Family Favorite

Cascade Pizza offers tasty, affordable meals

Stacee Sledge

Oct 23, 2003 A recent Wednesday night found me and my husband more interested in watching the baseball playoffs than futzing around in the kitchen.

A short drive found us at Cascade Pizza Inn on Meridian Street in the Fountain District, ready for a quick meal.

A friend had been to Cascade Pizza Inn recently and complained of a significant cigarette smoke smell. But I barely detected it as we entered and when we were led to an upstairs dining room where there was nary a trace of offensive odor.

This was a relief, as the potential olfactory problem had been my only concern about my first visit to Cascade Pizza Inn.

I've heard many people rave about its pizza and lasagna over the years and was anxious to give it a go.

Service was impeccable and fast. Although it sometimes seems like my job to look for issues around table service, our experience couldn't have gone more smoothly.

Our server offered a friendly smile with our menus and took our drink order.

Cascade Pizza Inn

Location: 2431 Meridian St.

Phone: 671-0999

Hours: 
11 a.m. to 11 p.m., daily

Menu items sampled:
Meatball sandwich $6.50
Baked lasagna $7.50
Pyramid Hefiweizen $3.25
Large pepperoni pizza $9.95
Ham sandwich $5.95
Cheesecake $2.25

We were there for a quick dinner, so we could get back to the game. A simple order of baked lasagna for my husband and a meatball sandwich for me was all we needed.

The lasagna arrived in a sizeable baking dish, steam rising from the wide, flat noodles curled at their edges, sandwiched between layers of meat sauce and topped with a sinful amount of melted mozzarella. The oven had cooked the edges to crunchy bits around the perimeter of the dish, a sure sign of lasagna done deliciously.

An order of garlic bread was served on the side, which was fine but nothing out of the ordinary although it did come in handy for sopping up extra sauce, which gave the slightly dry bread a bit more personality.

My meatball sandwich was gargantuan, an open-faced affair built atop the same crusty bread my husband had been served as a side.

Long, flat slices of mild meatball rested atop the same meat sauce, topped with a generous portion of mozzarella and baked into a magnificent melty mess. I detected a pleasant undercurrent of what I guessed to be nutmeg, which gave the meat sauce depth and additional pizzazz.

The next week found us throwing a playoff party at home that called for what else? pizza. Since I drive right past Cascade during my trip home every day, I ordered a pie and picked it up on the way.

First of all, the price can't be beat. Less than $10 for a large pepperoni pizza is unheard of unless you order from one of the campus favorites that don't usually make a pie I find palatable.

But I think Cascade's pizza is a solid contender, a thick, heavy crust topped with flavorful tomato sauce, a layer of mild pepperoni and a thick padding of mozzarella cheese.

My dining companions weren't blown away by the pie but agreed it was solid, filling fare at a great price.

My only issue was the chaos at the counter where you pick up and pay for your order. It's evidently the same line where dine-in patrons pay and was seven-people deep when I arrived. It was confusing to tell where to pick up takeout orders, and I saw one man enter, cut straight to the front of the line and leave with his pizza within 30 seconds.

Lunch at Cascade Pizza Inn serves the same hot sandwiches from the oven, salads and baked pasta dishes that I'd seen on the menu during previous visits, with a handful of additional sandwiches thrown in.

Seated in the ground floor dining room this time, I was happy to find that the entire restaurant is nonsmoking. The mystery of the slight odor as you walk in was solved as I learned of the lounge, tucked in the back, far from the eating area.

I tried a hot ham sandwich (or grinders), served with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and a dash of seasoning on airy, crusty bread.

It was filling and flavorful, but might have benefited from an accompaniment of coleslaw or potato salad or some such side.

For dessert, I grabbed an order of cheesecake to go. A simple wedge of cheesecake, the sweet treat with a thick, moist crust was utterly satisfying.

Again, the service was spectacular. My server was dressed smartly and was so genuinely friendly.

Normally, if someone I don't know calls me Sweetie, I'm a bit taken aback, but not when this friendly server says it in a kind, motherly way. She brought a smile right to my face.

The Tsoulouhas brothers also run a second Cascade Pizza Inn in Mount Vernon. The motto is the same for both eateries: "We may not be fancy but we're consistently good." What more do you need from a family-favorite eatery?

The Fine Print: I dine on my own dime. The opinions herein are mine alone, not The Bellingham Herald's. Agree? Disagree? Please drop me a line at StaceeSledge@hotmail.com.

 

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