Carmela's in Longwood, FL

Carmela's in Longwood is owned by Sbarro's. It's their version of a sit-down Italian restaurant rather than Sbarro's normal food court pizza shop.

The thing to get at Carmela's is the Grandma Pizza. I've found their normal pies have been hit or miss in the past and ordering pasta or sandwiches never resulted in anything good. In the few years that Carmela's has been open here, it seems I'm not the only person to figure this out. I noticed that every occupied table in the restaurant had a Grandma pizza. On this visit, we ordered a half plain/half meatball pie. The rectangular, thin crusted pizza was cut into twelve slices. Each slice had at least one small pool of sauce, surrounded by mozzarella and topped with big basil leaves.

Carmela's is one of the few restaurants that I know of in Central Florida that offer Grandma Pizza. It's a standard on many menus in the New York area, but is a rare find in the Orlando area. Because of this, when I want a different take on pizza, I'll definitely return to Carmela's.