411 W. College AvenueI did not regret my choice of hotels on our recent trip to Green Bay. It was a busy weekend in northern Wisconsin and I was booking late. My choices were either pay $400/night for a Motel 6 or stay outside of the city.
I ended up finding a decently priced Hilton in Appleton. Yeah, it was 35 minutes away but it was a pretty nice hotel at a good price and had a lot of great dining options within walking distance.
I woke up on Sunday morning pretty late. We didn’t have to leave the hotel to get to our jobsite until 12:30. I took advantage of that and slept way in. It was pretty close to 11:00 when I finally rolled out of bed.
I knew it was going to be a pretty long day and didn’t know what my dinner situation was going to be like so I decided I should probably grab some lunch.
There are plenty of options in downtown Appleton. There was even a pretty nice looking sports bar in the hotel but you should know me and pizza by now.
Sal’s Pizza in downtown Appleton is my favorite kind of pizza place. The small restaurant is on College Avenue to the west of Superior Street. The restaurant is one of several older buildings that come near the edge of the road. Parking is along the street or in one of the various lots/ramps around downtown. I walked from my hotel so that wasn’t an issue.
The restaurant is a pizza by the slice place. There is a huge display case of already made pizzas when you walk in. The menu hangs on a board off to the side of the kitchen. They have the usual suspects as well as a few fancier options. You can either order a slice or two right there or you can put an order for a while pizza.
My eyes went straight for the Meat Pizza and one that looked like Buffalo chicken. I asked for a slice of each then asked about what appeared to be garlic balls stacked on a plate. The lady working the counter told me one of those balls came with each slice of pizza.
The slices and the garlic balls were both put back in to the pizza oven to crisp up. The bill for the two slices was right around $10 which I paid for while I was waiting for the pizza to warm up.
Sal’s Pizza is the kind of great place to hit up after a night at the bars…and there are a lot of bars in downtown Appleton. I was grabbing my two slices and heading back to my hotel room but there is quite a bit of seating in this small restaurant. It really reminds me of a college town type atmosphere. The seating is just some laminate wood booths but it’s a great place to grab a couple of slices before calling it a night.
It took about 5 minutes or so for my slices to come out of the oven and be put in a pizza box. The lady handed it over the counter and I made the short walk back to my hotel to dig in.
I started with the Meat slice first. It was the perfect pizza-by-the-slice pizza pepperoni, sausage, ham, and bacon. The slice is a NY style slice. It’s long and floppy but putting it back in the oven gives it just enough of a crispy crunch. The pizza is slightly greasy from the pepperoni but that’s exactly what I look for in a slice like this. There is saltiness from the ham and bacon and a spiciness from the pepperoni I kinda start by folding it in half then open it back up once I get closer to the handle.
I really thought about saving the other slice until after work but I couldn’t help myself. The Buffalo chicken slice is a pretty standard Buffalo chicken pizza. There are big chunks of chicken covered in Buffalo sauce and mozzarella cheese. Just like the meat slice, this one had a really nice crisp from being put back in the oven. The chicken had a little bit of a spiciness to it but it kinda tasted like Frank’s Red Hot. I love Frank’s Red Hot though so no complaints. A little bit of spiciness and a little bit of pepperiness.
I decided to go all in and not save anything for after work. I mean, there were Kwik Trips on the way home so I knew we’d be able to find something to eat and those garlic rolls just smelled too damn good.
The rolls also go back in to the oven and they have a really crisp to them as well as a really strong garlic flavor. The rolls inside or super soft and fluffy. I really could have made a whole meal of just this bread. I was going to order a couple anyway so I was super excited to see they were included with a slice.
I love places like Sal’s Pizza. I was bummed they closed early on Sunday nights. We weren’t expecting to get back to the hotel until well after midnight so no late pizza. Super happy they opened for lunch on a Sunday though. This is my favorite kind of grab and go pizza. They have a ton of options and it’s all fairly cheap. You can grab a quick, delicious meal anytime of the day