ToquiNotes: The Greatest Pizza and Deal in History of Harrison County? Perhaps, and There's a Family Tie
By Jeff Toquinto on August 01, 2026 from ToquiNotes
During the last 14 and half years of writing this blog, there are certain topics that always draw a good response. Topics on food – past or present – are either at, or near, the top of the list.
With that in mind, I am surprised it took me this long to write this blog. Not because I forgot about the subject. Rather, because I knew
about it, and its popularity. It is a family business that many over the age of 60, and a few under, will vividly recall.
about it, and its popularity. It is a family business that many over the age of 60, and a few under, will vividly recall.
It is a restaurant that when I have told several folks my wife’s maiden name they will ask if she has any connections to the restaurant in question. That restaurant, which spent most of its existence on old Bridgeport Hill, is Romano’s Pizzeria.
Recently, the name came up again. And whoever was in my group at the time asked if I had written a blog on it. I told them I was pretty sure I had not. And after going through our system, I realized that although I have mentioned it in my “Deceased Restaurant Memory Lane” series, I have written nothing of length on it.
Today that changes. And it changes thanks to my relatives through my wife Valerie – my cousin Angela Sipko and my brother-in-law Rocky Romano.
The business was owned by my wife’s grandparents Joe and Angela Romano. But it was Angela Romano, or Grandma Ange as she was referred to when I first met her just a few weeks before she passed away, who ran the show.
She had the perfect name for anyone wanting to know if the Italian food was Authentic. Her name was Angela Virginia Crispino Romano, with Virginia her middle name and Crispino her maiden name.
Ask someone who was driving a vehicle, or within walking distance, at the time of the existence of Romano’s Pizzeria, and it will illicit a story or two. It will gather a higher number of smiles.
As for the location on old Bridgeport Hill Road, it was situated during most of its lifespan beside Rollin’s Market, which still is in operation today. If you were facing Rollin’s Market, it would have been on the right side.
Angela recalls that there was also a business owned by the family to the left that sold roasted chicken. Rocky pointed to it being the 
original location of the pizzeria before it moved to the right.
original location of the pizzeria before it moved to the right.
Regardless of those finite details, when the restaurant was on the right side, the building housed both the business and the Romano family’s living quarters. For years, they worked and lived under the same roof.
The character of the show, the individual’s name I have always heard as noted above, was Angela Romano. My father, who grew up in Lumberport, has told me repeatedly about driving to Romano’s Pizzeria for two big reasons. He told me the pizza was incredible, and they had a buy one pizza, and get one pizza for a penny special on the weekend.
Cousin Angela said her grandmother’s personality drew people there. And having a quality product didn’t hurt either.
How good was the pizza? Decades later both Angela and Rocky do not have to think about it before responding.
“The pizzas were phenomenal. I can still remember being a kid and going there and it was incredible,” Rocky said. “I still can see her working making the dough every night. It was all good, but it started with that dough.
“I liked it so much I would pinch off piece of the dough, put in some pepperoni and cheese in it and eat the dough raw,” Rocky continued
with a laugh. “Grandma Ange didn’t think it was too cute every time she caught me she always told me it was going to make me sick. Even with the warnings, I kept pinching off a piece whenever I could.”
with a laugh. “Grandma Ange didn’t think it was too cute every time she caught me she always told me it was going to make me sick. Even with the warnings, I kept pinching off a piece whenever I could.”
Like Rocky, Angela talked about the dough.
“It was so good. The crust really separated it from everything else. I don’t have the recipe for that crust,” said Angela. “A relative, who has a Romano’s Pizza in Indiana, Mike Romano, has it. It’s still just as good.”
The dough recipe found its way into the restaurant as well as the family meals. While some holiday dinners were held in the restaurant, Rocky said Sunday dinners were loaded with family. While they went to the Romano’s Pizzeria building for it, the family did not eat in the restaurant.
“We ate in the kitchen in the apartment side of the building,” said Rocky. “It was always pasta and fresh bread. She would make these flat little steak things (steak rajul Rocky called it but had no idea how to spell and neither did Google). She also made fritti’s but never used granulated sugar. It was always powdered. The food, whether in the restaurant or at the kitchen table, was always good and always plenty of it.”
Angela Crispino Romano also had plenty of goodwill. Whether it showing affection or giving to the community, she delivered that just as well as a top-quality pizza.
“She was the best at everything she did. She was the best mother, the best grandmother, the best boss. If you worked for her she you loved you and the workers loved her back,” said Cousin Angela, who (no surprise) was named after her. “She was so kind, and it may 
have been because she had such a hard life growing up. Her mother died when she was four and, I guess, from that she just became a hard worker and a beautiful person.”
have been because she had such a hard life growing up. Her mother died when she was four and, I guess, from that she just became a hard worker and a beautiful person.”
According to my cousin Angela, her grandmother’s kindness was not limited to those she knew, those who were family, or those who came to the restaurant. It went regularly to strangers.
“Every Saturday, she would take pizzas to the Sacred Heart Orphanage in Clarksburg,” said Cousin Angela. “She had family that faced hardships of that nature and she never forgot. She gave all the time to charity, and that was at a time when a lot of businesses didn’t do it. She was such a kind soul.”
Rocky said eventually, the restaurant moved to a second location in Anmoore. It was not around too much longer after that. The memories, however, stayed planted in the minds of those who were there. Many of whom still swear to this day it was the best pizza, and best deal for a pizza, Harrison County has ever seen.
“It all started at her house and then it got to where everyone knew the restaurant when it was on Bridgeport Hill. I easily remember it all, and I sure hope Grandma Ange knew she created something people still remember fondly to this day,” Rocky said. “As good as that pizza was, she was a better person. If you had that pizza, you know that wasn’t easy.”
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Angela Romano with her son Albert (my wife Valerie's late father) showing off the pizza. Second image shows Angela making Easter bread in the restaurant's oven. In the third photo, Thanksgiving dinner inside the restaurant in 1967. In the fourth photo, from left is Angela Romano's granddaughter Angela Zippilli Sipko with Cheryl Romano, Angela Romano's daughter-in-law, and my wife's mother, outside the restaurant with my wife Valerie and my cousin Michael Zippilli. The fifth image is of an advertisement for the restaurant, while the bottom photo is of the menu for Romano's Pizzeria. Note the phone number.
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