Genovese’s – Quality Pizza in Vonore Tennessee

Just another slight detour from posts about our adventures in Scotland.  After all, what is more important than pizza!?  

With the fall color season almost over, I thought that I’d throw in a couple of autumn views from our home before we get to the pizza.  

The first photo is over the roof tops looking across Tellico Lake near Loudon Tennessee.  The second one shows the woods next to our house.  The color season and leaf deluge is almost over, with various weather related factors shortening both events…bad news vs. good news.  We’ll have to blow leaves off our yard a couple fewer times this year. Yippee!

This is Genovese’s in Vonore Tennessee.  We’d been here once before not long after they’d opened but it wasn’t a great experience.  Their pizza oven wasn’t functioning and we weren’t crazy about our pasta based meals.

However, time has passed and  I noted that the feedback for this restaurant had become quite positive.  It was time for us to give it another look!

The dining area is pretty basic…about what one would expect for a local Italian style restaurant.  Everything was clean and orderly and the staff was helpful and friendly.

We witnessed quite a bit of take out business while we were having our dinner.  The pizza ovens are right up front so we could watch what was going on… Note the decorative pumpkins in front of the counter.

This is a close-up of those special pumpkins.  As you might imagine, we visited Genovese’s prior to Halloween.  Customers were asked to vote for their favorite pumpkin.  We both picked the raccoon!

Genovese’s isn’t all about pizza.  We noted 13 entrees, all including a side salad and 2 garlic knots…with prices ranging from $5.99 to $11.99.  The selection of 14 sandwiches go from $6.49 to $8.49 plus $1.50 if you’d like French fries with that.  Desserts include 3 Italian specialties.

The other page of the menu includes a couple of unexpected “Starters” such as Mussels ($9.99), Macaroni and Cheese Wedges ($5.29) and Zucchini Sticks ($4.99) In addition to the various pizza selection, Calzone and Stromboli are offered. 

Laurie is from St. Louis, the “home of fried ravioli”!  So, when she saw a Four Cheese Fried Ravioli (6 ravioli per order) on the menu, she had to try Genoveses' version. ($4.49)

Sorry about the photo…we’d already eaten 2 ravioli before we remembered to take a picture.  In any case, these fried ravioli containing asiago, ricotta, Romano and mozzarella cheeses, were the best fried ravioli we’ve ever had!  St. Louis’s fried ravioli just doesn’t measure up… By the way, the marinara sauce was very nice too!

This is our large “New York Style” 16” pizza with sausage and pepperoni.  This pizza is built to be picked up and folded to be eaten out of hand.  The ingredients were all very good and the crust, especially in the center half of the pizza, was thin…the way we like it.  FYI, we dined at Genovese's on a night when they had a special on large cheese pizzas, so with sausage and pepperoni added, it was only $12.99!

FYI...We also ordered a slice of Lemon Berry Cake to take with us. ($3.99) It was very good!

 

OK…there was a little too much crust away from the center of the pizza and we would have liked a spicy Italian sausage instead of the one they use, but this pizza is still at least tied for 2^nd place for the best pizza we’ve had in East Tennessee!  Only the pizza at Tellico Grains Bakery in Tellico Plains beats out Genovese’s version… Little Joe’s Pizza on Kingston Pike at the Loudon County line might be tied for second.   We’ll just have to try Genovese’s and Little Joe’s again to rank them properly! 😋

Genovese’s is located fairly close to our home so we will definitely return for more pizza and to try other items on the menu.  This restaurant is located at 1255 US Hwy 411 in Vonore Tennessee.  Phone: 423-884-6741.  Genovese’s doesn’t have a website but they are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GenovesesPizzeria/?rf=1045499555515458.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a slice of pizza!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave