Desi's Pizza: Traditional Entrees with Generous Portions

You could stand on a corner and look around until a restaurant sign draws you in. But we've got a better idea. Each week, Patch picks a great restaurant either in town or nearby that is worth checking out. Here's this week's choice:

Desi’s Pizza

Overview:  Occupying one of Route 206’s many strip malls, Desi’s Pizza offers brick-oven pizza and traditional Italian entrees. The space formerly housed the Kalamata Café and Boro Pizza.

Décor: The restaurant’s décor includes a limited assortment of seating in the front of the restaurant—for those grabbing a quick slice of pizza—and a dining room for those in search of a more relaxed meal. It’s a very casual atmosphere, but doesn’t cater to any particular cultural feel.

The Drinks: Desi’s has two large refrigerators stocked with sodas, water and other drinks. If you’re looking for something with more punch, it’s BYOB though.

 Entrees:  As the name suggests, the menu stars are pizza and pasta, and all the pizzas are baked in the restaurant’s brick oven. In addition to the usual pizza toppings, the restaurant has several specialty pizzas like Pizza alla Vodka (pizza with vodka cream sauce, homemade mozzarella, mushrooms and prosciutto).

Desi’s has a selection of hot and cold sandwiches that ranges from traditional ham and cheese and turkey and cheese to cheesesteaks and chicken and meatball parmigiana subs.

Pasta entrees include the usual offerings, with fish, veal, chicken and meatless dishes.

While a slice of pizza would have been the obvious choice, I decided to try the restaurant’s Gnocchi in tomato sauce instead. Since I also treated a friend, a Chicken Parmigiana sandwich made its way to our order as well.

Desi’s serves generous portions of pasta, so be prepared to have leftovers. The gnocchi arrived smothered in a tasty tomato sauce—though if you’re a fan of smooth sauces, you’ll be disappointed. Desi’s is definitely a chunkier sauce—that ended up getting me three meals.

My friend’s Chicken Parmigiana sandwich was fairly unremarkable, though still tasty.

Desserts: Desi’s does not have a dessert menu, but Hillsborough’s is only a few shops away.

The Service: At 8 p.m. on a weekday, the restaurant was fairly empty. Service was attentive but not intrusive, though the restaurant may be more packed during peak hours.

Address: 424 US Highway 206, Hillsborough

Cost: $

Phone: 908-281-5558