Sachem Bites Nearby: Papa Francesco's

The recently-opened Papa Francesco’s brings an arsenal of delicious Italian food to the table. Featuring plenty of specialty pizzas, dozens of tasty homemade dishes and some of the best deals around, you’re sure to find wonderful reasonably priced food for you and your family.

Décor: Papa Francesco’s is your typical take-out or sit-down pizza restaurant, featuring a modest dining room with seating for around a dozen individuals, a glass enclosure featuring some of their many visually-pleasing specialty pies on display, and perched above the soda fridge is a large LCD TV that is always on. The walls are adorned with Italian-inspired art.

Drinks: The fridge is stocked full of sodas both canned and bottled, juices, waters and iced teas.

Appetizers: A half dozen flavorful mozzarella sticks will run you $4.95, Papa’s own chicken wings are $4.95 for a half dozen and $7.95 for a dozen, and an order of five Fried Ravioli is $6.95. The Fried Ravioli were lightly fried and stuffed with seasoned ricotta, and featured a fantastic breading that had just the right amount of spicy heat. The true heavy-hitter on this appetizer menu is Papa’s Appetizer ($8.95), an epic collection of mozzarella sticks, fried ravioli and spicy chicken tenders.

Papa Francesco’s also features three different house soups: Minestrone ($4.95), Tortellini en Brodo ($4.95), a tri-colored tortellini with spinach in chicken broth, and Pasta e Fagioli ($4.95).

There are also plenty of delicious salads at Papa Francesco’s, starting with the basic House Salad ($4.25) and moving up through the ranks to the Caesar Salad ($4.95) with grilled chicken being an extra $2.50, to the Cold Antipasto salad ($5.95), finally arriving at the fantastic Fresh Mozzarella Salad filled with enormous chunks of fresh mozzarella, ripe tomato slices and sweet grilled red peppers soaked in oil and vinegar and coated with parmesan cheese.

Entrees: Papa Francesco’s is first and foremost a pizza shop, so let’s begin there. A standard cheese pie will run you $12.95 and $2.00 a slice, and a Sicilian is $14.95 and a slice is $2.00. From there, your options open up significantly. Dive headlong into one of the many specialty pies offered here, such as the Eggplant Pizza ($15.95) with tasty layers of ricotta and mozzarella cheeses along with tomato sauce and eggplant, the Papa Francesco Pizza ($15.95) featuring red onion, plum tomatoes and garlic, or the Vegetarian Pizza ($18.95) with mushrooms, broccoli, spinach, zucchini, eggplant, garlic and mozzarella cheese.

A healthy selection of heroes bolster’s Papa Francesco’s menu, with appealing options like Meatball Parm ($5.95), Cheese Steak ($6.95) and Chicken Milanese ($6.95) with grilled or breaded chicken, lettuce, tomato and Italian dressing.

Papa Francesco’s pasta menu offers a wide spectrum of choices and features significant portions along with fresh garden salads for each order. Start out simple with Spaghetti and Meatballs or Meatsauce ($10.95), Rigatoni alla Vodka ($10.95) or Pasta con Broccoli ($10.95) with broccoli florets in a garlic and oil sauce, or move into more serious territory with the fantastic Tortellini della Nonna ($10.95) featuring prosciutto, onions and peas in a cream sauce, or Rigatoni with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage ($12.95).

For more traditional entrees, Papa Francesco’s offers Chicken Parm, Marsala and Francaise all for $12.95, Veal Parm, Marsala and Francaise for $14.95, Eggplant Parm for $11.95, Eggplant Rollatine for $12.95 and serious Eggplant Rollatine and Chicken Parm combo for $13.95, all of which are served with garden salad and choice of pasta.

Catering: Many of the options on Papa Francesco’s menu are available in half and full trays for catering events. Appetizers, some salads, all Pasta dishes and all Entrees can be ordered in catering sizes.

Desserts: Cheesecake at Papa Francesco’s is $2.95, large Cannoli is $2.00 and a small is $1.00, and Italian ices are $1.50 for two scoops, $2.00 for three scoops and $6.00 for a pint. It is not featured on the menu, but fresh Zeppoles are fried up freshly on occasion.

Service: The counter help was fast, friendly, and eager to explain many of the dishes/deals available at Papa Francesco’s. My hefty order was delivered hot and fresh in less than twenty minutes.

Signature Dish: Notice to all diners! Papa Francesco’s has some of the most ridiculous deals you’ll find on Long Island. Tuesday night features a FULL PIE for only $6.95, and on Wednesday’s you can order a number of the Papa’s pasta dishes for only $6.95, which comes with bread and salad. These deals are incredible when you consider what similar food costs at other restaurants. Be sure to call your order in early on Tuesdays or Wednesdays because these spectacular deals bring in plenty of customers.

Phone: 631-569-5100

Address: 1100-11 Waverly Avenue, Holtsville