Poppi?s Italian Family Kitchen Promises Bargain Pizzza (Business Lunch)

Poppi’s Italian Family Kitchen
927 N.W. 12th Street Bentonville

Poppi’s Italian Family Kitchen will make any diner feel welcome for lunch, especially for one diner who had the allergy sniffles on a crisp spring day.

The restaurant, which is tucked away in a Spanish-style strip center, promises to keep hot slices of its hand-tossed, stone-oven baked pizza on hand for its express lunch. And for less than $3, the slices are a bargain. The lunch offerings include hot sandwiches, soups and salads, all in combinations priced under $6. Pizza is also sold by the pie for those trying to feed a crowd. Their Web site, www.poppisitalian.com, also gives the “soup of the day” schedule for the week.

One diner ordered a cup of soup ($2.25) and a slice of cheese pizza ($2.25). They volunteered to scale down the price of the soup, since she didn’t want a bowl.

The soups change daily. The one she sampled was full of tomatoes, tube noodles, beans and bits of sausage. She said it was just what she wanted. She dipped the piping hot breadsticks into the remaining basil-scented broth.

She liked the cheese pizza crust because it wasn’t greasy like other chain pizza joints and the sauce tasted homemade. The pizza could have been a little warmer, but then again we arrived during the end of the lunch hour.

The other diner ordered a pasta dish ($4) and a slice of supreme pizza ($2.75).

The sausage on this slice definitely stole the show. Unlike the crumbles of other pizza places, the pizza had big hearty slices of sausage. He also liked the big fresh mushrooms on the dough.

The pasta dish had big tube noodles and a light tomato sauce and chunks of sausage and chicken. He said he thought the dish needed some zing. Maybe some mozzarella would do the trick.

We liked the atmosphere and the comfort food Poppi’s served. The restaurant has been open less than two months and opened for dinner on April 1, so we think they still have some kinks to work out. However, they made us feel like they appreciated our business, which is not on every menu these days. We’d go back just for that.