Along with that gorgeous view, diners at the Village Pizza will find a menu full of such items as lasagna, salad, sandwiches and Italian wines. Oh yes, there’s pizza too, with a starter dough that dates back to the founding of the restaurant in 1984 -- but owner Adrian Adame wants people to look past the “Pizza” in the restaurant’s name.
“I fight that fight all the time,” said Adrian Adame about the name “Village Pizza.” “We’re not just a pizza place – we’re a full-service restaurant.”
Even though Adame has never quite managed to change the name of the Orinda Village institution, Village Pizza has survived quite nicely since 1984 – even with that category confusion.
One reason? A focus on consistency and high quality in all of their dishes, from soup to salad to pasta to, well, pizza.
And in fact, Adame is proud of his restaurant’s pizza.
“We make the dough every day,” he said, and the starter dough dates back to when Joe DiSano opened Village Pizza in 1984. (Cal grads are also familiar with DiSano’s first restaurant, Kip’s, which became a Berkeley institution even though DiSano went to Stanford.)
Adame bought Village Pizza from DiSano in 2012, but Joe’s grandson Jason still works at the restaurant – and so do Morgan Gunn and Jose Luis, who have each been in the kitchen for decades.
And all of that history means that Village Pizza hasn’t changed all that much.
“The menu is almost exactly the same,” said Adame.
The sauces are the same ones that DiSano used, and the recipes are locked in.
“We don’t want to get boring so sometimes we’ll try to change things,” said Adame, “but people don’t like it.”
What people always like, though, is the view. “We have the best restaurant view in Orinda,” said Adame, and it’s hard to argue.
The wall of windows overlook San Pablo Creek to the deep green of the hills to the west, making for a scenic setting for some of the restaurant’s most popular dishes.
A local rarity are the mozzarella sticks, though it’s hard to imagine why every Italian restaurant doesn’t dip chunks of mozzarella into bread crumbs and then fry them. Village Pizza does, however, and there are those who wouldn’t think of dining there without that appetizer.
The Rustica pizza has the meats pizza-lovers crave – salami and pepperoni – but adds the acidity of pepperoncini and the sweetness of pineapple for a unique take.
The lasagna, which can take two days to make, is always a favorite, and a simple salad of spinach, olive oil, feta and green tomatoes is a perfect complement.
Other favorites include a potato-and-leek soup, a classic spaghetti with meat sauce and a chicken Caesar sandwich, all of which can be paired with Italian and California wines or one of the four beers on tap.
But of course a restaurant that lasts as long as Village Pizza is more than views or recipes or wine lists.
Adame’s wife, Araceli Sotelo, who like Adame, is there almost every day, puts it simply, “We care.”
And in turn, Orinda residents have learned to care about Village Pizza – which, just to remind everyone, is more than just a pizza place.
