The Original Balasco’s Pizzeria and Bella Roast Beef

The Original Balasco’s Pizzeria and Bella Roast Beef is an average pizza and sandwich restaurant that seems to only attract local business. It is located next to Malik’s Liquors and is in a great spot for business. Balasco’s has a dine in area, but no one seems to ever be seen eating in the restaurant. They tend to strive more off of there take out and delivery service. The space inside is not very accommodating for a large group, but it can definitely fit one if they needed too. There are four tables with four chairs each and bar like seating with stools along the window.
Balasco’s has a very Italian family owned vibe to it with their pictures of family members, little league sponsored teams, and drawings done by kids hung on the wall. There is one TV hanging on the wall and when I was in there waiting for my food the HGTV station was playing. I’m more of a sports guy so I would’ve liked if the TV was on ESPN or the Red Sox game. The place was dead when I went to order food. No one was sitting at the tables eating, the workers were all in the kitchen, so I felt sort of uncomfortable sitting there waiting for my food.
The employees weren’t the most pleasant people to deal with either. When I walked in to order my food there was no one at the register so I had to wait for five minutes. Then when someone did come I got greeted with a, «What do you want?». She took my card processed it and didn’t ask if I wanted a receipt. Then I asked when she thought my food would be done and she said, «I don’t know, you can sit and watch TV until it’s done.»
I ordered an Italian grinder with lettuce, tomato, onion, peppers, and had it toasted. The sandwich took about 15 minutes too be done, which I felt was a little long.
When the sandwich arrived it was toasted for way too long. The cheese had begin to turn brown and crispy and the meats were turning a little bit black. The meats included on the sandwich were just ham and salami and I was displeased with this being the only meat on the sandwich. I love my Italian sandwiches to have capicola as well and for the bread to be a little bit chewy. As well as include hot or sweet peppers, and even oil and vinegar added. They provided me with green peppers when they told me they had hot peppers, which threw me for a loop. Also the lettuce wasn’t freshly cut, it was obviously store bought pre-​cut lettuce and it was beginning to brown. The tomato was very thickly cut, but they did taste very fresh. The red onion was very fresh as well.
All in all the sandwich was very average, I almost wished I went to subway because for me one of the most crucial parts of any sandwich is the bread. If the bread is awful or toasted for too long it makes for an unpleasant sandwich experience and hurts to eat. The deli meats weren’t very good, and the only really good part was the tomato and red onion.
I wouldn’t recommend Balasco’s to anyone because there are much better sandwiches places around. I didn’t try the pizza, so maybe that is their calling, but other than that it’s nothing to boast about.

First off the pizza is different, it’s deep dish but not with thick crust like Chicago style. The dough is light and puffy and crunchy and cheesy around the edges. I love it and welcome someone doing something different than every other pizza shop. I got the godfather and it was amazing, highly recommend it.
Now the roast beef sandwiches, they are worthy of awards!!! And I don’t even usually like roast beef. You have the option of lettuce, tomato, etc. or with au jus. You can’t lose either way, I got let, tom, n mayo. The sandwich basically makes it’s own jus as it drips out and then you can dip it into that. Love this place! Go there and try something different!!!

Unilocal in progress… Here we go.
In the Warren area, Unilocal!led us to a little pizza joint that’s easily missed from the road. The lure of a juicy roast beef sandwich was enough to sway me.
It’s tiny. Old plastic folding chairs. Checkered plastic tablecloths covering folding tables.
But I’m here for pizza and roast beef — so I’m not worried about décor.
The smell is fantastic. Cashier, friendly — and they have the game on.
Food came out fast. The dough and sauce are fantastic — but the cheese is a bit bland. Shame — because the rest is really great. My roast beef (with a side if a jus) was amazing. Tons if flavor — fresh roll — not dry at all. I would seriously travel to warren just for it.
Recap — cheap eats, clean place, nice people and the roast beef was amazing. Will absolutely be back if not just to grab a handful of the roast beef sandwiches!

Excellent veggie pizza… best I’ve ever had for veggie pizza! Very consistent, unlike some of these other «hit or miss» pizza joints.

Best pizza, when I was living in Somerset I used to trek out of the way for it. I’ve only tried their brick oven pizza, I hear the other pizza is thick crust, not a huge fan of thick crust so I will stick with their brick oven, which borderlines too thick for me.
I’ll have to try the roast beef next.

Yummy is about the only thing I can say about this place! I have gotten several types of pizzas from here and it’s awesome! Reminds me of bakery pizza because the pizza itself is rectangular, but this pizza is anything but boring bakery pizza. It’s crispy, full of flavor, fast, cheap, and awesome! One of my favorite things to do is to get their white pizza, add mozzarella, tomato, and basil to it to get a margarita pizza. Absolutely delicious!

Balasco’s is one of the closest pizza places to my house. We’ve ordered takeout pizza from here a few times and the service is usually friendly, the pizza is ready when they say it is going to be, the toppings are generous and the pizza is always tasty.
So why only three stars? Personal preference really. The pizza is more of a doughy thick crust and we prefer thin crust. If you prefer thick crust and are in the area craving pizza, it’s worth a look.
We’ll have to give them a try for something other than pizza.

Still the best roast beef sandwiches on the East Bay – more so when spelled correctly.
It comes with lettuce, tomato and mayo or with au jus. I get it done the first way and ask for the au jus on the side. It’s messy, but oh so good.
They also make great thick crust Italian style pizza.