Address: | 208 E Main St, Solon, IA 52333, USA |
Phone: | +1 319-624-2080 |
Site: | theredvespa.com |
Rating: | 4.4 |
Working: | Closed 4–9PM 4–9PM 4–9PM 4–9PM 4–9PM 4–9PM |
MA
Matt Uhlman
After a friend told us this place had just opened and with the prospect of another legit place in Solon, we moseyed on over to try our luck. Running with the current thin crust brick oven theme, Red Vespa hit things right on the money and has likely worked their way into our go to rotation. My better half and I were talking about how Solon is forever in our hearts given its small, but inviting stature and the fact that two of our favorite places are a block apart here! Im not sure what used to be housed here, but regardless, its made for a really solid restaurant. The exposed brick along with what I assume is the original ceiling make for a really cool ambiance. The bar is solid and while the beer selection is good, there are a lack of local options - seriously probably the only place they could improve. The place has plenty of seating including a back deck with spots for 20 or so people. Bar seating, booths, counter height tables as well as "chefs table" type seating - read - seating by the brick oven, give plenty of options for even the most pretentious seating patrons. We started with the Burrata Caprese - effectively a fresh Italian cheese ball. THIS WAS AWESOME! Imagine a mozzarella ball hollowed out and filled with more delicious fresh and soft cheese. Drizzle said masterpiece with olive oil and top with a couple roasted tomatoes - Winning. Made for a great starter and as things mix, it made for a killer topping for our crust. Serve this with a crust to dip and youve got something incredible! The pizza is neapolitan style and baked in a brick oven. A dozen different kinds are available from standard to fun. We had the sweet corn and the bee sting. Best pizza weve had in a really long time! The sweet corn, as its name implies, had corn, creme fresh, garlic oil, prosciutto and mozzarella - It was unreal good. After giving our 14 month old a taste, he grabbed a piece and went to town on it. The bee sting was equally excellent - honey, spicy soppressata (like pepperoni) and some chili oil - not as hot as we were expected, but every bit as delicious as we wanted! There were half a dozen others we were interested in trying and as previously stated, we full on plan to go back here soon. The kiddos can order their own pizza and get to "design" it before it goes in the oven. This includes the dough coming out on a wooden paddle with all the fixins available for them to decorate with. It comes with a cookie too! Little on the pricey side, but all said and done, we felt it was totally worth it. All in all, this place is an absolute winner. There are plenty of places to get good pizza around the area, but red vespa gets our vote for the best weve had in a long time. A must for anyone whos loves the Za or, realistically anyone whos ever heard of Solon. Check it out, you wont be disappointed!
AR
Arjun Rajeev
Ive been here twice and the 3 star rating is mostly for the pizza which was somewhat of a let down. To start off I will say this place does a lot of things right. The flavor combinations and ingredients in everything Ive had including the pizzas (sausage, bee sting, sweet corn, and margherita) have tasted fresh and delicious! Where it literally falls apart is in the texture and sogginess (not chewiness) of the inside crust. I LOVE thin crust and especially wood-fired pizza and while Im hardly qualified to be a critic, I have eaten more than my fair share of pizza across the country so do have an idea of what makes a good crust. Toppings shouldnt just fall off when you pick up a slice. I say that as you should expect to be quizzed on your pizza knowledge if you say something about it. (Something I usually never do but felt I had to with the bee sting as it wouldnt hold together.) To their credit the manager did eventually take it back and recommended me a different pizza (sweet corn) in which the crust was a little firmer. I should note that I didnt notice this issue the first time when I had the sausage and margherita pizza. This really isnt a negative review as the pizza tastes good overall, however for 13-16 bucks each I expected a little better. Also they do make excellent old-fashioneds!
MI
Miriam Vakulskas
We just held a party for our twins 5th birthday at Red Vespa. They have always loved going there to make their own pizzas! We had 17 children 5 and under and the staff of Red Vespa hosted us for a hour and a half with nothing but grace and smiles. I worked with the owners Aziz and Angie as well as their manager Danielle. They made sure everything was timed perfectly for the attention spans of our guests and we opted to provide our adult guests with pizza and appetizers too. Danielle worked with me to plan out what ended up being the perfect quantity of food! Most of the families had never been to Red Vespa before and many of them came up to me commenting on how awesome the food was and how smoothly taking 17 kids out to dinner had been! It was well planned by Red Vespa, affordable, delicious, easy, and most of all fun!
CH
Chris Chris
If your a wearer of falsies this place is an absolute must to try!!! So hard to get a good meal these days where you can just leave your dentures at home and be free. Let me start by saying the pizza crust is so limp and soggy that you can gum your way right thru it, and the sausage is about the size of rabbit droppings so goes down easy too. But what makes it truly amazing is that they put these big hard pea gravel size pieces of rock salt all over the crust which really assists the gums in doing the work when your grinding away. Even the next day Im still happy from my meal because the bloating from all the salt brings back those fond memories of my youth, before menopause hit. Oh yea and waiter was a total d-bag too ...unless he has tourettes, then my apologies.
AM
Amy Mass
The Red Vespa is a quaint, authentic Italian restaurant located in the heart of Solon, Iowa. It is the only pizzeria in Iowa to be certified by the Associazione Pizzaiuoli Napoletani, a prestigious award that preserves the centuries-old art of pizza making from its inception in Naples, Italy. And let me tell you, I truly felt like I was back in Italy. The Red Vespa definitely lives up to its tagline "Close your eyes, take a bite, you are there". I ordered the Mediterranean Pizza where house-made pesto cream sauce, house-made mozzarella, Prosciutto Di Parma, arugula, sweet grape tomatoes, and shaved parmesan come together in an explosion of taste. Moral of the story: 10/10 would recommend.
MI
Mike Baas
Id been looking forward to eating here for weeks after my daughter raved about the food. Our group of 5 waited 45 minutes while we watched multiple groups of 4 and one group of 6 get seated in front of us that came in after us. No one talked to us to explain why they were seating others in front of us. I asked the hostess if they took reservations and she said no unless its groups of eight. What???? Either you take reservation or you dont. The hostess was extremely rude and unprofessional about the way she handled the situation. Were all worked up by now and decided to take our business somewhere else. Very disappointing experience.