Sal’s Pizza & Italian Restaurant

After 30 years Sal’s is closing. I hope those who reviewed it saying nothing is homemade and the décor is dated are happy now. This is what happens to mom & pop places when everyone jumps on the new & hip wagon as Durham becomes a foodie destination. What about the little guys who just make some damn good food?
I love their food and regret I never got a chance to try Everything on the menu! The sauce IS made in house, as are the salad dressings — balsamic vinaigrette, garlicy ranch, Russian, and house made blue cheese dressing and the wonderful marinated olive salad with tons of garlic, celery, and onions in it that’s on the salad bar. The pizza IS NOT frozen as one reviewer said it was. The dough is made there and the sauce for it as NY style and Every pizza is made to order!
If you don’t see something on the menu you could always ask Joe, the owner and he’d make it for you. This family has worked their butt off and those of us who’ve been coming there for 25+ years who watched their kids grow up are grieving like we’re losing someone we love, because we are.
Friday September 11^th is the last day to have a good old fashioned Italian meal from this lovely man from Sicily. Enjoy all the new trendy places downtown that have helped push these people out of business. I feel sorry for you all.

When I was attending Grad School in Durham I stumbled across this place by accident!!! Absolutely the best fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken that I have ever had!!! The portion is MASSIVE. I always ordered that with the garlic bread and the salad TO GO!!! Absolutely amazing!!! Next time I’m back in Durham I will be stopping by!

Went here on a rainy Tuesday for regular Italian food instead of a pizza place with a couple of Italian dishes. We weren’t disappointed. OK, Dirty Dancing by Andy Gibb was playing as we walked in but that was just a plus for me. Lol
I asked the waitress for her recommendations and she gave me several. I decided on the Penne a la Vodka with grilled chicken. The sauce as amazing and the portion was huge! The chicken reminded me of the size that’s used for pizza toppings but they were all good pieces. Daughter ordered the Gnocchi with Alfredo Sauce. It’s Alfredo so of course heavy, but still tasty. Both meals came with the small salad bar. Fresh (not bagged) lettuce and veggies, a tart celery salad and a tasty chickpea salad filled out this salad bar which was fine for our needs. We could at least pretend we were eating healthy! OK, the buttery rolls weren’t healthy but they were still good.
Service was great and our waitress was nice and helpful. We’d been here once before and thought it was so so but it was much better this time!
It was so slow this night, I hope they don’t close down. Go visit!

Ok so here’s the thing. I’ve been here twice and I’ve had two different experiences. The first time I got the salad bar and ordered a large cheese pizza. Simple enough. The salad bar is typical. Nothing hand made, all store bought veggies. Cheese pizza was also nothing special. I didn’t hate it though. If you have kids and need to go out this place is good. Second trip I got the chicken parm. Yuck. Frozen chicken, thin as a whopper and no crispy crust at all. Marina was water at bottom of plate. If your looking for great pizza though. Ironically there’s a papa johns next door and a Pizza Hut down the street. Come for the atmosphere, but I wouldn’t recommend staying for the food.

My only suggestion is skip pass the dominos and papa johns in the area and choose Sal’s instead fresh ingredients, a nice salad bar, and great strawberry cake. Plus it’s a nice family owned place with REAL pizza, the crust is amazing. The guy who is usually up front taking orders is very nice and the owners treat you like family by checking on your table and making sure things are okay. 10 stars :)

I love this place. If you’re looking for just a good decent slice of foldable pizza, wonderfully nice service, and a casual friendly environment, check it out!

I went to Sal’s pizza and Italian Restaurant for the lunch buffet and was disappointed. All the buffet had on it was three different types of pizza, some pasta and sauce, and a minimalistic salad bar.
The pizza tasted as it should after sitting under the lights. The pasta and sauce, the pasta was mushy, I wish it was a little less cooked; the sauce was bland in need of spices and flavor. The meatballs tasted like they came from Costco.
The service was poor, the waitress ignored me most of the time. I guess tables with 4 – 5 people are more important that one person having lunch. I tried getting her attention to pay the bill but she completely ignored me. I went to the register to find out that you pay on your way out. I wish she would have just told me that so I didn’t have to watch her walk by me and ignore me.
All in all I won’t return to Sal’s. If I’m going to ignored, I would like to have a better meal.

Well, we finally decided to try Sal’s Saturday evening buffet.
The short version of a review: it was hot, and there was plenty of flat tasting food.
The salad bar was nothing more than absolutely average. Iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, olives, cheese, hard boiled eggs, beets. No onions, no croutons.
The pasta dishes were very obviously from bags of frozen product. And absolutely no flavor. The pizzas were thin crusted (a good thing IMO) and of fair quality.
I realize this little place might be a weekly staple for some, but it’s truly not worth the money. Like any buffet you can get full, but if you have any true appreciation for Italian food this won’t satisfy you. :(

You can tell how delicious your meal will be by the smell of the sauce when you walk in. The lasagna was cheesy and the meat sauce tasty. The warm buttery bread melts in your mouth. The crust of the pizza is a joy in itself. (I need the crust just right to devour it).
Friendly staff and clean. There’s a lunch buffet with salad, pasta and pizza for those who want seconds and thirds.

