but it’s starting to empty out now.
I see a familiar face up at the bar where I sit when I come here alone…
There’s Christopher the bartender at Rizzi’s.
He had just started when I came here over a year ago and now he’s a seasoned veteran in here!
Great to see him in here again, he’s a really nice guy and a fabulous bartender!
When I was at the bar, I started chatting with Lauren and discovered that she started Rizzi’s along with her husband Chef Dave Rizvani!
Her son Bekim and his wife, Sindis, now run the place, but they’re out of town for the holiday weekend, so Lauren’s looking out for the restaurant this weekend.
It was wonderful to meet her and thanks to the Rizvani’s for giving Peoria this wonderful Italian restaurant!
You can read more about the Rizvani family and the restaurant by clicking here.
Of course I have to get the obligatory wine glasses over the bar shot!
Here’s photos of the Rizvani family with Chef Dave in the upper right and Bekim and Sindis below.
Meanwhile, back at our table the appetizers have arrived!
We started our pizza pie meal out with an order of the Crispy deep-fried Mozzarella and the Arancini fried risotto fritters.
They were both rich and oh-so satisfying!
Here’s Misty with the star of this week’s pizza pie post, a homemade cheese pizza at Rizzi’s!
It looks absolutely delicious!
Rizzi’a pizza is the closest thing to New York Pizza that you’ll find in Peoria.
It’s a thin and crispy crust with a zippy sauce, fresh and rich cheese and a great taste.
Mae noticed that it had a buttery flavor and Jon and I both agreed with her that it had a buttery fresh flavor. It’s a really unique pizza pie flavor!
The flash was off on my camera, but here’s a darkened shot of Jon and Mae enjoying our fantastic pizza pie at Rizzi’s.
The guest scores from Jon and Mae are: Jon gave it a 7.3 and Mae gave it a 6.5. She later said she’d like to change it to a higher score, but you have to go with your first rating! But we’ll duly note that she really liked it better than a 6.5!
The official rating is below! But before that…
Bartender Christopher is a world-class mixologist and he brought us two dessert drinks to sample after our pizza pie meal.
The first was take on a Manhattan cocktail and this is his Grand Manhattan which is a tasty orange-based bourbon drink. He’s trying to get this published and you should definitely give this a try the next time you’re at Rizzi’s.
The final drink he made table-side was a Caramel Macchiato Martini which was a sweet martini and was absolutely delicious!
Thanks to Christopher, Misty, Lauren, Jon and Mae for a wonderful night on the town on this post Thanksgiving Sunday night at Rizzi’s!
And now…
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This Week’s official pizza rating!
Rizzi’s pizza is the closest to New York pizza in Peoria that you’ll find. I lived in New York for 19 years and it’s like going back to the city when I sample it, so I’m giving it a super-high 9.6 rating!
This rating makes it a three-way tie for my favorite pizzas in Peoria! At the end of this tour we’re going to have judges pick the best pizza pie in Peoria, so stay tuned for that! Rizzi’s is definitely in the running for this pizza pie race!
Thanks to Mae and Jon for joining me on this week’s pizza pie journey!
Agatucci’s: 9.6
Weaver’s Fresh Food & Drink: 9.6
Rizzi’s Italian Restaurant: 9.6
Peoria Pizza Works: 9.5
Slice: 9.4
The Red Barn (Butch’s Pizza): 9.2
Fat Jack’s: 8.7
Knuckles Pizza: 8.2
460° Pizza: 8.1
The Pour House: 8.1
Hoop’s Pub & Pizza: 7.4
The Fieldhouse Bar & Grill: 7.3
Monical’s: 7.3
Mr. Dough: 7.3
Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom: 7.1
The Owl’s Nest: 6.9
Brienzo’s Wood Fired Pizza: 6.9
Papa John’s: 6.7
HyVee Food Court: 6.6
Pizza Hut: 5.8
Domino’s: 5.2
Huck’s: 4.9
Casey’s General Store: 3.3
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4613 N. Sheridan Road
Peoria
309-689-0025
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Related Posts: Slices Of Peoria @: The Red Barn, Hucks, The Pour House, Mr. Dough, The Owl’s Nest, Slice @ WeaverRidge, Brienzo’s Wood-Fired Pizza, 460° Pizza, HyVee Food Court, Domino’s, The Fieldhouse Bar & Grill, Casey’s General Store, Knuckles Pizza, Papa John’s, Weaver’s Fresh Food & Drink, Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom, Pizza Hut, Peoria Pizza Works, Monicals, Fat Jack’s Pizza, Hoops Pub & Pizza and Agatucci’s.