Part one of two, Pizzeria Adagio

A•dag•i•o (e dä' zhe o’) In music: A tempo marking meaning slowly, leisurely.

At Pizzeria Adagio, the goal is to serve the best deep-dish pizza. That takes time. And good fresh ingredients.

Pizzas are piled high with toppings and cheese on fresh, made-from-scratch dough. That yeasty fragrance of the fresh made pizza dough perfumes the restaurant when you walk in the door.

On the cover of the Pizzeria Adagio menu it states, “ Take a cue from the name, Adagio, and relax for a while - a great pizza takes about half an hour to bake to perfection.

You have been warned. This is not fast food. The kids don’t mind because there is a huge playroom filled with working train sets and little electric racing cars. The remote controlled trains and cars are jetting around the elaborate racetracks so fast that you can barely keep your eyes on them.

While the kids are off to play, adults can wind down and actually have a conversation. Adagio does not serve beer but you probably won’t miss it in this kid friendly environment. The radio music is not too loud. Kids will stay busy playing without constantly begging for more quarters or tokens. All kids games and activities are free.

Our salads arrived fresh and crispy, a full paper plate covered with lettuce, you-choose toppings and the dressings of your choice for $1.90. That’s a pretty good deal. Then, it was Adagio Deep Dish Pizza time.

We had a salad and the medium Pizzeria Adagio specialty, The Full Symphony: sausage, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, ground beef, bacon crumbles, sweet peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, black olives, green olives, onions, (optional jalapeños) and lots of cheese. The two of us had a medium packed with fresh ingredients for only $14.73. The pizza alone would have been big enough for two hungry adults even if we had not ordered salads.

The wait staff is young and the service is casual. You will never hear, “ that’s not my table.” All the staff is ready to help. Our main server was named Jackson. He kept our drink cups full and plenty of napkins on hand for us.

Gretchen hand-presses the made-from-scratch dough up the sides of the pan, and adds her made-from-scratch sauce, before piling on toppings and lots of cheese (a full pound of cheese on a large.)

The pizza baker and co owner Gretchen Probst delivered our straight-from--the-oven pizzas and served the first piece to each of us.

Over at the next table, five mini pizzas were being served to the kids who reluctantly left the speeding cars on their never ending circular race track. The perfect kid-size cheese pizza is an individual extra small 6" cheese pizza for $2.38.

Prices for the deep dish Full Symphony pizza are 6" extra small, $4.75; 10" small, $10.22; 12" medium, $14.73; 14" large, $19.96, and extra large 16", $26.13.

Food comes on paper plates, beverages are served in plastic tumblers that you are welcome to take the cups home. We did get a real fork. This is just a point that the little environmentally aware angel on my shoulder pointed out. I don’t see much recycle/reuse awareness here. But what I do like about this kid-friendly and economical restaurant is that it is not a greasy pizza chain. The people and business are circulating money locally in southeast Missouri, which is an economic stimulus package I can appreciate.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve eaten at my share of chain restaurants -and yes I know the chain pizza delivery guy by his first name. But, that’s another story.

Our Full Symphony pizza was loaded with fresh veggies and good quality meats. These massive food pile-ups are a husband pleaser and it was good food. I stuck a deal and next time we go there, I’ll order something with fewer ingredients. Since our theme is music here, I’ll just say, the Full Symphony had too many notes for me.

Pizzeria Adagio's success comes from word of mouth advertising and a radio comercial.This may be one of southeast Missouri's best kept secrets.

See Part two of two, Pizzeria Adagio for made to order ice cream treats.