Updated July 2012 – Recently renamed Scordatos, after the owner, because people kept confusing it with Vivace, I had never heard of Pizzeria Vivace (pronounced Va-Vaa’-Chee) until I was looking though some other restaurant reviews recently and found that it was rated very highly.
It’s located in the St. Philip’s Plaza. St. Philip’s is a moderately high-end commercial center at the busy intersection of Campbell and River. Lodging, restaurants, shops, professional suites, etc.
Scordatos Pizzeria is hidden at the southwest corner … so hidden they have to put out a sandwich board with a directional arrow in the parking lot so visitors can find it.
As I walked in, I was greeted by none other than the owner, Daniel Scordato. Once seated, I noticed that the decor is faux Italian, but pleasant enough. This is after all a shopping center in Tucson, not Northern Italy. Nomi announced that she would be my server – and a good server she was. Other than my meal, I never wanted for anything for more than a couple of seconds. And the meal was soon served and appropriately presented.
The lunch menu was basically salads, pastas, and “designer” pizza. I ordered a small “designer” pizza (about 10″) and a Caesar salad. Both very good. There are places in Tucson where you can order a Caesar salad and not recognize it. There are also a lot of mediocre pizza places here. This was not one of them.
There are good pizzas, such as Magpies’ on 4th Ave., and other good pizzas, such as Scordatos Pizzeria. Magpies’ has a thick crust and tons of cheese, etc. – very rich and heavy. Scordato’s was a thin, crisp, light crust, which I generally prefer. For those of you from California, Scordato’s pizza was as good or better than California Pizza Kitchen’s (now at the Tucson Mall).
Knowing that there is usually a downside to everything good, I suspected my “designer” pizza would cost a fortune. So, imagine my delight when Nomi brought me the bill – ten bucks. This was a good value indeed.
Upon leaving, I introduced myself to Mr. Scordato, who was still busy seating customers. Daniel told me that he also had the more formal dining establishment next door … Vivace Italian Restaurant. Said he has owned it for 18 years. I commented that he didn’t look old enough to have owned a restaurant of any sort for almost 2 decades – let alone an upscale Italian.
He thanked me for the compliment and said his youthful appearance was due to the Italian olive oil. Good to know.
Note: since writing this review, Mr. Scordato has moved his upscale Italian restaurant to NE corner of Campbell & Skyline.
Scordatos Pizzeria
4280 N. Campbell Ave. Tucson, AZ
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