We're Back! Hotel Loyal Pizza - April 15, 2023

Now that Lent is over, we're back on the hunt to try as many independent pizzerias in the county that we can. We found a goodie this week, y'all. I'll be honest - this review is going to be more about the vibe of the place than the pizza, because while the pizza was good, the spot was fantastic. And it really was a vibe.

Hotel Loyal Pizza in Latrobe is housed in a building that was built in the late 1800s. And it apparently it catered to travelers for a long time - this photo on the wall of the tavern was of the hotel circa 1900. An article we found said it remained a hotel until the 1990s.

The building is still in fantastic shape. There are elevated train tracks that run right next to it (while we were there we saw both an Amtrak train and a freight train go by) so you can imagine that the hotel was perfectly situated back in the day.

The left entrance was for the dining room and the takeout counter, and the center entrance was for the tavern. We decided to eat in the tavern. I'm glad we did - it was cozy and colorful and the vibe was everything you'd want a neighborhood bar to be. In fact, Chip found an article while we were sitting there that compared the bar to Cheers.

The pizzeria was started in 1953 by John Riggi, an Italian immigrant. There was a copy of his 1927 naturalization certificate on the wall by our table. There were also lots of pictures of him with various friends and family members, and his laminated obituary was there as well. 

The current owner is Riggi's grandson, so it's been in the family for 70 years. 

The tavern walls were covered with old neon and light-up signs, as well as old clocks, lights, and other fun fixtures. I was glad that the staff was busy because it gave us time to look around at everything. Our bartender, April, was incredibly attentive for someone who was doing it all (bartending, taking orders, and delivering food).  

The menu was extensive, with pizzas and calzones as well as appetizers, sandwiches, wraps, burgers, wings, soups, and salads. We decided to split an order of fries to start (we could see that they were coated fries in the picture we'd seen online), and then to try a small thin-crust pizza with pepperoni and bacon as well as a small sausage and mushroom with thick crust. Chip opted for a draft beer, and I ordered a double American Honey on the rocks. Their Bourbon selection wasn't large; in fact they had quite a few more varieties of Scotch (blech) than they did of Bourbon or Irish whiskey.

The kitchen must always have fries at the ready, because they hit our table about 4 minutes after we ordered. And they were hot. And they were, as we'd hoped, the coated variety and quite delicious. The man who brought them out gave us a bottle of ketchup, and he was quickly followed by our bartender handing us a bottle of ketchup. But neither of us are a fan of the red goop, so we ate them fresh and plain. Yum.

It wasn't long before our pizzas were ready; it was 10 or 15 minutes at most. The small pizzas are 8-cut rectangles. The hilarious part is that they were delivered on old plastic cafeteria trays. 

As I mentioned in the intro, the pizza was good, but not spectacular. I definitely preferred the thin crust. The dough was a bit bland, perhaps on the sweeter side but not as sweet as some we've eaten recently. The pepperoni was dense on the pizza and surprisingly spicy, but not so much that it drowned out the taste of the bacon, which was real bacon and cut into fairly large pieces. The cheese was very good. If I had to guess I'd say it was straight mozzarella, and it evenly covered the pizza and was perfectly gooey.

The cheese on the sausage pizza, however, didn't seem to be as evenly applied. There were a few slices that didn't seem to have much cheese at all. The sausage was also a bit scant, and strangely cubed, although the fresh mushrooms were nicely browned. But the downfall of this pizza - at least for me - was the thick crust. A traditional pan pizza is cooked in a pan that has the sides and bottom heavily oiled, making the crust brown and crispy. But this dough was just...thick. And doughy. Chip called it flavorless. I definitely wouldn't order the thick crust again.

Hotel Loyal had a great atmosphere, and the thin crust pizza was pretty darned tasty, so I'd definitely eat there again. It would also be a neat place to enjoy some drinks before hitting up another one of Latrobe's other fine pizza establishments (there seem to be a lot). Maybe you'll have an opportunity to come with us someday!