Elizabeth’s Pizza sits unobtrusively in a corner of Quaker Village Shopping Center across from the Guilford campus. The restaurant offers an Italian fare that, while not necessarily authentic, should satisfy diners looking for good pizza or a good base from which to start a Saturday night. The convenient location also makes the establishment accessible to pedestrian thrill-seekers who like taking the dire risk of crossing Friendly against the light.

Service approached me cautiously at first, and with some confusion. There was a yelling match to determine who was in charge of my section. When they finally drew straws to figure out who would serve me, my waitress ended up being relatively efficient.
The menu lists many traditional Italian dishes such as Pasta Fagioli, Chicken Cacciatore, and Gnocchi Sorrentina (gnocchi is a potato dumpling that should be tried at least once by everyone on the planet.) Although I can’t vouch for vegan offerings, vegetarians will find a fair selection on the menu.

I’ve always liked Elizabeth’s pizza, which gets somewhere in the vicinity of New York style pie, and splitting a sixteen-inch three ways won’t take too much out of the beer guzzling fund. A single slice, at under two dollars, is a good way to get the stomach to calm down so you can concentrate on more pressing issues, like studying or streaking through campus.

The bread was great as well, the best I’ve had since starting this venture. It neither caused lock-jaw nor acted as a substitute baseball. It is served with olive oil and garlic, which may require a handful of Altoids afterwards if any extracurricular activities are scheduled.

I chose the Rigatoni Arrabbiata (Italian sausage, mushrooms, and Penne) as a main course. My one pet-peeve is too much food, and this dish is gargantuan. Tony Soprano may have room for this size portion, but my humble gut is still in construction. When I slid the remaining pasta into a to-go box, orange grease bordered the outside edges. It was simply too greasy. The pasta was slightly underdone as well, not enough to break a tooth, but enough to get stuck in the back of your gums and cause strange facial expressions for the rest of the evening.

The convenient location, and the pizza, prompt me to recommend Elizabeth’s. My bill was under fifteen dollars, and the prices indicate that the restaurant may be a good choice for casual special occasions such as homecoming or when the filthy-rich aunt is in town and you want to treat your entire dorm. Just be wary of the larger pasta dishes unless you have high-grease-deficiency-syndrome or you are training for a night at Martin Scorsese’s mother’s house. Of course, there is still the bread to soak it all up.