After last Saturday’s marathon, I woke up Sunday with a craving for pizza.  While I normally go for Pho as a means for stimulating recovery – I needed to catch up with a friend who lives in Falls Church – and there is a Pizza place near his house that I’ve been meaning to try…

Pie-Tanza is located in a small shopping center on North Harrison Street – just down from the Harris Teeter.  The lunch crowd was a bit sparse when we arrived, but picked up substantially shortly after we ordered.  We had two appetizers – white bean soup, and a seasoned flatbread with tomato sauce for dipping.  Although the flatbread was tasty – I enjoyed the soup much more; particularly when scooped up with the breadsticks that accompanied it.

The second course consisted of baked ziti, a Mediterranean pizza, and a “pick your own” calzone with meatballs and garlic.  All three received rave reviews.

The ziti was just right texture and had ample amounts of cheese.  The pizza and calzone shared that extra crisp and touch of charcoal that comes from Pie-Tanza’s massive oven – which you can see from the dining area as cooks prepare various dishes.  Although the range of quality in their ingredients sometimes varied – what I thought were supposed to be kalamata olives on the pizza seemed more like sliced canned black olives – overall each dish was very good – and for a reasonable price.

The service was also incredibly attentive.  Although we had a specific waiter who took our order – a team of servers made sure we had full glasses, extra napkins, etc.  Even the manager made the rounds to make sure we were enjoying everything.

All in all a great place to get some good food in Arlington…