After a long, tiring flight from the West Coast, I was famished and looking for a place to eat. Driving down the road from my hotel for a bit, I saw Sal’s and decided to try it out. It was a slow night, so the server was able to seat me quickly, with menu in hand. After perusing Sal’s wide range of options, I decided to order the Italian sausages, green bell pepper, and penne with a tomato sauce. The meal came with one free trip to the salad bar — a fact that the server cheerfully reminded of, as I was so tired that it didn’t register with me the first time that he mentioned it.
While the kitchen staff prepared my meal, I availed myself of the salad bar. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a salad bar such as this, with its tiny bins and bowls of neatly arranged salad fixings and dressings. However, I found it to be about as memorable as a Bob Dole campaign speech. (Hint: There’s a reason no one remembers who that is any more.) I do remember discovering some pickled beets there (which I love), as well as some sliced, canned, black olives (which I detest). I think there was some lettuce there, also. And that is about all that I can remember of it.
My order came out as I was finishing up my salad. I was hoping that the main course would be better, since salads are usually an afterthought in most restaurants. When it reached my table, however, I saw that it was coated in a quarter inch layer of melted mozzarella cheese. It was like a defensive barrier, designed to keep all but the sturdiest of forks away from the food underneath it. I don’t mind a little cheese in an Italian-​American type of dish, but this was a bit beyond the pale.
After a bit of work, I managed to burrow a hole into the defensive cheese shield and reach the food underneath. I soon realized that the only truly fresh ingredients in the dish were the diced green bell peppers. The penne had the texture and uniformity of boxed pasta, the tomato sauce that came with it tasted canned, and the sausages were bland enough to probably be pre-​frozen. The sausages also had a weird, slightly mushy texture to them that was a little off-​putting. All that work to get through all of that cheese, and I all I had to show for it was a hodgepodge of factory-​assembled, food-​like substances. Ugh.
My server at Sal’s was friendly and chipper enough; I didn’t have any issues with the service that he provided. Moreover, the restaurant itself was comfy enough, with its part southern, part Italian, part generic family restaurant chain ambience. The food, however, left much to be desired. The salad bar definitely need a charisma injection, while the main course that I had there could have used less cheese and more… well, you know, actual food. I’m giving Sal’s a slightly dyspeptic rating of ²⁄₅ stars.

Tried Sal’s a week ago for first time & had salad bar & shared a pizza. Salad bar was terrific & pizza was definitely above average. I would have given it a 4-​star based on pizza & salad. So… we went back for the Saturday evening buffet tonight & we were very disappointed. Salad was still great; pizza was pretty good (it’s hard to be great when you’re sitting out on a buffet); service was friendly; hot entrees were mediocre at best. This buffet rating would have been a 1-​star. If they want raves, something has to be cooked fresh/​not frozen. No excuse for their having tasteless sauce & meatballs.

Decent food. But how about some fresh ingredients? Canned mushrooms? Blah. Good prices and big portions. Good in a pinch for basic Italian fare

[Updated] If you know anything about me, you know all-​you-​can-​eat pizza is on my short list of greatest inventions of all time. So it’s a wonder why it took me this long to try out Sal’s lunch buffet. For the bargain price of $ 6.95, you get your hands on a regularly refreshed rotation of pizzas, ziti pasta with marinara and meatballs, and a medium-​sized salad bar with all the traditionals plus a couple extras like potato salad.
The pizzas are primarily one-​toppings, with things like pepperoni, sausage (the sliced kind, not the ground up ball version), and mushrooms. They also put out a white ricotta pizza +/​-​veggies. The pizzas were quite good at this price point; New York-​style in thickness with a borderline crispy crust. I would’ve preferred softer crusts, and it doesn’t have a huge variety, but overall I really enjoyed it. My biggest complaint is the service. After a couple more visits, I’ve noticed a trend in that it is a chore to get drink refills here. On my most recent visit, after waiting 20 minutes with an empty glass, I asked the waitress for a refill and was told we’re only supposed to get 1 refill (um, where was that listed, and why wasn’t it mentioned the last two times I was here?). If I can’t get plenty of diet pepsi to wash down all the greasy goodness of pizza, I doubt Sal’s will stay in my regular rotation, which is a shame cause the food is good enough to.

