Where can you find the best pizza slice in the metro-east? We tallied your votes
Belleville News-Democrat readers cast more than 2,800 votes in our pizza poll’s final round, and the results are in.
Papa Vito’s Pizza has won the contest for the second time, garnering 1,818 votes in the final round of the poll. Smitty’s Pizzeria came in second place with 1,042 votes in the last round.
Papa Vito’s owner Gerry Geoppo told the News-Democrat Monday he was “excited” to see the poll’s results, and thanked everyone who voted for the restaurant.
What makes Papa Vito’s such a fan favorite is the family atmosphere, quality ingredients and prep work to make the restaurant’s signature dishes, Geoppo said. Each Papa Vito’s location is run by a member of the family.
“Every day we get in there, it takes us two hours just to prep the basics, which is fresh croutons that are cooked every day, our bacon bits are real bacon, our sausage is fresh and our ground beef is fresh, the roast beef is also,” Geoppo added.
The restaurant has its own special lettuce blend, Geoppo said, and the large, fresh salads were one of the menu items to put Papa Vito’s on the map when it opened.
Some of the most popular dishes include Rick’s preferred wings and Papa’s chicken wings, as well as the signature pizza of the month and seasonal salads.
Papa Vito’s also has weekly specials available, with discounts on the “monster” pizza, pepperoni, mushroom and sausage pizzas and deluxe pizzas depending on the day.
The downtown location received a certificate in 2012 saying a “paranormal investigation” by GhostFind found the building “haunted.”
Papa Vito’s has five locations, all of which are closed Mondays:
318 East Washington in downtown Belleville
4205 North Belt West in Belleville
741 West Washington in Millstadt
101 N. Main St. in Smithton
223 West Mill St. in Waterloo
If you’re interested in some of our previous bracket competitions, don’t miss southwestern Illinois’ choice for the best coffee shop or top restaurant.
Do you have a question about restaurants or businesses in Illinois for our service journalism team? We’d like to hear from you. Fill out our Metro-east Matters form below.
