Formaggio

Let’s be honest. At least for a second bare with me. Campus bars are filled with stupid people and servers that get hired based on there physical attributes not there personalities. The ceiling is tight no one will disput that. Go across the street for some fake authenticity, come to formaggios to get the real THE Ohio state university experience. 10 out of 10 will booze again.

Know what you are getting into — a tiny college bar without any bells and whistles. Ok, expectations set, now let’s review.
This place had terrific Friday happy hour specials and a full suite of craft beer options. Get here as early as possible for a table.
Formaggio’s specializes in ‘Boom Shots.’ They ask you for your choice of liquor, mix in some other elixir, throw some pop in, and then slam the shots down on the bar in front of you. Stand clear as liquid tends to fly everywhere. You then have to drink quickly as the pop causes the beverage to bubble. These were $ 2 each for us and tasted surprisingly good.
If you find yourself at Ohio State and you want to have a good night on the town, perhaps this is a good first stop for you.
Enjoy.

I don’t even think they sell pizza anymore but you wouldn’t order it anyway, right? The bar is upstairs… now imagine a small 1 room studio apartment… with two smelly bathroom crammed in. Yup, that is fromaggio’s bar. If it is «busy» then it is packed with smelly drunk frat boys getting cheap drinks packed in like sardines. I usually refuse to sit inside the bar room since it so crammed and stuffy. I will drink there if the patio is open, if not, I refuse to drink here.

I often hit this place as I arrive back in Columbus for Buckeye football games. While it’s not as good as the pizza I grew up on in the Ohio Valley, i.e. Orlandos and Ralphs in East Liverpool, this pizza is close enough for me. I can’t find anything similar anywhere near St. Louis.

This pizza is about on par or worse than what I remember from elementary school. At least they stay true to form by cutting it in squares and serving it on styrofoam.

Whenever I am near OSU’s campus I make it a point to drop by Formaggio’s (or Steubenville Pizza as it was called) and get a few slices of pepperoni.
It is incredibly important you get the pizza «fresh». This is meaning the pizza will be baked without the cheese. The cheese is then sprinkled on top and very slowly melts. You would think this wouldn’t make a difference or would actually taste worse. Your gut feeling is simply WRONG. Try it this way; you will not be disappointed.

OMFG, this place looked so shady from the outside. I love a good stromboli and decided to try them out because I have a pretty strong stomach. First impression about this place was small and dirty. There was dust all over the counter and the owner seemed like he didn’t care about the place.
When I saw their 1 dollar slices, I wanted to gag because it was small and it looked like it’s been sitting out for hours. I decided to get a stromboli. Stromboli wasn’t bad, but pizza hut taste much better.

I’ve ordered from formaggio a few times, somethings always goes wrong. The ingredients are generally tasteless, their pizza costs too much for the quality of the product. I also understand that drivers don’t receive their tips given on electronic transactions.

came back awesome prices and food

I’m typically a believer in the old adage that even bad pizza is good pizza, but, man, this is pushing it.
It’s not that I’ve got anything against the Steubenville/​Ohio Valley-​style pizza (I love DiCarlo’s!), just that it’s hard for me to take this pizza.
The cheese is very, VERY sour and acidic, and, when reheated, releases a stomach-​turning amount of oil, and I’m not one to be easily turned by grease.
I finished the pie I ordered, but I might not have if it had been closer to payday, and I will not be ordering again.
The Zatar was tasty though, and is the reason this review is two stars and not one.

They advertise selling slices for $ 1 but the «slices» are really small squares about 1 inch by 1 inch and you would have to order about 3 – 4 of them to equal a $ 2 slice from catfish or flying pizza. They sell pop from their refrigerator so no refills. The place is tiny inside and no room to sit down and eat. The place does have some homeless people hanging outside so I would not recommend coming here too late in the night.
The service was also terrible both times I went. The first time I went to pick up a pizza and it was not ready and then I got a dirty look for not tipping in their jar. The second time I went to order a slice and I had to wait about 10 minutes for it. The guy wanted me to pay with cash «since it was only a $ 1» but when I told him I only had my credit card on me he sighed and agreed to it. He did not tell me about the 10 minute wait for 1 slice and did not apologize afterwards for the wait.
No reason to go to this place when campus has so many good places for pizza. The Union, Flying Pizza, Catfish, Hungry Howie’s, and Domino’s are all recommended over this place.

The pizza isn’t very good. Seriously, it is a roulette whether you are going to get a decent piece. The pies sit out for hours at a time at room temperature (which is against the health code) and then when you order they just throw it back into the oven.
The owners are also terrible people.
I worked there as a driver. I made minimum wage for a tipped employee which is 3.65, I never made enough tips to get to $ 7.35, so they were supposed to make up the difference (as required by state and federal labor law), well they didn’t. When I brought it up to them, they fired me.
But, beyond that, this place is just bad.

Tried Steubenville-​based Formaggio after they did a marketing blitz on my block putting ads in everyone’s door. I have noticed this place before when walking on campus but was always skeptical of campus restaurants (not the cleanest typically and usually not the best food)…
I was pleasantly surprised. The pizza was the highlight. You can order it with the cheese put on «fresh» meaning they throw it on a hot pizza and then it melts. This is the best way to have it and growing up in southern Ohio in the Ohio Valley it reminded me a lot of a pizza chain there called Wally’s. So, I was thoroughly impressed and would recommend this place. Didn’t much dig the garlic bread which seemed like flattened hamburger buns with cheese and garlic… so skip the garlic bread but order the pizza.

Went back for the second time. It was great again. Ordered 6 pieces with extra cheese. I will make this place an annual stop when I visit Columbus.