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Lamppost Pizza • Round Rock

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By Beth Wade Friday, 09 January 2009

When Tom and Rosanne Sotor started their family, Tom decided to get out of the restaurant business because of the long hours. But after several years in the corporate world, he felt the pull toward the food service industry again, so the couple decided to open their own restaurant.

With his background in Italian fine dining, the Sotors naturally drifted to Italian food. The couple, with their two young children in mind, decided to open a family-style, casual-dining restaurant and discovered Lamppost Pizza, a California pizza franchise.

Owner Tom Sotor with his wife, Rosanne, and their children

The couple wanted a sports-themed restaurant that was appropriate for the entire family, as opposed to a sports bar, Tom said.

The restaurant opened in Round Rock in 1998 and is the only Lamppost Pizza in Texas. The couple moved the restaurant to its current location in the Greenlawn Crossing shopping center in 2005.

At the salad bar, restaurant staff fill the plates rather than customers serving themselves. The lunch pizza buffet ($8.75) is open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and offers a variety of pizzas ($12.75-$26.88), all of which are made with fresh ingredients. Large blocks of whole-milk mozzarella cheese are sliced daily, and vegetables are delivered each morning for use that day. Tom said it is that attention to freshness and quality that make his pizza better than the competition.

“Our pizza isn’t the cheapest pizza out there,” Tom said. “The price of goods everywhere has gone up, but I refuse to cut the quality of my ingredients, and when people choose Lamppost Pizza, they are going to get the best quality.”

Photo of Lamppost Pizza buffet The Whole Nine Yards specialty pizza (large $22.72) features cheese, pepperoni, ham, sausage, mushrooms, bacon bits, onions, bell peppers and olives and is the most popular pizza on the menu, Tom said. However, Tom’s favorite is the Perfect Game, with cheese, garlic, basil, mushrooms, artichoke hearts and tomatoes. The pizza’s crust is thick and filling and is not overpowered by sauce and toppings. The fresh ingredients and thick crust create the perfect bite of pizza.

The restaurant also serves pastas, salads and sandwiches, served hot or cold. The spaghetti ($7.75) is available in a family-size portion ($19.99). The meat sauce is served on a bed of pasta with two large slices of garlic bread.

A CinnaPie ($6.99) is a great way to end the meal. The dessert pizza is made with cinnamon and icing drizzled over pizza dough.

Tucked into a corner of the restaurant is a small game room for children and a full-size party room that can seat up to 50 kids, Tom said. The room is often used by sports teams, including Round Rock and Pflugerville youth soccer and baseball teams and Pflugerville basketball teams. In the last year the Sotors have given more than 1,674 free pizzas to participants in those programs.

Community involvement is important to the Sotors, Tom said. The couple started a Lamppost merit award in the fall to reward children who were going above and beyond at Highland Park Elementary School in Pflugerville and Deepwood and Bluebonnet elementary schools in Round Rock. The reward is a free personal-size pizza.

The restaurant also sponsors the Forest Area Swim Team.