After some bad experiences at another local (Southpoint area) pizza place, I was looking for somewhere else for my pizza fix. The pizza here is pretty good, nothing mind-​blowing but good enough. The cost is reasonable and the service is excellent.
For less than $ 10, you won’t find better… I’ve tried. Plus, you get salad and some pasta dishes on the buffet. It’s easy to get to, easy in and out…
BTW, the 5^th photo is their old location… They’re not there anymore… They’re across from the Food Lion on 55, south of I-​40 and 54…

Went to Sal’s for the lunch buffet.
The four-​star rundown: excellent value, decent pizza, good service, pleasant atmosphere.
The detail: Stop by Sal’s for the lunch buffet and a soft drink and you’ll get out for about $ 10 bucks, including sliding your server a couple bucks for keeping your drink fresh (and they are on top of it!).
The pizza is pretty good, with a very thin, but not crispy crust under the toppings, and a perfectly crispy/​chewy crust «handle.» I found the taste of the crust alone to be a little bland though.
The selection is decent — they’ll keep 2 – 4 pies out on their small hotbar even at peak traffic — featuring toppings from your basic pepperoni to Alfredo white to gyro meat. My standout favorite was a delicious red-​sauce pie with plump pickled jalepeños and sweet onions. I’d advise avoiding the pizzas featuring pineapple (which I normally like): I found the canned pineapple to be slightly bitter instead of sweet, and it just didn’t pair well with their sauce
All things considered, I recommend that you check out Sal’s for lunch. You won’t get the gourmet pies (or the higher prices) of a Mellow Mushroom-​type joint, but it beats the pants off the CiCi’s and Pizza Huts of the world.

I’m not a buffet kind of person, so I asked for a menu when I came here for the first time. While one can get out of here for under $ 10 if they choose the buffet for lunch, I prefer the menu… and thus, pay accordingly.
The décor is low key, and the lunch-​time clientele is mostly blue collar hard working guys — guys I have a lot of respect for because I used to do it, and that was the driving force behind me going back to school 22 years ago — I do not want their jobs.
Back to Sal’s: I’m willing to try new «to me» dishes, as a result I find out what I do and don’t like. For instance, I loved the Lobster ravioli, the sauce is very VERY rich and topping the dish off with a healthy portion of crabmeat makes it stand out as a favorite, but the seafood risotto… I could live without that. The seafood fettucine –love it! The Italian wedding soup — not as good as Vincent’s in Raleigh, but still very very good.
The service is attentive and friendly — need I say more?
The buffet is pizza — a few varieties, pasta — a couple varieties with red sauce (the meatballs seem to be hiding way in the back of the steam table pan), and a somewhat generic salad bar. It would be nice to see some pepperoncinis on the salad bar.
What I don’t like about buffets and salad bars and why I typically avoid them:
–When the cottage cheese tastes like someone dropped a handful of cheddar and onions in it. Sal’s is occasionally guilty of this, although it’s more like someone who’s made a trip to the buffet is just being careless as they try to pile everything onto their plate, and it thus spills over into whatever they’re holding their plate over at that moment.
–Making the bleu cheese dressing taste like mayonaisse like the stable hands at GC do. Sal’s is NOT guilty of this (whew!).
–Serving spoons and tongs that get handled by everyone who goes up there. Okay, my bride will attest to the fact that I’m not necessarily OCD about cleanliness, I don’t go around carrying lysol wipes with me everywhere I go, but this does get to me if I’m given the opportunity to think about whether or not those who went before me have a cold; especially if I’m hearing sneezing or coughing somewhere in the restaurant.
So far, this has been a go-​to RTP lunch spot for me. While I still can’t bring myself to try the buffet (which would save me a small fortune), I find it difficult to leave without feeling like I’m going to burst at the seams.
**Quick update on 9÷5÷13. I did go try the «buffet» last week. Very underwhelming. Soggy pizza crust, dried out meatballs. I will be sticking to the menu items.

Authentic Italian! No frills, just great food. There is hardly ever a crowd in the evenings and you can’t beat their prices. Overall, a good choice!

The place was ok, don’t let the appearances deceive you…
Any time you find a place with a salad bar, it’s doing ok… Not the best salad bar out there, but it’s green so we ate it!!! Actually it wasn’t that bad… It was clean and always full… They could add a little more selection, but overall it wasn’t that bad.
The pizza, too be honest, I was very skepetical on it by looking at it… Then I tasted it and thought, this isn’t that bad… For my review of Randy’s, I said I enjoy being a pizza bigot… And though this is clearly not the best pizza out there, it is hands down much better than what you can get at any of the pizza chains… And you get a salad!!!
I wish there was a 3.5 star, but they don’t, so went with 4 as I was leaning higher than lower…
Overall, I would go back. Though the buffet isn’t the cheapest, it isn’t that bad!!!

You know what, this is a simple, no-​frills, old school kind of place. They do carbs well and have an iceberg lettuce-​based salad bar. It’s not my style, but hey, they do what they do consistently and do it well, and you can’t fault them for that. Plus, they are local and really friendly!
The pizza is simple, pasta tasty, and for $ 7.45 (including tax!), you could do /​much/​worse for a buffet lunch. I’ve also been here for the buffet dinner and there’s a larger selection for $ 10. They remember their regulars and seem to have lots of them. The pizza crust is delicious, and it’s much better than the preservative and chemical filled buffets you’ll get at the chain restaurants.

I really like their pie. I haven’t tried the buffet or anything other than their pizza, because do you really need anything else but pizza? They burned the crust just enough, cheese and sauce were spot-​on, and they loaded my pie with onions and sausage. I like how it’s just a normal place and they are consistently good.