Review: Sal’s Jr. in Fairlawn
A baby calzone at Sal’s Jr. in Fairlawn.
By Christi Wayne and Charlie Whitescarver
Special to The Roanoke Times
candceat@gmail.com
Walking into Sal’s Jr. in Fairlawn, we knew immediately that we were in an Italian restaurant. The sign said “Seat Yourself,” and as we did, the aroma of oregano, garlic and onions charged up our senses.
One wall inside Sal’s Jr. is completely mirrored, creating the illusion of a much larger space. As we settled into a cozy booth, we caught a glimpse of the large pass-through windows to the kitchen, where guests are likely to see owner Alessandro Pugliese.
Pugliese opened Sal’s Jr. in 2004. His father, Dominic, started Sal’s in Radford in 1978, and his brother, Joe, opened Sal’s in Blacksburg in 2009.
The host was quick to welcome us, and our server was beside us in seconds with menus and a big smile. The lunch and dinner selections at this restaurant are extensive and include soups, salads, burgers, subs, pizza, entrees, calzones, and a kids’ section.
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December 20, 2012 - 10:04 AM
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That is a strange name. I get that the restaurant is the “junior” of an existing “Sal’s” but that’s only after reading through four paragraphs. If I were just driving by I’d think it was a grammatical error meaning “Sal Jr.’s.” Kind of like the grocer’s sign for “tomatoe’s.” And to be honest I’d probably keep driving.
We ate there years ago before we discovered we couldn’t eat gluten, which really wrecked our ability to eat Italian food for the most part, unless we make it ourselves. The food was good, the atmosphere nice, and the people friendly.
Not a big fan on oily pizza, yuck!
I’m a grammar snob, too, but I think if I based my patronage of restaurants on the grammatical accuracy of their signage and menus, I’d miss out on a lot of great food.
Agreed, Lindsey. Just because they can’t spell or punctuate properly doesn’t mean they can’t cook.
We love the place. The pizza is very well done and uses the right sausage. I’ve never had a bad meal there. It’s a shame it is too far away from us.
What kills me is when restaurants blow stuff on menus that can be copied right OFF THE PACKAGING.
“Chardonay”
“Giness”
or my perennial favorite…”Ceasar”.
That reminds me — we once had a waitress at an Italian restaurant (not this one) confirm our wine orders by saying, “OK, so you want a half-carafe of Chevrolet?”
If you don’t like garlic don’t eat Italian. I’ve been to all the Sal’s and all of them are the best Italian food around and, yes, I’ve tried the others and they good but nobody matches Sal’s or Sal’s Jr. Eat more garlic. It tastes good and it’s good for you.
LOL Lindsey! As for Sal’s Jr. On the west coast Hardees is called Carl’s Jr. That has always bothered me. It’s a silly thing to be bothered about, but grammatical errors like that bug me.
Carl’s Jr. is so named because the restaurants are a smaller version of the original Carl’s Drive-in Barbeque. Does that still make it a grammatical error?
Thanks for the support guys. The restaurant was named Sandro’s up until 2008 when we decided to change it to Sal’s Jr. with the known intention of the grammatical error. Our intentions are to let the community know that this restaurant is in fact affiliated with Sal’s of Radford we think Sal Jr’s (with the correct grammer) wouldn’t send the message we wanted. I hope it clears the up. The oil pizza however was referring to the brucshetta pie which in fact, specified on the menu is made with extra virgin olive oil but with no sauce. The reviewer never tried our staple foods such as a regular type of pizza and our steak sandwiches but, you, the consumer are the ones to be the judge of that.
Thank kyou again for your interest in the restaurant!
Thanks for stopping by the blog, Alessandro!